Wow, lol. This is from TTNET:
What could have caused this?
Bernie:
That bug was jammed in the restrictor @ the end of the oil feed line to her PS turbo.
I took the restrictor out and couldn’t see light through it - so I used a compressor.
When blowing into the restrictor from the direction oil would flow nothing came out on the other side.
When I blew backwards to the direction of oil flow - that little bugger popped out of the restrict.
Mind you it was one whole piece - it fell to bits as we examined it.
We spent the evening puzzling over how on earth an insect could end up there. My thought was that maybe, while the hose or restrictor piece was new on a shelf, an insect had crawled unnoticed into that cozy dark place.
I posted these pictures a couple places where I have entomologist friends to see if anyone could tell what exactly it used to be; to find if it was, in fact, a crevice-loving kind.
Turns out that - nope - it was a pregnant crane fly. Crane flies are those bumbling fliers that look like gigantic mosquitoes:
This guy said he often finds them crushed on the sidewalk with those black eggs spilling out of them just like this. He also identified the pointy bit as the female’s ovipositor. The straight sections look very much like the abdomen of a crane fly.
Okaaaayyyy… How did THAT end up in there? With their wings and long legs, they definitely don’t go seeking tight spaces.
My latest theory is that, while I was under the car doing an oil change and the oil cap was off above, it flew into the crank case, and eventually worked its way through the system to end up there. Or maybe while we worked on the engine the last time, it flew into an uncovered part. But we’re pretty good about keeping things covered.
Lesson learned: ALWAYS keep all entry points covered unless they’re under your direct observation!
That is nuts! Great investigating though.
this is actually where the term ‘bug’ came from
moths used to get themselves stuck inside of the vacuum tubes on early computers.
Hass
November 5, 2009, 8:01pm
5
haha yea.
Thats nuts, ill be sure to keep my shit covered during the winter build…
Penfold
November 6, 2009, 12:24am
7
I would have never expected that.
Karter
November 6, 2009, 3:18am
9
those things were EVERYWHERE with how wet it was this summer. I was constantly killing them in the garage. Sucks that it took down a whole turbo set up tho.
That bug must have taken a crazy trip though the motor, lol.
Dekar12
November 6, 2009, 8:07am
11
wow…
That is really crazy that the thing was floating around and then got sucked up like that.
Bull49
November 6, 2009, 8:57am
15
that sucks. it’s bad enough you have to worry about normal mechanical failures.
