[saudisinaudis]

I woke up for work, remote started the car as I usually do while I got ready, and went down as usual to our frontyard garage. Usually cats hide below for warmth overnight or a false sense of security, but especially today I was hearing the mother cat meowing sharply for a long while. I went below to check and safely evacuate the cats before I moved it, and I found a little kitten spliced in half with her mother*? making sounds. The gardener said she’d been screaming for a while, referring to the kitten. The process from whence I started the car until I came down took about 15-20 minutes. How the fuck could this happen? I was thinking maybe the kitten had been holed up somewhere near the engine and maybe near the drive belt / tensioner, which could have cut her up, but surely that would have damaged the car?
No trace of blood followed the car from under the engine to below the muffler where I found her, but when I pulled her out to dispose of the corpse there was a clear line of pink blood (not red). So that kind of excludes the possibility of her falling down from the drive belt. Plus I’d have noticed something. I didn’t while checking under the bonnet.

The only two other explanations are the mother tried pulling the cat from somewhere underneath the car, and ended up tearing her from the pulling. But I don’t think an adult cat is strong enough to pull that. The other plausible explanation could be that the gardener is a psychopath, but I have nothing on him to prove the act after the disposal.
I hadn’t driven the car for 5 days prior to the incident. It makes no fucking sense. It wasn’t a rotten corpse…

[M3coco]

This needs an NSFW tag...lol

[pizza240]

Happens all the time.

[saudisinaudis]

Originally Posted by pizza240

Happens all the time.

I hope you’re being sarcastic

[saudisinaudis]

I think I forgot to add that I found nothing wrong near the engine, and I drove the car fine the entire day. It wasn’t like stuck in the engine or the serpentine belt…

[pizza240]

Originally Posted by saudisinaudis

I hope you’re being sarcastic

In northern Canada, the temperatures drop to -40 C quite often, so many vehicles have an engine block heater installed so that their engines can start in the morning. Perfect place for animals to keep warm.

There are many instances of stray cats, raccoons, etc. being killed by engine parts when the vehicles are started, often causing a mess or damage.

Typically the best way to prevent this is to bang on the hood or sound the alarm/horn before starting the vehicle.

[saudisinaudis]

Originally Posted by pizza240

In northern Canada, the temperatures drop to -40 C quite often, so many vehicles have an engine block heater installed so that their engines can start in the morning. Perfect place for animals to keep warm.

There are many instances of stray cats, raccoons, etc. being killed by engine parts when the vehicles are started, often causing a mess or damage.

Typically the best way to prevent this is to bang on the hood or sound the alarm/horn before starting the vehicle.

But no mess or damage was found and the dead torn cat was found under the rear diffuser

[Bayo_Ruby]

Surely he means the catalytic conv...
and I'm out

[SwankPeRFection]

Why do you remote start your car and let it idle for 15-20 minutes every single day?! That in itself is bad enough for the engine over time. Long term idling is horrible for an engine. Stop doing that and in return you won’t have other issues like you described.

[saudisinaudis]

Originally Posted by SwankPeRFection

Why do you remote start your car and let it idle for 15-20 minutes every single day?! That in itself is bad enough for the engine over time. Long term idling is horrible for an engine. Stop doing that and in return you won’t have other issues like you described.

It’s pretty hot over here, and I did not know idling for ~15 minutes was bad. I was under the impression it would affect the lifespan of the car if it idled for over an hour on occasion.
But thank you for the advice, I’ll stop doing that.

[SwankPeRFection]

Yeah, no load on the engine isn’t good for it. Depends on how long you want to have the car for. If you don’t care about the engine, then do whatever.

[saudisinaudis]

Originally Posted by SwankPeRFection

Yeah, no load on the engine isn’t good for it. Depends on how long you want to have the car for. If you don’t care about the engine, then do whatever.

Not a lease. Planning to keep it for as long as it gives.
Which is how long do you think it’d average?

[SwankPeRFection]

Do oil changes with really good oil like Motul and you can easily turn way more than 100k miles and that’s a low estimate. The new S58 engine is really nice and good due to its streamlined and simplified design as opposed to even the last gen S55. I’d bet good money I could squeeze 200k out of one tuned to Stage 2 without issue and still be solid even then.

[saudisinaudis]

Originally Posted by SwankPeRFection

Do oil changes with really good oil like Motul and you can easily turn way more than 100k miles and that’s a low estimate. The new S58 engine is really nice and good due to its streamlined and simplified design as opposed to even the last gen S55. I’d bet good money I could squeeze 200k out of one tuned to Stage 2 without issue and still be solid even then.

What brands other than Motul do you recommend? Are they recommended over for example BMW Original because of price, or because BMW Original is only served in dealership services?

[Indo Rider]

Lol, I thought for sure this was going to be related to catalytic converter so came here to say, no, but killing an actual cat, sure happens all the time.

We always had outdoor cats going up. Probably at least a half dozen got chopped up when starting cars. A few were really messy, smelled bad for a long time.

Sorry for your loss.

[SwankPeRFection]

Originally Posted by saudisinaudis

What brands other than Motul do you recommend? Are they recommended over for example BMW Original because of price, or because BMW Original is only served in dealership services?

No, I run it because I think the 0-30 piss oil BMW runs in these cars is crap. Not to mention, it sure as HELL is way too thin for your part of the world if you’re in the Middle East. That is way too hot of a climate for that kind of oil, but that’s just my opinion. Hell, you’d be better off even with a 5-30 from Motul that LL01 spec’d than the BMW oil.

[saudisinaudis]

Originally Posted by SwankPeRFection

No, I run it because I think the 0-30 piss oil BMW runs in these cars is crap. Not to mention, it sure as HELL is way too thin for your part of the world if you’re in the Middle East. That is way too hot of a climate for that kind of oil, but that’s just my opinion. Hell, you’d be better off even with a 5-30 from Motul that LL01 spec’d than the BMW oil.

So you recommend 5-30 over 0-30 due to it being thicker and suiting the hot environment?
Only thing I’m afraid of is longer time for oil to slick the engine parts, and concerns about warranty due to defying their manual.

[SwankPeRFection]

Originally Posted by saudisinaudis

So you recommend 5-30 over 0-30 due to it being thicker and suiting the hot environment?
Only thing I’m afraid of is longer time for oil to slick the engine parts, and concerns about warranty due to defying their manual.

Not really about thickness in this case. It’s about that the Motul 5-30 LL01 FE oil has better properties than the BMW 0-30… not anything to do with those numbers but more so it’s actual tech sheet numbers. Ideally, you could run 5-40 Motul in such a hot climate and be super protected. Jury’s still out on if you don’t constantly drive it hard whether the 5-30 FE grade is sufficient. It is a much better oil however at its core than the BMW stuff and almost a no brainer to at least run that for its better properties, while satisfying the “FE” aspect if your dealer is supper picky and you’re super worried about some kind of warranty thing, which is usually ridiculous unless you run flat out way wrong engine oil types.