I joined some friends today to spend the day on Salisbury Plains.

Things didn't quite go according to plan though.

Not long onto the drive, we went through some deepish water and the car quickly went into limp home mode. And we all were doing a sweepstake as to which Land Rover was not going to make it back. Never expected it to be us!

This is Elsie going through the water:

We ended limping (in a DSG, that means no reverse gear and only first gear) into the nearest village, so that we could get Skoda Assist to come out.

They came out in under 20 minutes. Plugged their computer in, to discover there were 2 fault codes, Pressure Control Valve 1 fault and Pressure Control Valve 2 fault.

Both said "implausible signal fault code".

The RAC then cleared the codes and all has been fine since.

We decided to call it a day and come back home, as I didn't want to have to call out Skoda again. So we visited Allams who checked Elsie over when we got back home.

This was when we first saw the water:

And this is a little mud:

Awh Mike it was fun whilst it lasted! Pity we were not able to stick with the big boys. Another time for sure. After seeing the plains with you today I'm itching to do more and in my own Yeti!

Just take a laptop and VCDS with you next time and clear the codes on the spot. Simples

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Just take a laptop and VCDS with you next time and clear the codes on the spot. Simples

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I did think of that....afterwards. I don't have a copy though ...

A better idea is to JUST take Yetis and then we need just one VCDS for all the cars.

With James from Allams now departed who will lead us through the wilderness though?!?!

Well I've got my VDCS and laptop... and the 4x4 Yeti arrives in March!

Getting a guide for the plains is not a major hurdle.

where did you go onto the plain ....and come out

Just watched the vid.

Not only is it fairly deep water, it's also not clean having just been churned up by another vehicle.

Reminds me of grinding paste... :( full of mud particles.

My Land Rover used to hate that. Seriously increased wear to the brakes and propshaft universal joints.

Yes I agree. There was something in the rear nearside brake for quite a few miles afterwards.

Now need to clean the underside of the car.....

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Mike,

At least we are on discs all round. Plains mud in drums needs them taking apart to clean!!

Two suggestions re the water:

Firstly, from the video, you perhaps went in "too hard". The ideal is to go in slowly and then gently build up speed to build a bow wave in front of you that doesn't break over towards the bonnet, which yours seemed to do.

Secondly, if in doubt and you have to go in, do it in reverse. That way you are pushing the water away from the engine compartment. It looks daft, but it does work!

I have a nice marked map of the Plain from the 2 CSMA Scatter Hunts we did down there, plus a green laning day.

Yes I agree. There was something in the rear nearside brake for quite a few miles afterwards.

Now need to clean the underside of the car.....

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Might sound silly but put a garden sprinkler on full on the driveway and drive slowly backwards and forwards over it....it will wash off a surprising amount

I have a nice marked map of the Plain from the 2 CSMA Scatter Hunts we did down there, plus a green laning day.

Oh... Do we have our leader to lead us through a Yeti Adventure on the Plains?! . We can look at B&Bs for you Graham!!!

So where was my invite then?

Clever idea re the garden sprinkler BTW

<br />Mike,

At least we are on discs all round. Plains mud in drums needs them taking apart to clean!!

Two suggestions re the water:

Firstly, from the video, you perhaps went in "too hard". The ideal is to go in slowly and then gently build up speed to build a bow wave in front of you that doesn't break over towards the bonnet, which yours seemed to do.

Secondly, if in doubt and you have to go in, do it in reverse. That way you are pushing the water away from the engine compartment. It looks daft, but it does work!

Thanks for that Graham.

At the time I thought I was going quite slowly, unlike the vehicle in front of me. That was my first time with water. You never stop learning.

I did fit my towbar and the tow eye had a rope fitted to it just in case I got stuck and needed a tow. Wrapped end round passenger door mirror.

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1325186276[/url]' post='2626062']

A better idea is to JUST take Yetis and then we need just one VCDS for all the cars.

With James from Allams now departed who will lead us through the wilderness though?!?!

I got some wellies....... ......would I do? *runs for nearest bush for cover - or was it to pend a spenny? Memory malfunction.

Reminds me a few years back driving very slowly through a flooded road in an old Astra van 1.7TD; just making progress in first gear (quite deep), then I nearly lost it when some loon in a large Japanese 4x4 came charging through from the other way putting a bow wave right over the van. Coughed and spluttered but thankfully kept running

Glad to hear your Monster is OK mind; think she needs a holiday

TP

Was thinking about this coming to work this morning. (God, how sad!!)

I wonder if a "fording blanket" (large piece of plastic draped over the grilles, temporarily) would stop this problem?

Tim, I killed a diesel Rover 200 when that happened to me, and the insurance company put a new engine in it.

Was thinking about this coming to work this morning. (God, how sad!!)

I wonder if a "fording blanket" (large piece of plastic draped over the grilles, temporarily) would stop this problem?

Tim, I killed a diesel Rover 200 when that happened to me, and the insurance company put a new engine in it.

To be honest Mike's engine was dry. All the Land Rover boys that had a peek commented on that. Their bays are totally wet if they do these things (apparently) so this sensor that got upset was perhaps just having her time of the month for strops.

These pics show Yetis doing far worse than the 300mm of water Mike went through yesterday:

So I suspect some sensor that might already have been a bit moody before even seeing the water!!

You could be right, Johann.

The undershield does a very good job of keeping a lot of water out of the engine compartment, but I have noticed on mine how there appear to be odd areas where it does come through.

It would be interesting to know which "pressure control valves" these were. I wonder if the wave coming over the front caused a high pressure "pulse" which overloaded them?

Mine has certainly been taken through water as deep as those in the photos with no problems.

just been able to look at the video for the first time, the mud didn't look too bad, not as bad as what I went through a few weeks back in Perthshire, but I'm always wary when it comes to water!

I know VCDS is best; but any old OBD reader will clear error codes and latent error codes. This is not as dangerous as it sounds because if faults are genuine and persistent they will appear immediately again. Would have worked for Mike in his situation though; even if it did appear, or would have appeared, worrying at the time?

Yes it was a little worrying at the time.

From the video I took, the water was deeper than those of the Yeti in Johann's post above, as it came over the bonnet, but as Johann mentioned, the engine bay was dry which surprised us all!

She has been fine on that front since, but there is a low frequency vibration when in a high gear, say 5th at 30mph, which the remapped engine & gearbox selects occasionally. Need to investigate further, when on a ramp.

Here is a photo of Elsie almost ready to go, complete with rope looped around the towing eye and also around the wing mirror. There is also a CB aerial on the roof, with the radio in the car.