WTF? Check this out

[86PACER]

I was driving arround town today when a plastic grocery bag flew in the street right in front of me. I just drove right over it thinking that it would just blow away from under the car. A little later, driving still I got this strong burning smell in the car. I figured it was just outside. I got home and still smelled it. Popped the hood and looked under the car. One of my long tube headers was covered with what looked like blue tar. It was that plastic grocery bag I drove over on the road earlier. I let the car idle andwiped some of it off while it was melted. Not all of it came off.
How can i get this s- - -t off my header without removing the ceramic coating. Thanks.

 

[Ken]

Ya don't. It'll eventually burn off (most of it anyway).

You have to watch out for those bags getting caught up in the air intake to the radiator as well. It'll ruin your day when the car overheats, not only because the airstream is blocked, but if you have an auxillary fan in front of the radiator as I do, it'll jam the fan and probably burn the motor up.

 

[86PACER]

Thanks Ken. I never thought a plastic bag could end up causing some damage. I will let it be and hope a lot of it comes off with time. :cool

 

[RoadReady]

I had a strange smell and took the car to a muffler shop thinking I had a bad cat....it was a plastic bag stuck on a muffler! The shop tech said he sees it lot.

 

[Magmotor]

I solved that problem by putting chicken wire covering the entire main air intake underneath by the bumper. I've pulled two grocery bags off it so far. Sure saved a lot of headaches.

 

[Tuna]

After sucking up a couple in the radiator area and getting one on the exhaust, I now pay attention to the bags blowing around on the street and make sure I see them in the rearview mirror after I pass them. If not, I watch the water temp closely for a bit and decide whether to stop or not. I've caught a couple early enough so far to keep them from being a real pain.

 

[MaxxSmoke]

MANN that sucketh

 

[86PACER]

I solved that problem by putting chicken wire covering the entire main air intake underneath by the bumper. I've pulled two grocery bags off it so far. Sure saved a lot of headaches.

Good ideal. I am going to do this too before something else occurs.

 

[86PACER]

MANN that sucketh

:L I agree

 

[rrubel]

I've actually seen them burst into flame after contacting part of the exhaust system (great fun during rush hour on the Beltway...). I'm guessing you'd have to be missing a heat shield for that to happen, but I've heard of dry grass burning after coming in contact with a catalytic converter...
[RICHR]

 

[Ken]

Ya know, if there's a lot of the bag stuck to the exhaust, you could always just wait until it cools and then "chunk" off the bigger pieces. The rest'll melt away soon enough.

_ken

 

[invinceablevett]

same thing happened to me on a couple of Hondas.The little DX models were so low to the ground they picked up everything.Our salty roads(lots of snow in the winter time up here), caused the sheilds to rust off and therefore exposed the exhaust.I once went a whole week sniffing that burnt smell before I decided to look under the car.I imagine that plastic could catch fire maybe.

 

[JOliver]

I witnessed a 98 Siverado crack a block after hitting a plastic Walmart bag ...no kidding.
Older gentleman ran over a bag in his (at the time) brand new Siverado..it had maybe 200 miles on it...it got caught up in his driveshaft and melted the rear seal on the back of the trans dumping all the trans fluid out he was on his way home around a 100 mile trip from where he bought the truck..trans got so hot it heated the engine and cracked the block...Thank God he was big friends with the owner of the dealership and they "fixed him up" with no out of pocket money ...but it was a terrible thing to witness I myself and him thought he was gonna be out several thousands of dollars plus having a new truck with a replacement motor and trans...he came out good but I do not hit anything on the road unless it can't be advoided.


Jason

 

[95ZR1#418]

Hey-

It's time to quit hanging out at WalMart...

 

[vettedoc]

What ever happened to brown grocery bags??? They wouldn't cause such problems!