I did a stupid thing the weekend and used my 8000GTE to do a bit of beach fishing on a camping trip. I got it out when I got home to give it a wash down and I seem to have some sand inside somewere and when I turn the handle I get this horrible grateing sound. I called shimano and they said that It would be a waste of time getting it serviced as they would never get it out without replacing all the interior parts. Its only about 6 months old too.
Any body got any ideas please.

No easy way out Anthony. Strip down, clean, rebuild, regrease. The sand is now well and truly glued to the gears via the grease and oil that the factory packed in. If you dont fancy the job then http://www.reelvalue.co.uk will do it, or there's a reel doctor who occasionally posts on AN (doc). If he reads this, he might have a suggestion.

Argyll is right mate only a complete strip down, clean, rebuild and greasing will do the job. Would be weel worth it though as it is only 6 months old

Thanks argyll, I was thinking about stripping it down myself as I have the diagrams and a digital camera to take pics as I go. A friend suggested washing the parts in some parafin to get rid of all the grease and hopefully the sand to Will this work? What is the best grease to reapply?
thanks again
Ant

For a start, I would try using a degreaser from an aerosol. The pressure dislodges grease and may well wash out sand with it - worth a try anyway. I use a pretty expensive teflon grease in my reels but only because I got a tub of it for nothing Most tackle shops will sell you an appropiate grease in the small quantities you require, but often it is often possible to buy the same gease at a lube specialists in much larger quantities at somewhere near the same price.

Try opening up the reel and then pouring boiling water from a kettle over all the moving parts to remove the sand and grease. It may just work and save a strip down

Will the boiling water warp the plastic parts etc. Is this something you/anybody has tried before as im a little worried about trying this.

Flog it on Ebay and hope you get around sixty quid for it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

demon Just remember to tell us the item number so we can bump your price up but not end up winning it!! demon

I strip my shimanos down every year and give them a service.
Baitrunners are the trickiest of the lot.

I've used boiling water before without any damage.
If the plastic parts are of a hard enough material then the boiling water should'nt affect them. Sorry I can't be more specific as I don't own any shimano reels.I live on the coast and use my reels for light sea work (macky spinning) and use the boiling water method.Do the same on my centre pin to clean it but that only has metal and no moving parts

Chevins suggestion is probably worth trying to save time. Just depends how much sand that you have in there. A large aerosol of WD40 might flush out all or at least most of it. Hold the nozzle close to the reel for max pressure. Two applications might be required but its def worth a try. Let the reel air dry overnight before replacing the lube. You'll need some general purpose reel grease for the gears and any other moving parts and some light oil for the bearings (if they're not sealed) If its still grinding away after that then its a strip down.
Found this webpage that might help... its a bit fussy, but its american

http://www.stripersurf.com/shimanobaitrunner.html