Bird's nest

colosilverado · January 25, 2005

Okay, so I have been reading all of this SeaFoam talk on the platform specific boards. I am at lunch, looking under the hood of my '99 5.3 with a buddy, looking to see which line will be easier to pull for vacuum. I am looking at the PCV area and he asks' what the hell is this?" Since he has a early 70's sedan, I am thinking he must be looking at some emissions doo-dad or something. He points underneath where the duct from the airbox to the throttle body is and there's a freaking nest under there. I about crapped my pants.

So, I get it home (after dark of course) and start peeking. I was planning on cleaning the butterfly because the throttle "sticks" shut a tad, so I figured I'd do that and remove the nest. We're talking upscale.....toilet paper, dog hair, twigs, indoor/outdoor carpet fibers, cigarette butts, and even some thin fibers of the landscaping bark. I don't remember my truck sitting for very long...ever. So I am wondering why in the heck a bird picked that spot to build it's nest. It has to be a bird. The fan isn't going to suck all of that crap into there...and not into that particular spot. A rat or mouse can't get up there from what I'd guess. The amount of stuff I pulled outta there was enough to fill 1/3 to 1/2 of a 1 gallon sandwich bag. What the hell? No fried birdy though.

We always have birds nesting on our porch throughout the spring and summer and there was a finch that would land on both my wife's vehicle and my truck the instant we pulled up into the driveway, but WFT? I don't look under the hood that often, but I know I have been under there a few times since summer. LOL! I guess I just didn't look in that area. I know guess that the motor nevers gets hot enough to set that crap on fire then. Phew! There is still some residue in there that I'm gonna have to hose out or something.

Well, the SeaFoam experiment was fun. I used the PCV hose. I used a section of tubing that connects the ice make in the fridge to the water line. Well, I used some of the leftover ( Jason V....if you end up readin this, bite me because I know what you're thinking), not the existing stuff. I guess I let it suck it in slowly enough. I didn't realize there would be that much suction. It never stalled, though, and I used the wholel can. I let it sit for 1/2 hour and started her. She was pretty easy to start , but she smoked. I took her out of the neighborhood and left a fog throughout. I ran her in 2nd for quite awhile. It was kinda fun, but kinda embarassing. I'm glad it was night. Who knows if it did any good. The truck was running fine other than the butterfly sticking shut once in awhile, so I guess I'll never know for sure unless it starts to complain....

I think I'll post this in the Light Duty forum...this whole nest thing is whacking me out. Maybe others have had it....

muddog · January 25, 2005

It could be a bird, but I would think it would be a mouse or something ...I know field mice an jump like 3 feet, they suprised me how far they could jump, because they were getting under the hood of our tractor ...you might look for droppings if there are any....

colosilverado · January 25, 2005

It could be a bird, but I would think it would be a mouse or something ...I know field mice an jump like 3 feet, they suprised me how far they could jump, because they were getting under the hood of our tractor ...you might look for droppings if there are any....

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Yeah, a mouse would really torque me off. Little ba$ta...well, you know the rest. I didn't see any droppings, but it was dark. They'd better stay away from my truck!

Scyry · January 25, 2005

Been to DIA recently? There was a news story a couple nights ago about rabbits making nests in people's cars there. Someone had there car catch fire on the way home or something.

colosilverado · January 26, 2005

No, I haven't been to DIA lately. I did see tons of rabbits around there while I was waiting to have my bags screened a couple of years ago, though. I was with my wife and kids because they were dropping me off and they were watching all of the rabbits on the side of the hill.

It just amazes me that critters think of a engine bay as a nice place to settle down. Rabbits would do that? LOL! That is funny.

I do think that I confirmed that it was a bird because there is bird kaka on a few of the metal tubes/lines in that area.

elboberino · January 26, 2005

It just amazes me that critters think of a engine bay as a nice place to settle down. Rabbits would do that? LOL! That is funny.

Speaking of furry little critters in the engine compartment. When I was trying to change out the intake on my old '95 burban, not only did I find a large supply of olive seeds in it, I also found half of a crispy mouse/small squirrell...I don't know where the other half had gone, it it was pretty obvious he had been living there for a while because of all the olive seeds. He was living in part of the air intake box on the old '95s. It was pretty crazy when he fell out of the box....kinda shocked me. Oh well, I don't suppose I have any other little animals living in my air intake now that the K&N is on the '01 rado. I did almost lose a Python behind the dash once, but that's a totally different story for a totally different occassion.

colosilverado · January 26, 2005

It just amazes me that critters think of a engine bay as a nice place to settle down. Rabbits would do that? LOL! That is funny.

Speaking of furry little critters in the engine compartment. When I was trying to change out the intake on my old '95 burban, not only did I find a large supply of olive seeds in it, I also found half of a crispy mouse/small squirrell...I don't know where the other half had gone, it it was pretty obvious he had been living there for a while because of all the olive seeds. He was living in part of the air intake box on the old '95s. It was pretty crazy when he fell out of the box....kinda shocked me. Oh well, I don't suppose I have any other little animals living in my air intake now that the K&N is on the '01 rado. I did almost lose a Python behind the dash once, but that's a totally different story for a totally different occassion.

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Have you seen that picture of what looks like someone's pet python that crawled up onto an import's motor and exploded? That would freak me out for a few seconds! Just the shock of seeing a snake under the hood and the gore associated with it. I don't mind snakes, but seeing one under the hood would catch me off guard!