A Wasp Called Houdini (But Less Clever)

[Rabbers]

I attach a photo of a wasp carcass stuck inside the left-hand rear lights cluster of my RC.   It looks dried out, so there is a chance the sun will turn it to dust and save me the trouble of trying to get it out.  This would be a good thing since I have no idea of how to do it myself.  I don't know how the creature got in there in the first place since the seal is intact and looks perfectly sound.  I can only imagine it somehow got in from the rear some three years ago when the lights units were checked during repairs to the boot area.  Perhaps it also perished around that time and only recently became dislodged from its original resting place.  Which is where I wish it had stayed.

 

[cruisermark]

27 minutes ago, Rabbers said:

I attach a photo of a wasp carcass stuck inside the left-hand rear lights cluster of my RC.   It looks dried out, so there is a chance the sun will turn it to dust and save me the trouble of trying to get it out.  This would be a good thing since I have no idea of how to do it myself.  I don't know how the creature got in there in the first place since the seal is intact and looks perfectly sound.  I can only imagine it somehow got in from the rear some three years ago when the lights units were checked during repairs to the boot area.  Perhaps it also perished around that time and only recently became dislodged from its original resting place.  Which is where I wish it had stayed.

 

Now that would (excuse the pun) bug me untill I somehow found a solution to get rid of it!

[HighlandJohn]

Can you feed a small-bore plastic pipe down into the lens, then push against the corpse and suck on your end? Might need several attempts though.....

Good luck with it.

[J Henderson]

Is the light all LED or does it have bulbs that can be removed? If the latter, I would try and vacuum it out.

[DavidCM]

1 hour ago, J Henderson said:

Is the light all LED or does it have bulbs that can be removed? If the latter, I would try and vacuum it out.

I think Renato has the facelift RC which ,I'm sure has a mixture of LED and traditional bulbs in the rear light cluster.As John says above,you may be able to get into the fitting from the boot.The indicator bulb is the traditional type.Why they put a mixture of bulbs on is a mystery.

I think it unlikely it will turn to dust.We had a spider in the rear light of our old Mazda CX7 the looked the same for about 7 years.

[Rabbers]

2 hours ago, J Henderson said:

… I would try and vacuum it out.

1 hour ago, DavidCM said:

… think it unlikely it will turn to dust 

I’ll see how long my patience holds out before I try anything serious.

[Bluemarlin]

On 7/23/2023 at 5:46 PM, DavidCM said:

I think it unlikely it will turn to dust.We had a spider in the rear light of our old Mazda CX7 the looked the same for about 7 years.

He could send a spider in to eat the wasp 🙂

[Rabbers]

1 hour ago, Bluemarlin said:

He could send a spider in to eat the wasp 🙂

I would think spiders prefer their wasps served fresh. 

[DavidCM]

I looked closely at my rear light earlier and it looks like your "vespa" is in the indicator section of the light cluster.There must be some way into that section from the boot.

[Rabbers]

9 hours ago, DavidCM said:

I looked closely at my rear light earlier and it looks like your "vespa" is in the indicator section of the light cluster.There must be some way into that section from the boot.

You must be right, David, but I confess I’m reluctant to take a look in case I’m tempted to do something I shouldn’t.  I’ll probably end up popping in at my dealership next time I’m in the neighbourhood.  The holiday season being upon us I’ll be sure to find a bored junior mechanic willing to help.

[dutchie01]

OH NOOO, not the bored junior mechanic! Last time i did that he was to change a lightbulb on my wife's car and at a certain moment had 2 mtrs of wiring in his hand with the light at the end. I desperately asked him to put everything back where it belonged please... 

[Rabbers]

2 hours ago, dutchie01 said:

OH NOOO, not the bored junior mechanic! ….

Bernard, you paint a bleak picture of young persons who follow their chosen career paths with all the radiant enthusiasm of youth.  Not that I entirely disagree with it.  Unfortunately I long ago concluded that even the most bored of junior mechanics among bored junior mechanics is less likely than I am to damage car components when fiddling with them.