150 and Water

[vk2ss55 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close vk2ss55]

I went on a big trip down the Hay River Track and made a monumental boo boo by putting the wrong jerry into the fuel tank , yes it was water .
Problem was we were at a place called Shotline which is about 60k's north of Poeppels Corner . After several attempts on the sat phone we finally contacted Barnesy at Birdsville Roadhouse and he came out and recovered the Prado on his monster tilt tray back to Birdsville . You reckon it's hard enough negotiating the dunes in a 4WD , well in a 9 tonne truck with a 3 tonne Prado on the back it's a big job . Back at Birdsville the tanks were removed and cleaned out , I was surprised how much sand was in the tanks so taking spare fuel filters really payed off .The main tank has a large white plastic screw on lid that has to be removed to clean out the tank and try as we might it wouldn't undo . Luckily Barnesy's son is a boilermaker so he welded up a tool and the cap was undone .
We were relieved when the D4D started and ran ok for the rest of the trip . My sincere thanks to Barnesy and Sam but after all this I can tell you I'll check Jerrys over and over before putting anything into the tanks . Cheers Ross

[vk2ss55 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close vk2ss55]

150 Water

Hey Roo I was so glad to see Barnesy I didn't really care about the cost at that stage . Luckily I had premium road service and they paid for a fair bit of the cost . I tell you Barnesy really works hard driving the tilt tray over the dunes that's for sure . I was amazed at how much sand was in the tanks when we got them out , luckily I had spare fuel filters with me . Make sure the lids of your jerrys are clearly marked . Cheers Ross

[yowie Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close yowie]

Any idea how the sand entered the tank?

And I run petrol, not diesel.

[Antman Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Antman]

ouch. Our of curiosity, how much did the tow cost?

[D4D Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close D4D]

That's bad luck, I bet you won't do that again. It's like driving off with the jockey wheel down on your camper, you only do that once too

I bought new jerry cans recently, yellow for diesel and blue for water. If I mix those up I am in serious trouble

[AJ120 Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close AJ120]

My fuel (Diesel) jerry's are red, my water jerry is Green, shouldn't mix them up!

An expensive mistake that one, but could have been worse if you drove on without realising the problem!

I am a bit surprised that you needed to add fuel though, I am looking at doing the Hay River and I thought a Prado would make the distance easily without extra fuel, well a diesel one anyway

Cheers Andrew

[craigm Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close craigm]

Never ASS-U-ME what color means what....... (learnt that the hard way working in London years ago doing electrical work). Who the F*&% uses Green/Yellow as active?)

[vk2ss55 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close vk2ss55]

Yowie I reckon the sand came from filling up in remote locations .
D4D I'd still mark the lids of the jerrys as that's the last thing you'll touch before using the contents .
AJ120 extra fuel probably wasn't necessary but it's a safety net should there be an issue where you had to turn back . You fuel up at Jervois Station then the next fuel stop is at Birdsville but we also did the Bush Tucker Tour at Batton Hill which can add an additional 70 k's to the journey .
Cheers Ross