[akash_m]

It was a sunny friday morning when i happened to be late to the office. Coudnt find a parking space so parked my Swift (Vxi) besides an Indica on the side lane, a bit muddy, but dry.

When I returned to the car in the evening, was shocked to see what had happened. A high pressure water pipeline had burst near my car. The water was all over the area with the water jet rising as high as 6-8 mtrs. The area where the car was parked had completely converted into loose soil, with my car literally sinking into it. I had no clue on how to even get near the car because of the mud and "rain" near the car! Somehow I folded my pants and quickly got inside the car, completely wet though, wuth chunks of mud on my shoes!

As expected, the car refused to move even an inch, with the front wheels spinning and going even deeper in the wet and loose mud. Tried in first and reverse gear, reved the car hard but of no help! Everyone standing nearby enjoyed the scene, some even laughing, but no one offered help because of the water and mud all around. Wonder why do people enjoy when someone is in trouble.

One moron suggested that i better leave the car as it is on the weekend (and go by bus) and wait till monday to let the mud dry! BTW, the car was parked in such a way the it could not be towed away. One gentleman put few bricks under both the front tyres, to help traction, but the bricks too got burried in the ground! 30-40 minutes pass, but of no help. People came, enjoyed the scene and went! A security guard came to help, with two wooden planks in his hand ( the ones which are used in the security guard hut). The planks wrere placed near both front wheels. And then the final try..!! Reved hard and zoom.. the car was out! The trick helped. I thanked the guard for his innovative idea and help.

As a responsible citizen of Team-BHP, I took a few pics also of all this episode, but being a newbie i cannot upload them. Gave my car for servicing and the mud was all around the car even in the engine bay. Also, I think wider tyres like the ZXi's would have cooperated better in such situation

Having gone through all this, is there any better way you guys suggest to get the car out in such situations..

thnx

[Rudra Sen]

Originally Posted by akash_m

As a responsible citizen of Team-BHP, I took a few pics also of all this episode, but being a newbie i cannot upload them.

Rule says that you cannot put your car pictures on TBHP garage. If you have pictures of this episode, please put them here. Members will know what you went through and how did you come out of that sticky situation.

[anandpadhye]

Always carry 2 wooden planks in your boot.

[khaadu75]

Originally Posted by akash_m

As expected, the car refused to move even an inch, with the front wheels spinning and going even deeper in the wet and loose mud. Tried in first and reverse gear, reved the car hard but of no help!

. And then the final try..!! Reved hard and zoom.. the car was out! The trick helped. I thanked the guard for his innovative idea and help.

\
thnx

Akash , Im sure it was a hilarious situation for others and not for you ... but remember RULE NO 1 of getting out of stickly situations is never to make the mistake you kept making -- never over rev or rev hard
, this will only lead to the tryres spinning and you going deeper inside instead of going where you would like to . Keep the revs low , and thats how the tyres will get any traction for them to get you out .

But I also can't stop laffing .. imagining the situation

[Jaggu]

Plank is the best option and the security guy was spot on.

Gentle moves to see if the car get off the sticky situation, if it doesnt then resort to stuff which will give more traction and stop sinking (can be plank, bricks etc). Then with some help push the car, along with engine power. Rocking always helps to get unstuck. Keep steering straight as much as possible.

Slightly reducing air pressure on the driven wheels helps, but if not done properly, especially wild acceleration at this state can ruin your tyres also.

[benbsb29]

Akash, good for you that the security guard helped you out.
As Khaadu said, the rule here is NEVER rev hard. You are literally digging yourself in. Use something like a plank, or even in desperate cases, use your foot mats from the car. They help the wheels in obtaining some sort of grip or traction to get out of there. The brick was worth a try, but cant really be of much help.

[gd1418]

Reducing air pressure in all tyres by 10-15 psi would have been a great help. And never rev hard.

[phamilyman]

Plank would've been the best - Dakar rallies are example

Some dry sand, if around would help too. Or a towing rope (indigo can take one) which can allow another vehicle to pull your car out.

[1100D]

Low-revs, light clutch, preferable higher gear (to pass on as little as torque as possible) and steering rocking, but depends on the situation you were in.

Best would have been to tie a rope and ask those smiling onlookers to pull out for you!

[Nitin]

I remember reading somewhere that the best thing to do,is to accelerate slowly,and to actually rotate the steering wheel to the left & right. That apparently helps flatten out the soil on both sides of the tire, and hence improve traction.

I remember a similar incident happening to us on Dec 31st,1996.We had gone to a familiy friend's house,and our Omni got stuck in the soil. We were kinda dressed up,and that made things worse..
Anyways,my dad got behind the wheel,and my brother & I lifted the front of the van.Took a few attempts,and it finally rolled out of the muck. Of course, all of us looked like we'd been in a mud-fight, covered in soil & dirt from head to toe...

[greenhorn]

My indica got stuck in a muddy rut today. This is what the mechs ended up doing ( when pushing and planks were not enough)

they jacked up each front wheel induvidually. Put planks and bricks under the wheel - more than just under the wheel, but with a bit of space to the front and back of the wheel.

The jack was the removed, and we ( a bunch of people there) rocked the car back and forth , gradually gaining more momentum until at the 5th or 6th push we were able to rock it free

[SAJEESH]

Hi akash m ,

I felt bad while reading your painful experience. I too faced a similar issue last week on my swift vxi. It had rained the previous night and the road in front of my home was slushy. I was in a hurry and needed to get to office soon that day. In the morning, I started the car and reversed it to get it out of the parking lot.

I then engaged the first gear and started to move the car. Just about 5 meters ahead , the front left wheel of my car got stuck in mud. The moment I realized that the car is stuck , I revved hard and the front wheels were spinning. After trying a couple of times , i got out of the car to analyze the situation. By this time, my neighbour came to my rescue and he too revved the car hard in an attempt to move the car. However, this did not help and I told him to reverse the car.

Initially , he tried but the car refused to move an inch with wheels spinning and car was revving hard. After few minutes , the car came out and then i thanked him for his help.

After this, I had a tough time parking the car inside the parking lot as there was about 4-5 inches of mud on all four wheels. Finally, I managed to park the car.

My car has just run 5000 kms as it is fairly new. Most importantly, when I was revving hard , the car's engine was cold and also I saw white smoke coming out of the exhaust when my neighbour was trying to reverse the car.

May i know if this incident would have caused serious engine damage to my new car?. I am a little worried.

Also was your car's engine cold while this happened to you? and is it giving you any trouble with respect to the engine after this incident happened?.

Looking forward to your kind reply and also some inputs from my dear fellow Team BHPians.

Warm Regards,

Sajeesh

[im_srini]

Originally Posted by SAJEESH

It had rained the previous night and the road in front of my home was slushy.
I was in a hurry and needed to get to office soon that day.
I then engaged the first gear and started to move the car.
Just about 5 meters ahead, the front left wheel of my car got stuck in mud.
The moment I realized that the car is stuck, I revved hard and the front wheels were spinning.
By this time, my neighbour came to my rescue and he too revved the car hard in an attempt to move the car.
Initially, he tried but the car refused to move an inch with wheels spinning and car was revving hard.
After few minutes, the car came out and then I thanked him for his help.

Hello Sajeesh,

Almost all cars here have open differentials, which means that if one of the powered wheels loses traction, all power/torque is sent to it & not the "other" wheel !

Hence when one wheel starts to slip due to poor surface beneath it, all the engine's output is sent to it & away from the wheel that's on a better surface.

In such a situation, try pressing the brakes gently while simultaneously pressing the accelerator.

This will create drag on the freely spinning wheel & will allow the differential to route torque to the wheel on solid ground.

The following video is a great way to understand why we need differentials & how they work :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4JhruinbWc

The 4x4 Technical Section ( http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/4x4-technical/ ) here at Team-Bhp also had some great discussions on the above topic.

Originally Posted by SAJEESH

My car has just run 5,000 Kms as it is fairly new.
Most importantly, when I was revving hard, the car's engine was cold and also I saw white smoke coming out of the exhaust when my neighbour was trying to reverse the car.
May I know if this incident would have caused serious engine damage to my new car ?
I am a little worried.

So long as the engine has properly functioning lubrication & cooling systems, there should be no damage to your engine.

Engines aren't as delicate as most of us assume & are far more hardy than we give them credit for

[SAJEESH]

Originally Posted by im_srini

Hello Sajeesh,

Almost all cars here have open differentials, which means that if one of the powered wheels loses traction, all power/torque is sent to it & not the "other" wheel !

Hi Srini,

Thanks a lot for replying and your valuable guidance. The reason why I was worried is because I had read on the internet that revving a cold engine is not good as in this condition, the oil would not have fully circulated inside the car's engine providing full protection to all its vital components.

On that day morning after starting my car, the RPMs went high upto about 1500 RPM and then dropped to somewhere around 800-900 RPM. This is a usual occurence as you might know.

I waited for the RPMs to drop and then started to move the car as i normally do. But then the car got stuck just after about moving the car for 5 meters.

Considering this, i was worried if the oil would have got sufficient time to circulate completely inside the engine and the engine - revving portion would not have caused any damage what so ever ?

I used my car after this incident for a couple of times and did not find any drop in performance though.

I would request you to please comment on how much time would the oil generally take to fully circulate inside the engine during a cold start-up?


Thanks in advance,

Warm Regards,

Sajeesh

[SAJEESH]

Dear all,

I request someone to shed some light on this.... The reason why I was worried is because I had read on the internet that revving a cold engine is not good as in this condition, the oil would not have fully circulated inside the car's engine providing full protection to all its vital components.

On that day morning after starting my car, the RPMs went high upto about 1500 RPM and then dropped to somewhere around 800-900 RPM. This is a usual occurence as you might know.

I waited for the RPMs to drop and then started to move the car as i normally do. But then the car got stuck just after about moving the car for 5 meters.

Considering this, i was worried if the oil would have got sufficient time to circulate completely inside the engine and the engine - revving portion would not have caused any damage what so ever ?

I used my car after this incident for a couple of times and did not find any drop in performance though.

I would request you to please comment on how much time would the oil generally take to fully circulate inside the engine during a cold start-up?


Thanks in advance,

Warm Regards,

Sajeesh