Bug Guard - Locust Plague

[bebrave Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close bebrave]

Hi All,

Bit of a strange request. Ive got a long drive to do this week through areas that will be heavily impacted by locusts.

Anyone got any tips on how I might limit the impact on the new 150?

Someone told me to spray the front of the car with vegetable oil to help the cleaning process?. Do people use nylon flywire and if so how do people attach it for best effect?

Cheers

Rick

[Schaffer Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close Schaffer]

Re: Bug Guard - Locust Plague

Here is a tip. Don't drive near the locusts.

There is pretty much nothing you can do about it but get some water on to them as soon as you can and get them out of everywhere. If you have a bullbar then drop the two front bash plates cause they will be packed in there. You might also need to strip back the plastic crap around the radiator to hose them out as well.

Wash, wash and keep on washing. They guts are full of acid, the same as your's and mine but you will probably have heaps in there so you want to get it all out. Not sure if the idea of Bicarb Soda nutralising the acid will apply here but just keep cleaning to get rid of the acid and that bloody awful smell.

[AJ120 Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close AJ120]

Re: Bug Guard - Locust Plague

If you are able to travel under 80kms / hr they dont tend to splatter as much, they tend to just bounce off.

Cheers Andrew

[bebrave Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close bebrave]

Re: Bug Guard - Locust Plague

Thanks fellas

So far it looks like I will drive to Jindabyne along the Coast doing 79 km/per hour.. lol

cheers

[D4D Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close D4D]

Re: Bug Guard - Locust Plague

We copped them bad early this year going to and coming from Mildura.

Get a Toyota insect screen or fit some form of mesh on the outside.
Keep a spray bottle with water/detergent and a good windscreen scrubber/wiper with you as you need to clean your windscreen often. We would stop every hour to wash the windscreen.
Wash them off as soon as you can find a car wash with a pressure washer. Get them before they dry out on your paint otherwise they stain yellow.
When you get home drop your bash plates and blow out the carcasses. It's like a blood bath in there. I did this on the grass and our local blue tongue lizards snacked on them for days.
You find yourself ducking the big ones even though there's a windscreen between you and them.
Driving slow or fast made no difference.
I'm still finding them 6 months after our trip.

[StormyKnight Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close StormyKnight]

Re: Bug Guard - Locust Plague

...& those with snorkels if you can turn the head around or at least check your airfilter each night/morning...

Those with intercoolers, again it will be obvious when you lift the bonnet that the little buggers can fly around some pretty tight bends before being pressed up against the coolers fins

Cheers.....it will not last forever (it will just seem that way )

[foxclan Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close foxclan]

Re: Bug Guard - Locust Plague

Hey bebrave
We encountered the dreaded plagues over the Anzac weekend in the South Oz mallee area, what a bloody mess and smelly too.
It was suggested to me to spray the front with Pure & Simple or a similar cooking spray, to make clean up easier.
We have the Toyota Insect screen fitted to the grill. The Toyota emblem in the center of the grill has openings also, therefore needed to be protected as well. The Sovereign bull bar cut outs which collected hundreds of locust was the hardest to clean.
It took pressure cleaning, truck wash, air compressor and a trip to Cape York to finally get rid of all the remanence and stink of locust guts baked onto the exhaust system and undercarriage.
Mainly need to protect your cooling system with something that's not going to rub on your vehicles finish. I would also suggest carrying some form of window cleaner to keep the vision clear.
Good luck

[William Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close William]

Re: Bug Guard - Locust Plague

Hi Rick,
Some DIY ideas on that can be found here: viewtopic.php?f=45&t=10223

We copped them bad early this year going to and coming from Mildura.

From your photo, I'd have to say we copped it 10x worse than you around that time :lol:
BTW that looks a lot like the A79!

Cheers