Yep, still hunting!

[RCW]

Tagged out in two states, and two more to go. In town tonight as the designated driver for the rest of the motley crew who are celebrating.

I am too old for that stuff anymore! Some of them will be too, by the time morning gets here and we load up the rigs and head to Colorado!

My new diesel trans has once again proven to be top of the heap for serious hauling and unbelievable fuel economy in mud, snow, and way overloaded!

Brought out three cabin tents, camping junk, four elk, and three riders in one load at a safe and sane pace. One of the other guy's brand X UTV's ended up in the ditch turned on its side, and he suffered the indignity of having me pull him upright and back to the skid road, and then having to haul him back ten gallons of gas so he could complete the trip out! His claim to fame is he can go over 45 miles an hour, but subsidizing the terrorists and ending up in the ditch is not my idea of a great time.

One other Mule was there, but it was gas and sucked up more than three times the fuel I did. At least he did not run out of fuel or end up in the ditch!

[okieduc104]

Originally Posted by RCW

Tagged out in two states, and two more to go. In town tonight as the designated driver for the rest of the motley crew who are celebrating.

I am too old for that stuff anymore! Some of them will be too, by the time morning gets here and we load up the rigs and head to Colorado!

My new diesel trans has once again proven to be top of the heap for serious hauling and unbelievable fuel economy in mud, snow, and way overloaded!

Brought out three cabin tents, camping junk, four elk, and three riders in one load at a safe and sane pace. One of the other guy's brand X UTV's ended up in the ditch turned on its side, and he suffered the indignity of having me pull him upright and back to the skid road, and then having to haul him back ten gallons of gas so he could complete the trip out! His claim to fame is he can go over 45 miles an hour, but subsidizing the terrorists and ending up in the ditch is not my idea of a great time.

One other Mule was there, but it was gas and sucked up more than three times the fuel I did. At least he did not run out of fuel or end up in the ditch!

Hey, we gotta quit buying those diesel mules, didn't you hear our Mobil-Exxon profits fell 68%

[pat0021]

sweet. now come to ohio and help thin the herd

[John Taylor]

RCW

"Great Hunting" Glad to hear someone is having a good time. I haven't even bought a hunting license yet. The group I use to hunt with at this time of the year is up North hunting. Since becoming handicapped several years back It has changed my life style. I get down at this time of year, time I always enjoyed the most, actually I never though of it as summer, winter, fall or spring. It was Fishing or Hunting season. The end of November and first couple weeks of December is the peak of the rut here and sure I will be buying a hunting license by then and my hunting group will be hunting locally. I predict the bed of the Mule will be seeing blood "soooooon" If I can keep my wife off of it long enough.

John

[bgard02]

RCW,
have read many of your responses and know you know your mule!
i need help(opinion) as to what to do with my mule. bought new from dealer 11-06 trans diesel 4X4 4 wheel. garage kept when not in use on the hunt. always kept clean. have 37 hours use. went hog hunting in west texas(easter09) ; engine seized. went back to dealer. he said after looking at unit on trailer"it's been under water ! you guys can't drive these things crazy off road thru water!" his evaluation was without "looking into " the engine. kawasaki refused to have a tech evaluate the engine 1. no extended warranty,2. servce manager opinion the unit was abuse. i paid to have unit broken down to assess the problem the engine had 1 blackened piston and 2 normal (brown domed) looking pistons. i have a $10K mule which i bought new(and have many kawasaki only products) and can get no one to tell me what cause catastrophic engine failure.(i will absolutely accept fault as consumer if shown HOW this happened . i feel something else caused the engine damage. also, i'm 56 years old-not a kid damaging property trying to "stick it" to dealer/kawasaki.) i hope you may provide some direction. thanks in advance; keep up the hunting! God Bless!
bgard02@yahoo.com

[RCW]

There is not enough information here on which to make any form of assessment or recommendation. Frankly, it sounds as if who ever took your engine apart is quite incompetent, failed to provide you with a reasonable description of the damage, or you are not posting what was found.

Engine seizure from water ingestion will show several very distinct symptoms. The pistons and/or cylinder walls on one or more cylinders will be serioiusly scuffed or rusted. If the water was present in the cylinder(s) at time of inspection it will be wet in the combustion chamber(s) and the oil in the sump will have water. The crankshaft will nearly always be no longer true, and one or more rods may be bent.

If the water was being ingested in small amounts and it kept running, only to seize after it was stopped and set for a day or two, there will be generally be pits in the carbon on the pistons from the water superheating and blowing out chunks of junk, very definite rust traces on the cylinder walls, and extreme difficulty pulling the piston from the damaged cylinder.

However, my assessment of a diesel with a black piston and that has seized would be a blown headgasket, perhaps evidence of what is known as hydrolock, likely stuck valves, and severe rusting on the cylinder walls.

Of one or more of the valves were frozen into their guides the black piston could be fom low compression caused by damaged valves. But, that is something checked immediately before the engine is torn down by simply removing the valve cover and checking the condition of the valve train and checking for stuck valves.

With a blown headgasket you would find antifreeze in the cylinder, and in the oil. A dunking that seizes an engine will not create one piston with a black carboned crown and two that are normal, simply not possible. Only a complete idiot would make that sort of assessment if that were all that was found.

Sorry to tell you this, but you need to find a competent diesel mechanic and have them take a look at the engine.

Anytime a Mule owner, or any diesel owner, has an engine seizure the very first thing that must be done is pull two oil samples and send them to two different labs for analysis if it is likely to be a warranty claim.

If you have been running in wet conditions it is also a good idea to dry out the intake system, let the engine run and warm completely, then drain the oil, replace the filter and install fresh oil and let it run and circulate the new oil to prevent rusting.

I really do not know how any dealer can determine one has been under water without a disassembly and inspection. Perhaps he has ESP or is simply not that reputable.

[bgard02]

Originally Posted by RCW

There is not enough information here on which to make any form of assessment or recommendation. Frankly, it sounds as if who ever took your engine apart is quite incompetent, failed to provide you with a reasonable description of the damage, or you are not posting what was found.

Engine seizure from water ingestion will show several very distinct symptoms. The pistons and/or cylinder walls on one or more cylinders will be serioiusly scuffed or rusted. If the water was present in the cylinder(s) at time of inspection it will be wet in the combustion chamber(s) and the oil in the sump will have water. The crankshaft will nearly always be no longer true, and one or more rods may be bent.

If the water was being ingested in small amounts and it kept running, only to seize after it was stopped and set for a day or two, there will be generally be pits in the carbon on the pistons from the water superheating and blowing out chunks of junk, very definite rust traces on the cylinder walls, and extreme difficulty pulling the piston from the damaged cylinder.

However, my assessment of a diesel with a black piston and that has seized would be a blown headgasket, perhaps evidence of what is known as hydrolock, likely stuck valves, and severe rusting on the cylinder walls.

Of one or more of the valves were frozen into their guides the black piston could be fom low compression caused by damaged valves. But, that is something checked immediately before the engine is torn down by simply removing the valve cover and checking the condition of the valve train and checking for stuck valves.

With a blown headgasket you would find antifreeze in the cylinder, and in the oil. A dunking that seizes an engine will not create one piston with a black carboned crown and two that are normal, simply not possible. Only a complete idiot would make that sort of assessment if that were all that was found.

Sorry to tell you this, but you need to find a competent diesel mechanic and have them take a look at the engine.

Anytime a Mule owner, or any diesel owner, has an engine seizure the very first thing that must be done is pull two oil samples and send them to two different labs for analysis if it is likely to be a warranty claim.

If you have been running in wet conditions it is also a good idea to dry out the intake system, let the engine run and warm completely, then drain the oil, replace the filter and install fresh oil and let it run and circulate the new oil to prevent rusting.

I really do not know how any dealer can determine one has been under water without a disassembly and inspection. Perhaps he has ESP or is simply not that reputable.

GOD BLESS AND THANKS!!