Trials and Tribulations of Rural Living

Some of you will get it, some won't. If you live in a rural area you've probably had this, or something similar, happen to you.

About two weeks ago I started getting this barnyard smell in my truck. I use the truck to haul our dogs in the back seat but it wasn't a doggie smell. Something different. We've had issues with packrats before so I checked every nook and cranny under the hood that I could see. Nothing. No evidence of insulation chewed away, either.

So today I decided to change the cabin air filter. It's been about a year so I figured it was due. This is what I found:

https://i.imgur.com/7hIagWj.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/mnSgcCN.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/A4MM1Sp.jpg



Not packrats, but run of the mill mice I'm guessing. They must've came down thru the air vents behind the hood and nested on the cab air filter. What a mess they can cause. At least they brought their own nesting material and didn't use anything from the truck.

I’d consider yourself lucky. So many stories about mice destroying the wiring. Little bastards.

This is what the fan on my riding mower looks like every spring.

Be glad that it didnt get wet and moldy in there.

Extra mouse filtering?

Fur bearin' varmits!!!!

They used to gather the under-hood insulation on my Audi and nest on top of the engine cover.

Had a few guys come stay in my cabin during hunting season and one morning they found that a large bag of beef jerky was empty. They found it all stuffed into a roofing tar-paper roll in the corner. They then found the packrat and eventually chased it down and killed it with a broom handle. I came home and they were telling me they just killed the world's biggest mouse - had it hanging in a tree.

Back in 2011 I picked up a work contract in which they provided a truck so my personal truck only got driven on days off. Over the course of a few months of only driving my truck occasionally I noticed it took a few seconds after start up for the boost from turbo to be felt. It progressed from few seconds to puttin out driveway for 1/4 mile but it would always kick in. Finally one day about a mile from home I turned back, worried I had finally killed turbo and cursing myself for letting go so long. Towed it to the mechanic on Saturday as I had to be out of town for work Monday. He sent me a text before I even got back home saying it would be ready in 30 mins and "proved how redneck I was". The text also included a pic of the mouse nest packed tight in intake tube up against turbo blocking air flow almost completely. Said his guys laughed their asses off at the thought of the nest spinning in that tube while I drove down the road for months, amazed it never sucked in and trashed turbo.

^^That kinda stuff is why I will never win Lotto. Use up all my good luck on ^^^ and dodging cement trucks.

That looks familiar. I've had mice get into the engine air filter housing and ac/heating ducts on several vehicles. Last month my neighbor found the entire engine compartment of his RV had been completely filled with pack rat nesting material.

I've long thought that it should be required that all autos have mouse proof air intake and ac/heater ducts. It wouldn't be that difficult. Rodents probably cost hundreds of $millions in damage to autos every year. The risk of hantavirus in a car air ducts is very serious.

Been there, have experienced that exact thing in my F250.

Can you skin Griz??

My brand new $60k Jeep Grand Cherokee back when I was working in the oil patch out in ND. Caught a dozen of the bastards in that thing inside a week.


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Quote:

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Originally Posted by BPTactical

Can you skin Griz??

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lol.

Skin that one an I'll bring ya another.

I remember taking my Sebring in for normal maintenance once (hadn't drivien it in months but it was time) and was told by the mechanic that they found a bunch of mini-pretzels on the air filter. Freaking mice ...

In my F250, the onboard fan filter was totally filled up with dry dog food (pellets). Had filled up to the point that I removed five or six Campbell soup cans full of these pellets. Source of the dog food was over 50 yards away from the garage where the PU was parked. Was one busy little critter making that many trips.

I grew up on a farm in rural michigan. We would ocausionly find mouse nests in the machinery. Sometimes if something would not run or not run right there would be a nest in tha air cleaner.
About a year or so ago a critter got under the hood of my sons car and chewed the wire off to the wiper pump. PIA to fix had to take the front bumper off to get to it. Happened here in suburbia.

I can't count the number of mouse nests I've removed from motorcycle airboxes. the best one had to be the CBR900RR that a guy brought to us to fix several years ago. It had been sitting for several months, and needed carbs gone through and a battery. We fired it up to warm it up before changing the oil, and it started smelling like baking bread. twisted the throttle a couple of times, and bird seed starts shooting out of the tailpipe. shut it off, pulled the muffler, and dumped about a pound of bird seed out into the trash can. Industrious little bastards...