Learnt two new things today

[solarman216]

Had a good hour at Slindon then got into deep water and bellied so had to winch, no problem good winch and going along nicely on a rout not been used for a long time (have to do it don't you) after 20 odd minutes I notice some oily stuff floating on the water, put it down to the over greasing of the winch after the last strip down and rebuild, then when I got back in the motor to try and give the winch some assistance as the wheels were getting on something a bit more substantial I noticed the temperature had gone right down, ODD, but carried on then a little while later the oil light came on, stopped engine and carried on winching but battery dying and not out yet, still 30 feet to go, so not happy, I like to be independent, and not need to ask for help, but I am stuffed and am a long way from my road going motor and trailer, not in distance but difficult terrain, as luck would have it there were a couple of motors near so applied for help, and I have to say Paul in his Defender was absolutely ace, not only did he winch me with a lot of mud ploughing on the front but he towed me over very difficult terrain back to the car park (I was very impressed) my motor was dead I even struggled to steer with no engine but he just dragged me though it all even when (cos I could not steer) I tangled with a tree, I just had enough battery to winch side ways off the tree and we continued, so what did I learn?

1. that the crankcase breather sucks as well as blows, this is how my engine sump became full of muddy water, the breather was under water for a long time, and it is the only way that the water (and mud) can have entered the engine, and it was running on this mixture for some time.

2. I was completely convinced that the engine had to be shot, before we left Slindon I pulled the sump plug, the resultant grey sludge covered an area of 2 sq mtrs plus, however on getting it back home I removed the filter and fitted an old one and refilled it with old engine oil, started it up and lo and behold it ran, but more than that it did not rumble on the bottom end, it sounds just great apart from a loud tappet (hydraulic tappets so one is blocked) easy replacement, so this makes this engine absolutely top notch in my estimation bearing in mind that this is the one that came with the off roader to start with and it rattled on start up so outed it, but later refitted with just new big end shells, now this, I think this makes it almost indestructible.

But I would appreciate thoughts on how a crankcase breather can suck water into the engine when its purpose is to discharge crankcase pressure?????????????
have been in the motor game for all my life and cannot figure this one, Rick