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Last night was pretty bad. Cold, foggy, rainy, lots of accidents in MD. Was driving along the highway at about 60, came around a corner, and found a deer in the road.
Fortunately not a live deer, my guess is a truck hit it and it was lying across the lane. But big, no time to dodge and with the wet roads it would have been suicide so I hit it.
WHUMP. Car went over deer, stayed straight and normal.
Pulled over a mile down the road and checked it out. There was a leg under the car and the spoiler lip was bent down (again!) but things looked intact and the oil pressure was good so I drove it the last few miles to my friend's house. Checked it out this morning, no oil leaks but pictures say it all...
Side view, car intact Hood view, slight difference in driver's side gap Front viewb Time for a new spoiler And a grill, however the inside things were intact
The AC compressor belt was knocked off the pulley, the alternator belt has a nick, and the alternator appears to have spread gore inside the engine compartment. The car is not leaking oil, so the pan appears ok, and it's shifting normally. Only thing I have noticed is the driver's fender is up by about 1/2 a centimeter, and the car is tracking straight, but with the wheel turned about 3 degrees to the left.
Hopefully I got away with an alignment job, but this could have been a lot worse. I can think of about 100 ways this could have gone, and 99 of them would involve loss of car.
Fortunately I'm ok, I'll put it up on the ramps once it stops raining and clean the blood/gore from under it. The leg came off while driving home this morning, so at least that's gone....
You’ve triggered a bad memory, my own encounter with a fallen tree on a dark and stormy night. But my car and my wallet were both improved after I fixed the damage.
So far aside from a soon to be done belt job (again) I'm not sure what kind of damage there is. The side panel looks fine and not warped, so maybe it was always a bit up. Likewise roads here are crowned, so I might just be seeing that effect.
Anything in particular I should check for while under there? Aside from fixing the spoiler (it's a pain to get those bolts back in) and ordering a new grille interior what else should I do?
I had to replace the moveable flap assembly, bumper cover, spoiler and a skid plate. I had to bend back the bit of frame rail the skid plate attaches to. My alternator and perhaps my engine block were saved by an added bash plate.
I replaced the drier (nicely exposed by this work), compressor and other AC bits. There was a possibility that my condenser was punctured by a branch, but got lucky there. Like you, I had the winter doldrums for this work.
Not sure of the differences between my ‘87 and your car.
The 86 didn't have the adjustable flaps and such, so it's an easier fix. I think I can dismount the grille and either replace it or weld/braze it back into good condition. Haven't checked the skid plates yet, or the tie rods for that matter. Maybe tomorrow if it doesn't continue to rain rain.
What I do need is a front baffle plate/shroud to protect the alternator: It's different from the 87 and up models, have to figure out where to find one. Because that alternator really took the brunt of this mess; they build them good in Germany.
To everyone else, thank you. I know I was lucky this time, if I had hit with the tires it would probably have been a major jolt on very wet and slippery roads. This is truly the best case scenario.
Spent some time under the car on Monday. Interesting, there's no oil or other leaks I can see which is good, and the deer didn't seem to damage the suspension in any way. Some fur on the catalytic converters, but I replaced the AC compressor belt and all seems to be ok again. Final damage is limited to the front grille, one of the supports is broken so I will probably need to get a replacement. For now I'll leave that project till the spring and keep the car under 80mph tops as the grill also supports the center of the spoiler.
12-02-2018, 01:11 PM
My car now has a name: Hirschjäger
