Is300H 'escargot'

[Roscobbc]

IS300H 'Escargot' - why the title? - went out in the car to work yesterday morning - 3/4 miles of suburban traffic before getting on M25. After first 5 minutes of use I noticed a smell inside the car of what seemed to be burning paper or cardboard - wasn't too sure if it was from inside or outside the car (from one of those industrial pollutant clouds driftiing over from Europe), so opened drivers window and ignored it. Didn't notice it the rest of the day - nor today. Came back from an 80 miles round trip, parked the IS in the drive, walked around the front end and heard an odd crackling sound. Opened the bonnet and there were scores of 'cooked' snail shells on the tops of the suspension turrets and some discoloured marks where there must have been a good may more on the exhaust heat sheild. How weird - must remember tonight to put some garlic in the engine compartment and have a French gastronomic experience day tomorrow!

[is200 Newbie]

stick some sausages in there (as long as you clean the snails out first) - ideal BBQ time tomorrow !!

[michaelH]

but don't put in anything that might attract rodents. Mmm, those cables look chewy ...

[Roscobbc]

Might just urinate in the engine bay - do that outside the perimiter of the house regularly and it keeps the foxes and cats from evacuating their bowels and bladders outside the back door. ADVISE. Only do this at night - neighbours may call the men in white coats in!

Edited May 9, 2015 by Roscobbc

[Rabbers]

Ross:

That's what I call a weird experience! I once used to park in the vicinity of a neighbour's cabbage patch and

routinely each morning needed to pick four or five large snails off my car before throwing them back over the

fence whence they came, but as far as I ever noticed, they never ventured under the hood.

Your post reminded me of this and a cartoon called Turbo I recently saw as an in-flight movie and which,

after your experience, you might want to check out. The main character is in fact a snail which dreams of

becoming the fastest of its species in the world and which, after accidentally getting inside the motor of a

drag racer, acquires miraculous powers of speed. Scripted from the point of view of snails, the plot entails them having to face everyday dangers from traffic, lawnmowers, birds etc., but not being roasted alive inside the hood of a car. Presumably this would have been too disturbing for a kiddy audience!

[Roscobbc]

Hi Rabbers - initially it reminded me of Squirrel activity - i.e leave a car in the garage over winter (or so for matter out in the open) and they will get in the engine compartment and store Hazel nuts etc inbetween the inlet manifold and carb in the 'V' of a V8 engine. Not a real problem just a pain to clear out in spring. I remember years ago when I had a 205GTI, collecting it in from a service and the service team all coming out to see me and talk about the remnants of a Hedgehog that had somehow become wedged inbetween the exhaust manifold and the engine block and the difficulty they had removing it! - the rather rich (and appetising) smell inside the car from several thousand miles ago was then explained!

[DanD]

I lived in southern Germany for many years, and people there have a lot of problems with weasel/martens/squirrels damaging cables overnight in cold winters. They climb into warm engine bays and spend the night there, feasting over anything chewable.

It is such a problem that some car manufacturers such as BMW supply cable leads that are impregnated with some kind of repellent.

[Roscobbc]

Even more weird!

When off out to work in the IS yesterday morning I got a few yards up the road and started cursing some of the 'locals' again, thinking that someone is burning dead animals, judging by the smell. Drove on a mile or so, and with the smell much the same I pulled over and popped the hood. This time these was a sticky glutinous mess burning-off on the exhaust heat shield with a very dead mouse lying upside down on the passenger side suspension turret! - the mouse's entrails were hanging out. So how did a dead mouse get from being cooked at Regulo 8 on the exhaust heat shield to being on the suspension top. Did its guts 'explode' and throw it on the suspension top - or was there another mouse on the shield that fell off. Can't logically see a 'live' mouse remaining on the head shield during start-up. If already dead - how did it die, wouldn't have thought that a cat (or Fox) would be able to kill a mouse (or mice!) and 'store' it (them) in th engine compartment. Bizarre or what?

[Rabbers]

Ross: Clearly, there are sinister forces at work in your neighbourhood . Maybe it's time to call in

an exorcist ....

[DanD]

My guess would be a stoat cosying up somewhere warm for the night and bringing its dinner with it.

[Roscobbc]

Hmmmmm - Stoat is an interesting thought! - we are urban, albeit with plenty of trees and greenery. Do rats feed on mice? - Squirrels? - one things for sure something feeds on snails - find plenty of thse in odd corners c/w Hazel nut shells.