I drove a short distance this morning to drop my mother off at work, and when I returned home, I found these parts on the street approximately where my car had been parked before I drove off. They appear large enough to be car parts, but I don’t know if they belong to my vehicle, the newer model Toyota Camry that was parked directly in front of me, or another vehicle driving down the street while I was gone. Might these belong to my car, and does anyone know what they are? Thanks.
Not knowing the size of these parts makes my answer a bit less exacting than if we had an idea of exactly how big they are, but…
It appears that somebody left coil springs–and possibly struts–lying in the street, which is very curious, indeed. However, if you were able to drive your car, these parts did not come from your vehicle.
Yes, definitely suspension parts. It looks like someone is playing a practical joke on you. They obviously did not come from your car.
Sorry about that! The long metal bits are 3.5 inches long and 1/2 inch in diameter at the skinny end, and the springs are 2.5 inches long and 1.5 inches in diameter. They also appear well-oiled. The thing they are under is a standard paper dinner napkin, if that helps.
If a car was missing these parts, what would happen? Would it truly not be able to drive?
These are not suspension parte, at 3" long, more or less. I don’t recognize them, but that doesn’t guarantee they’re not off your car. But it would be very unusual for them to just fall out of a 2011 car of any brand. Hold onto them, put them in a zip lock, and show them to the mechanic at your next service, assuming nothing unusual is going on with your CRV.
Are the long pieces threaded internally?
I’m going to say that someone tried to steal your (or someone’s) catalytic converter. Many cars use a somewhat flexible coupling/gasket at the catalytic converter, since exhaust systems tend to flex a little. These couplings are held together by “spring bolts” that look like your picture.
Crawl under your car and take a look or take the springs to a local exhaust shop and ask them.
There is a hole in the long pieces, but they’re capped off at the ends. It looks like I’ll be taking these parts and the car to my local honda dealer to ask, because I’m getting a wide range of answers, some of which are pretty disturbing. The car mostly sits in front of our house in a decent neighborhood, and I keep my windows open at night and stay up late. I feel like I would have heard someone trying to steal my car’s parts.
You take your mom to work and you go home after? Do you work? How did you pay for your 2011 Crv?
This thread reminds me of an old “Fibber McGee and Molly” radio show. Molly was driving the car with one of her friends along. They heard a tremendous clunk, stopped the car and found a big round part lying in the street. Molly surmised that it was some part that had fallen off the car. Molly and her friend, with great effort, loaded the object in the trunk and proceeded on with their travels. Molly told McGee about the part. McGee looked it over and thought it was the flywheel. Molly didn’t think so. She reasoned that there weren’t any flies in the car and the flywheel was to keep the flies away. At any rate, McGee takes the car apart and can’t find anything missing. He then can’t find anything missing, but also doesn’t know how to put the car back together. While he his trying to figure out what to do, a police officer shows up and demands that McGee returns the city’s manhole cover.
Those are solenoid valve pistons, not from a car. Perhaps your neighbor had a repair done on his house.
What type of service truck was parked there recently?
What if I worked 3rd shift? 2nd shift? I have off today, and it’s her car, not mine. I figured it doesn’t really matter whose car it is. I have my own car, paid in full, thank you very much. I don’t recall any service trucks recently, but if they’re not car parts, I’m very happy. I took the parts to the Honda dealer and the guy said they looked like American car parts, but smelled like differential fluid. I suppose anyone could have dropped them, but the dealer said they would peek at the car to make sure nothing was missing.
I think someone is playing a joke on you. I did something like that on a friend of mine, after he bought a brand new jeep: first put a small puddle of oil under the engine. He noticed.
The next day a larger puddle. He again noticed and got worried.
Then ATF.
Then coolant.
The last day I poured a bottle of buttermilk (it is thick so it stays) under his Jeep. That’s when he figured it out.
@RemcoW–Some years back when I would park my 1978 Oldsmobile in the driveway after coming home from work, I would notice a little puddle under the car. I would go into the house, drink a beer and unwind, then go look at the car. The puddle would be gone. I looked under the hood, checked the fluids and all was o.k. I noticed the same thing the next evening. I repeated the process of drinking a beer and then found that the puddle has disappeared. I figured that I had made a great mechanical breakthrough–drinking a beer would make leaks in the car disappear. In fact, I thought maybe I would seal the car up really against leaks by drinking a whole 6 pack. My bubble burst, however, when I opened the hood right away after arriving home. The fuel pump, a mechanical pump on the engine, was leaking. It would only do it when I stopped the engine and parked the car While I was in drinking the beer, the gasoline would evaporate.
I’m enjoying the stories in here now, actually. I now feel satisfied that they’re truly not car parts, and if they were, they’re not coming from my mom’s car. Honda was very kind and put the car up on a lift to make sure everything looked fine under the car and nothing was missing. Now I have some nifty souvenirs that smell really, really bad after cooping them up in a plastic baggie.
I think I’m with Nevada. You can tell the size from the paper towel its on. The springs and brass with the wear marks on it seem to indicate a solenoid of some type. Sure doesn’t look like a car part.