Got Bad News From The Dealer Today - Animal Living In My RT/10

[DodgeViper01]

Well, I dropped off my car a few days ago at Buhler and got the call today. They told me that they had bad news and I was expecting the worst and that is what they delivered, THE WORST! I had a fabric type material in the engine block and come to find out, it was a nest that an animal had built in my car. Buhler is now charging me $400.00 to take it out. I was told that it is a fairly common problem. Has it happened to anyone else? Well, I guess that is a great way to start the week.

 

[VIPER52USA]

At least you didn't start the car and have a cat sleeping in the engine. I have heard stories about that, when turning over the engine you hear the cat scream for a second then the grinding. That would be a real bad mess to clean up.

 

[PhoenixGTS]

A bud who lives in downtown LA (REALLY bad neighborhood) had a Chevette that was not driven often. He found a giant rat's nest - and accompanying rat (and these are your full on black city rat) - in the engine compartment. He goes and gets his big friend (my bud is jockey size) and tells him "you whip the hood open and I'll clobber the rat with this stick." They get ready, whip the hood up, ready the stick - and no rat. My bud starts looking around for the rat, pokes his head in the engine compartment by the nest and BAM the rat jumps out of the other side of the engine compartment! Screams ring, hood falls, anuerysms come close to popping. Yeah I've heard of animals living in cars before.

 

[DodgeViper01]

Oh my. Those are horrible stories. I did not know it was this common.

 

[Joseph Houss]

Are they actually saying that there are parts of the nest IN the block? Manifold? Both?

 

[Shelby3]

Well, I dropped off my car a few days ago at Buhler and got the call today. They told me that they had bad news and I was expecting the worst and that is what they delivered, THE WORST! I had a fabric type material in the engine block and come to find out, it was a nest that an animal had built in my car. Buhler is now charging me $400.00 to take it out. I was told that it is a fairly common problem. Has it happened to anyone else? Well, I guess that is a great way to start the week.

Sounds like you need to drive your car a little more. I had the cat thing happen in a Corvette. First thing I noticed was the car overheating. Stopped to check it out and found the engine compartment full of fur and guts. All the belts spun off grinding up the cat. Took forever to clean everything.

 

[NY VIPER]

A few years ago when I picked up my TR-3 from the mechanic, where it had been for awhile, wasps started flying into the cockpit at my head from under my dashboard at around 60 mph on the highway. It freaked me out. Thank God I had the top off, I pulled over to find a huge hornets nest under the dash. That was a ride I'll never forget.

 

[plumcrazy]

heard of mice before......plenty of times

 

[SERPENT INDIANA]

I had a '69 Dodge Daytona many years ago that had been in storage the first 10 years of its life......the first several months I drove it, it STUNK.....especially with the heater on......every so often a little dried up mouse corpse would drop out of the heater on the floor .....after a half dozen or so, it stopped and the smell finally went away....

 

[twinvipers]

You need to bring it to Englishtown this Friday night to air it out.

 

[Sean Roe]

I don't know if I still have the picture, but we had a Viper come in that had a large rat skeleton on the intake and several smaller skeletons in the valley of the motor. If I find the picture, I'll post it.

 

[Cop Magnet]

I don't know if I still have the picture, but we had a Viper come in that had a large rat skeleton on the intake and several smaller skeletons in the valley of the motor. If I find the picture, I'll post it.

WICKED!

 

[Casey]

That ***** Keith!

I am always worried about Raccoon getting into one of my cars and tearing it up! Windows up and cover on my GTS at night!

 

[ChicagoGTS]

No animals, just a monster under the hood here!

 

[2001 Sapphire Blue]

Am I the only one wondering why they would charge $400 to remove some fabric?

 

[98MODMTR]

At least you didn't start the car and have a cat sleeping in the engine. I have heard stories about that, when turning over the engine you hear the cat scream for a second then the grinding. That would be a real bad mess to clean up.

That happen to my mom and dad some years ago. Her cat was sleeping in the warm engine bay of my dads car. Dad got in the car turned her over and the cat went running. Now blind in one eye (cat is now dead, but not from this incident).

 

[Andrew2KRT10]

YES ! Happened to me! Towards the end of last winter, I was changing the thermostat. After I took off the intake manifold, there was a small nest! I cleaned it out, no big deal. $400? Tell them to go F-off and blow it out yourself with an air gun at about 120 PSI.

And by the way, my car in the winter is in the garage, under a cover and my garage is spotless! Those things get in the smallest craks and garage doors are not usually air-tight.

I had another car once, same thing, I couldn't figure out why I would find what looked like chunks of cooked meat on my engine. Now I know why.

Andrew

 

[Viper Wizard]

I just fixed a RT/10 that had a fuel leak coming from the top of the fuel tank. When I got the tank out [no fun!], there was a mouse nest on top of the tank and the little buggers chewed through the fuel line!! The cool part of all of it was that the nest was made up of half cloth and half SNAKE skin!! That could only be on a Viper!!



$400 for what?

 

[Andrew2KRT10]

Chuck......got the tie rod today. Hope it is the right one.....doesn't look the same....see when I get home.

Andrew

 

[jgfurr]

At least you didn't start the car and have a cat sleeping in the engine. I have heard stories about that, when turning over the engine you hear the cat scream for a second then the grinding. That would be a real bad mess to clean up.

That happen to my mom and dad some years ago. Her cat was sleeping in the warm engine bay of my dads car. Dad got in the car turned her over and the cat went running. Now blind in one eye (cat is now dead, but not from this incident).

When I was little, we had a cat crawl into my dads car. He started the engine and <grind> the cat was in pieces on the ground. My mom cleaned up the mess and put it out on the curb for the trash collectors (using a paper bag). About an hour later, some punk was riding his bike down our street, kicking over everyones garbage cans. He kicked our bag with the cat guts and they went EVERYWHERE. Needless to say, I bet that jacka$$ never kicked over another garbage can.

 

[AviP]

The cool part of all of it was that the nest was made up of half cloth and half SNAKE skin!! That could only be on a Viper!!

That's a great story!

$400 for what?

For the suckers that believe anything they are told. F355, you need to start reading an automobile maintenance book or something like that.

 

[Jeff Torrey]

Viper-I had a mouse start to build a nest on the top of my engine block, a couple of years back. Car was parked in the garage. The thermostat was leaking at the cross-over so I could smell coolant burning. Looked through the intake and it was filled with bits of paper towels. I took a pair of tongs for the BBQ and fished it out. Glad I caught it early, they can do a ton of damage . Now I try not to leave stuff lying around in the garage (specially in the fall).
Restored Ford- Parked outside with a cotton Blanket and Plastic one winter. Spring time found a nest in the Heater Plenium. Pain in the butt fishing out the nest, car smelled like PP for a little while.

 

[DodgeViper01]

Are they actually saying that there are parts of the nest IN the block? Manifold? Both?

Both. They need to replace something they told me. I totally forgot as I was in traffic.

 

[DodgeViper01]

I just fixed a RT/10 that had a fuel leak coming from the top of the fuel tank. When I got the tank out [no fun!], there was a mouse nest on top of the tank and the little buggers chewed through the fuel line!! The cool part of all of it was that the nest was made up of half cloth and half SNAKE skin!! That could only be on a Viper!!



$400 for what?

The $400 is for pulling out the mainifold and replacing the gasket to clean out the remains of the nest. Too much ay?

 

[DodgeViper01]

Sounds like you need to drive your car a little more. I had the cat thing happen in a Corvette. First thing I noticed was the car overheating. Stopped to check it out and found the engine compartment full of fur and guts. All the belts spun off grinding up the cat. Took forever to clean everything.

The funny thing is that I drive the Viper just about everyday. That is what struck me as VERY weird. In the winter it is about twice a week.

 

[Bad_Byte]

The $400 is for pulling out the mainifold and replacing the gasket to clean out the remains of the nest. Too much ay?

Must be so they can buy a nice vaccum cleaner for when the next guy has that problem.

I gotta think that is all that it needs unless the lil' varmints chewed threw a couple of injector wires.

 

[DodgeViper01]

Yeah thought it was high but what are you going to do. Chuck, what would you have charged me for the job?

 

[JKVIPER]

Yeah,

I had an eighty two vette which sat in my garage for a couple of years. I finnaly got around to fixing the exhaust system on it and started the car up. The car made some strange noises and when I backed it out of the garage a 12" sewer rat was lying on the floor dead split in half.

Apparently it was caught in the A/C fan belt and was crushed as it passed of the compressor. Unfotunately the belt dropped off the A/C compressor and wore away the wiring harness that activates the compressor clutch. Since that was a freon based system, I could not break it and reinstall a new A/C compressor and get new freon I needed.

Also the rat carried all sorts of garbage into the fan shround to make a nest including a few yards of fiberglass matt I had in lying in the garage. When I opened the hood with the fan running, all sorts of garbage went flying. Yuk!!!

 

[VIPER52USA]

Some of this stuff could be on American's funniest home video.

 

[DodgeViper01]

Tell me about it, till you get the bill. Not funny anymore lol!