Mouse House electrical

[Guest]

Last night the X was leaving work. Her car '98 Ford Taurus killed and she couldn't re-start it. Turned over but wouldn't fire. She ended up driving the company SUV home. Last night I told her I would suspect a fuel pump or fuel filter or some other problem affected by sub-zero temps. I offered to stop by her office and take a looksee this morning, but she had it towed to the repair shop this morning. She was initially told that the ignition harness and wire to the coil was all messed up. Then she received the following picture from the shop via email which kinda explains the problem.

[tbird430]

WOW!!! That's scarey!!

[simplyconnected]

Jed, I know it's **** cold in MN, but the ex- must not use her car very much. I get this from squirrels on occassion because I park my daily driver in the street under a maple tree, and I may not start the car for a week or two. (We usually use Robin's Escape.)

I'm glad it was something easy (and you didn't have to fix it).

[Dan Leavens]

Can you imagine

[Guest]

... but the ex- must not use her car very much. ... I'm glad it was something easy (and you didn't have to fix it).

Dave, actually she uses the car everyday and drives 30 RT to work/back. Only thing I can figure is that the mouse family kinda liked the warm engine to build a house on top of. She had her hood opened less then a week ago, so the mice had moved in just recently. I am glad too that I didn't have to work on her car this morning out in the cold. I sure had to chuckle when she sent me that picture, just about the most hilarious thing I have ever seen.

[JohnG]

Back here in New England, a mess such as that is standard equipment. A guy who has a local garage puts screening over the intake duct of every car he works on.

I have an old Ford F-150 "field truck" that I use about once a month, if that. In the summer I have to kick out the snake. In the Fall, the mice. In the Winter the rabbit from under the hood.

On Car Talk a few years ago, a guy from NJ called up to get advice. Had bought a used car and discovered that each day on the way to work a snake would peek it's head out from under the dash (adding considerably to the excitement of an otherwise mundane trip . . . ). After they got done laughing, the hosts suggested he "do the honorable thing - - - sell it! ".

[Guest]

That is better that a skunk in the fan blades

[JohnG]

Truer words were never spoken . . .

[Howard Prout]

Along similar lines, a few months ago our phone system went dead. This happens about once or twice a year. Until then it had always been after a heavy rain due to water in the cable boxes on the street lines. This time, however, that was not the case. The Bell guy said everything outside the house was OK and it had to be a problem inside the house. Unfortunately we have finished most of the basement including the area where the phone service enters the house. Anyway I was able to open up part of the ceiling so he could get to the wires. It turned out that mice had chewed through one of the main distribution wires. Fortunately there were several pairs of wires in the cable at that point so he was able to switch to another pair and all was well. This is just one of the things that can happen when you live in a rural area and cohabitate with mice.