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That Monday a bird nest killed a $6,000 engine rebuild in 20 minutes
I was flushing coolant on a 2015 Freightliner Cascadia last week and a pile of straw and twigs came out stuck to the thermostat housing. Turns out a bird had built a nest right above the fan shroud and it got sucked into the radiator during a highway run. Has anyone else found random stuff lodged in their cooling system after a long idle period?
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abby_black1mo ago
Shoot, bird nests are honestly one of the most underrated mechanical nightmares. Rodents get all the attention but birds can do real damage too. Had a similar thing happen on a parked tractor where a nest clogged the radiator fins so bad it overheated in ten minutes. Cleaning it out took forever and I was picking straw out of every crevice. Your mileage may vary but I'd say check the fan shroud area if a vehicle sits for more than a few days.
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Birds nests in stupid places are annoying but I've never had one actually get pulled into the cooling system like that, sounds more like bad luck than a common problem.
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