Well, it only takes a split second for something to go wrong and to realize you've made a bad decision. In my case, I wasn't using my head and I made a bad judgement call. The good thing however, is that we learn from these mistakes and gain more knowledge of these situations . Luckily, no one was hurt and the runner, after some TLC, is going to make it just fine. On to the story!
We were getting close to the end of the trip and crossing one of the last creek beds. Off to the right was a deeper part of the creek but I made a bad decision of not checking it myself. After edging into the water, my passenger side was angled down further into the water than the driver side. The loose rocks below however kept causing me to slide further down. I was not able to move fast enough so water eventually rushed into the exhaust, clogging the muffler, and killing the air flow, causing the truck to die. After the excruciating fearfulness of seeing my rig take water, the guys hurriedly began the recovery process and pulled me out. After sitting (and draining) for bout 45 min and making sure no water got through the intake we tried starting it up. Coincidentally, the starter was done for. It had recently been on the fritz for a while and happened to die completely. So I was towed back to Lake Winona (about 9 miles) to begin the starter removal process while a couple others went all the way back to my house to get my other starter. BTW, 2" body lift makes for a lot easier removal/installation. After replacing the starter we tried cranking it over and it wouldn't start. Then about an hour and half later of diagnosing and making calls we found that the muffler was still so full of water it wouldn't allow air through. We removed the exhaust, leaving the cat, gave it a couple cranks and finally started. Now it sounds like a s***ty v8 lol.
I'm currently in the drying stages after spending all Sunday morning and early afternoon cleaning and wet vacuuming the carpets. I hope to get most of the the interior back together this evening. Then tomorrow get some exhaust work done, oil change, drain diffs, seafoam, and whatever else. By the end of the week, I hope she's back to normal.
A big thanks to Tim for the photos and to all of you who helped me in this ordeal. An even bigger thanks to Keith for literally jumping in the water no questions asked!
Now, what you've all been waiting for....
We were getting close to the end of the trip and crossing one of the last creek beds. Off to the right was a deeper part of the creek but I made a bad decision of not checking it myself. After edging into the water, my passenger side was angled down further into the water than the driver side. The loose rocks below however kept causing me to slide further down. I was not able to move fast enough so water eventually rushed into the exhaust, clogging the muffler, and killing the air flow, causing the truck to die. After the excruciating fearfulness of seeing my rig take water, the guys hurriedly began the recovery process and pulled me out. After sitting (and draining) for bout 45 min and making sure no water got through the intake we tried starting it up. Coincidentally, the starter was done for. It had recently been on the fritz for a while and happened to die completely. So I was towed back to Lake Winona (about 9 miles) to begin the starter removal process while a couple others went all the way back to my house to get my other starter. BTW, 2" body lift makes for a lot easier removal/installation. After replacing the starter we tried cranking it over and it wouldn't start. Then about an hour and half later of diagnosing and making calls we found that the muffler was still so full of water it wouldn't allow air through. We removed the exhaust, leaving the cat, gave it a couple cranks and finally started. Now it sounds like a s***ty v8 lol.
I'm currently in the drying stages after spending all Sunday morning and early afternoon cleaning and wet vacuuming the carpets. I hope to get most of the the interior back together this evening. Then tomorrow get some exhaust work done, oil change, drain diffs, seafoam, and whatever else. By the end of the week, I hope she's back to normal.
A big thanks to Tim for the photos and to all of you who helped me in this ordeal. An even bigger thanks to Keith for literally jumping in the water no questions asked!
Now, what you've all been waiting for....
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