I love mud.
There, I said it. Its not a sexual attraction (well, maybe a little...mmmmmm mud wrestling) but I do love myself a little wet dirt to go have some fun in. Today it started raining....a lot...and nearby where I work, there is an empty field that will someday be home to many a white collar worker, but until then, its a mud pit after rain.
After work today I decided to go to that nearby field and have some fun. I was a little afraid of getting stuck since my tires are practically bald on my rears, but that said, it is quite fun sliding around at 30 MPH and doing massive powerslides watching huge rooster tails of mud go flying in the air. I didn't get stuck, but had the car floored and was maybe crawling along at 5 MPH as pieces of mud flew everywhere.
After I had my fun my once black 4Runner was almost completely brown...a good sign to be sure. However, I needed to clean my car to avoid any problems with mud gunking up components.
Going back in my car history, I used to own a 1993 Jeep Grand Cherokee. I loved that truck, but its one major downfall was that it had open bearings and any time you offroaded the thing, you had to wash the entire undercarriage of the car off or risk some serious issues. (Before I found out they were open, I went through 3 sets of bearings in one year due to me not washing it throughly enough...)
Anyways, I go to my local car wash and hose the 4Runner down pretty throughly, including popping the hood and spraying around inside for good measure. After I had hosed the car off, I started it up and went to make the turn to exit the car wash but noticed that after turning the steering wheel about a quarter turn, I immediately lost my power steering. I straightened out the wheel and the power steering came back, but any time I turned the wheel more then a quarter turn left or right, the power steering would go out and it felt as if I was trying to man handle a 200 pound dog. If I turned the wheel all the way to the lock, the wheel would jerk in my hands and the power steering pump didn't sound very happy.
Now, I throughly washed the entire underside of the car, especially the front suspension components, so I know its not mud in some suspension component, but I'm wondering if the power steering belt may have been slipping due to me washing the engine bay? I didn't hear any squealing of belts as a telltale sign, but could it be anything else?
Thanks for any help you guys can provide.
There, I said it. Its not a sexual attraction (well, maybe a little...mmmmmm mud wrestling) but I do love myself a little wet dirt to go have some fun in. Today it started raining....a lot...and nearby where I work, there is an empty field that will someday be home to many a white collar worker, but until then, its a mud pit after rain.
After work today I decided to go to that nearby field and have some fun. I was a little afraid of getting stuck since my tires are practically bald on my rears, but that said, it is quite fun sliding around at 30 MPH and doing massive powerslides watching huge rooster tails of mud go flying in the air. I didn't get stuck, but had the car floored and was maybe crawling along at 5 MPH as pieces of mud flew everywhere.
After I had my fun my once black 4Runner was almost completely brown...a good sign to be sure. However, I needed to clean my car to avoid any problems with mud gunking up components.
Going back in my car history, I used to own a 1993 Jeep Grand Cherokee. I loved that truck, but its one major downfall was that it had open bearings and any time you offroaded the thing, you had to wash the entire undercarriage of the car off or risk some serious issues. (Before I found out they were open, I went through 3 sets of bearings in one year due to me not washing it throughly enough...)
Anyways, I go to my local car wash and hose the 4Runner down pretty throughly, including popping the hood and spraying around inside for good measure. After I had hosed the car off, I started it up and went to make the turn to exit the car wash but noticed that after turning the steering wheel about a quarter turn, I immediately lost my power steering. I straightened out the wheel and the power steering came back, but any time I turned the wheel more then a quarter turn left or right, the power steering would go out and it felt as if I was trying to man handle a 200 pound dog. If I turned the wheel all the way to the lock, the wheel would jerk in my hands and the power steering pump didn't sound very happy.
Now, I throughly washed the entire underside of the car, especially the front suspension components, so I know its not mud in some suspension component, but I'm wondering if the power steering belt may have been slipping due to me washing the engine bay? I didn't hear any squealing of belts as a telltale sign, but could it be anything else?
Thanks for any help you guys can provide.
