Thread: Helping D3 bogged in sand

My son in his TDI 300 D1 and me in my 3.0 TDV6 SE D4 were playing on the beach at Mutton Bird Island near Albany when we saw a D3 bogged. It was a V6 Petrol.

We first found his DSC switch which was hard to find in the D3 and turned that off, then told him to let his tyres down to 16. I thought he would just drive out using Rock Crawl but no go. Then used my Max Trax under his front wheels and it made it about 5m and stopped again. Max Trax again and he got going with his front wheels at an angle of 10 to 20 degrees the whole time. He turned around on the sloping sand near the water, very risky on this beach, managed to get back to us with his wheels still turned going really slow and got bogged at the same spot again.

I told him what he was doing wrong and told him to do a GOE course to learn how to drive the D3! (Gordon, expect some contact soon!) I asked him if I could have a go. Used the Max Trax again got going and I got bogged after 5 m. I couldn't believe it with tyres at 16 psi. My car with ECB bull bar, Kaymar rear bar, 150 l of fuel but with 285 60 R18 D697's at 18 psi was having no problems at all.

Max Trax again and finally got going, getting used to the petrol V6. Once on the move the car was fantastic but my new friend thought I would blow up his engine. We were cruising along in auto and sand mode with the engine spinning nicely at 4 to 5000 rpm, drove the full length of the beach, up in the dunes near the river mouth, all no problems. He said he would never do that to his engine, which was why he was driving so slow and getting bogged.

Got him back in the drivers seat and took him the full length of the beach and up a steeper more challenging dune with no issues. He was loving it and getting used to the engine revving and got confident.

He drove back to his family and friends who had parked their Hi Lux on another soft section of beach. We were leaving but saw they were bogged again. Went back with the Max Trax again and his mate checked the D3 tyre pressures. They were on 25 psi and my new friend said surely the extra few psi wouldn't make much difference! He was too scared to let them down to 16 and none of his party had a compressor!

After two more goes with the Max Trax he was on firmer sand and heading to BCF to get Max Trax! I tried to drum in that he must let his tyres down! It was pretty annoying to find that he hadn't lowered his pressures enough after I had told him what to do and he said he had but we had an hour of fun doing some training and recovery practice. At least I now know why it was so difficult to get going in the very soft sand.

The V6 petrol was a gem. It was incredibly smooth and quiet with heaps of power when you let the transmission do its thing to keep the revs up in sand mode. He was worried about his engine but it was so smooth and quiet that 5000 is nothing. I have never driven such a smooth, quiet, free spinning engine before.

Anyway mate, we learnt a lot if you read this. Get out there and do it again but this time be prepared with recovery gear and LET YOUR TYRES DOWN!!!

Bob

I found the D3 V6 a better drive (compared to the D4 TDV6) on the sand due to the responsiveness of the engine. Yes you have to ring its neck, but it does sound good in low 2 with the revs up

What was not good was the economy on sand

The TDV6 on the other hand requires more attention to ensure the turbo's doing its thing.