I was just wondering if anyone else out there had ever had to deal with a bat, or a bird stuck in their intercooler? Over the summer, i noticed that my car wasn't running as strong as it had been and i popped the hood and to my suprise, there was a BAT stuck in the intercooler! It had flown in through the hood scoop. Maybe i should think about gettin one of those chrome covers to go in the scoop? It had been in there for a day or two, so it was pretty tough to get out, it was stuck to it and there was nasty **** everywhere in the intercooler...

 

Moving this thread from Off Topic to MINI Talk.

 

very close actually, i smashed into a bat or vice versa and it hit the mini emblem right below the scoup. thought i was the only one, i guess they like the sound of the sc. once a turkey or some kinda pheasant thing flew out of a tree 100feet away and watched it bounce right off where the driver door meets the roof.

 

Two weeks ago, I hit a racoon at about 45mph. He took out my spoiler, radiator, and air conditioning condensor.

$1600. Comprehensive paid all but $500.

hs

 

Yeah, but was the raccoon stuck in the hood scoop?

 

I ran over this old lady and her wig got stuck in my intercooler, and her blown-out elastic panty's were flying off my side mirror. Luckily, the walker bounced off the spoiler. They gotta hurry if they wanna make the walk cycle in the crosswalk! I put an old lady sticker in my back window.

 

I've had a plastic grocery bag get sucked into my intercooler scoop, along with bits of paper and other junk plastered to the grille and frontend of my car when a truck hauling trash started to lose it's junk all over the highway.

Now is the time of the year where I am pulling leaves out of the radiator and intercooler.

 

So how long do you think that bat has been there..??? Poor bat... I wonder if you hit the bat through the scoop or did the bat just decide to reside in there, thinking it was a cave..

///Gilbert

 

haha, cave.

 

I wonder if it was Dracula? I did the $2.00 hood scoop grill several months ago - not a single bat since! In case you're wondering what I'm talking about: http://www.tech-esq.com/MINI/how_to_...oop_grille.htm

 

Exactly why I made my own grill using the instructions from tech-esq (see link from Hammer). Total parts cost, $1.00CDN for enough mesh to make maybe 6 of em. Total time to actually make and install one, less than 1/2 hour.

Attached is link to a picture. Sorry, I forgot to shrink it first....

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...hp?photo=14925

 

That must have been a mess....don't want to think about the smell....

Just wonder what are the odds that a speedy bat would get caught in a space as small as an intercooler intake....boggles the mind.

Wouldn't think it is likely to happen again.



Cheers

 

I'm pretty sure the bat didn't think it was a cave.. lol I think it had been there about a day because i thought i had seen one fly down close to the car a night or so before i found it, and i was runnin about 80, but i never did think about it getting stuck in there... I think they really may be attracted to the supercharger whine because I have hit a couple more and every time I hit em' I was gettin on it.

 

umm, maybe we can start calling your MINI the batmobile.

 

Actually, on a cold night, after a drive, small animals find a nice warm hood (er...bonnet) on any car is a good place to hang out. I've had to shoo away squirrels, cats and racoons out from around my car a few times where I live. I've had leaves, and small rocks enter the scoop. I also suspect maybe mice have also, as I've seen fur inside. After I put in the screen, it's been clean.

I've never seen a bat or anything living fly into the scoop while the car was moving though.

 

 

[QUOTE=beken]Exactly why I made my own grill using the instructions from tech-esq (see link from Hammer). Total parts cost, $1.00CDN for enough mesh to make maybe 6 of em. Total time to actually make and install one, less than 1/2 hour.

Yep, a buck ten from Home Depot and about half hour or so and no more bugs and such in my IC.

.......Les

 

$1 Canadian... thats like 6 cents! Wot a bargain!

 

Thats funny you say that because one of my friends has been calling me "batman" every since i told him about that

 

The racoon was big, but he wasn't THAT big!

 

Did you save the tail to hang from the radio antenna?

 

No bats or birds, but I hit a small dead deer coming over the crest of a hill. Amazingly, it cleared the front spoiler. I looked for damage but all I could find was a piece of venison hanging from the cat converter heat shield.

 

Is it Jerky yet?

 

Mini... Mini Crocket, king of the urban frontier....