Holy Burning Rat Piss

[Nordwest]

So it's finally a nice sunny day here in the Northwest. I fire up my SC and pull it out of the garage and on the floor under where the motor was is a small pile of chewed up sponge like rubber and a chunk of it. I inspect the top and the bottom of the motor as best I can and find nothing. H'mmmm, I take it for a drive and soon I smell burning rodent piss. i pulled the heat lever and really got a blast of the foul odor. After 30-40 minutes of driving it wasn't as bad. Any guess as to what the rubber piece is? So where do I look? Can rodents get into the SSI's?

Any help here?

Dave

[Mark Salvetti]

Hard to tell, but it could be part of one of the spongy foam blocks that fills the gap between the shock towers and the firewall. One on each side.
Foam behind rear shock tower replacement source?

Mark

[LIRS6]

Yes they can get into the heat exchangers - AMHIK. A number of years ago I started mine up after winter hibernation, began to smell some bad diner food. I must have had a whole family in my right HE. Could never fully get rid of the smell.

My routine now is to pull the heater levers up all the way in order to close the right and left heater control boxes. Then I stuff a dog toy into the exhaust pipe. Lastly I spread Irish Spring soap around, under the car (old wives tale perhaps).

Jason

[Tyson Schmidt]

It’d be a really really good idea to remove the tin and ducting on either side of the engine fan and have a look for mouse nests on top of the cylinders.

[Nordwest]

Thanks guys and Tyson I will remove some tin and take a look. Damn rodents!!!

[rolfjahn]

GC (Garage Cat) will catch anything that moves in the garage and present it to me

[SalParadise]

Yeah if all you guys were real men you'd run headers with no heat exchangers - then you wouldn't have any problems.

[911tracker85]

Thanks guys and Tyson I will remove some tin and take a look. Damn rodents!!!

years ago I was having the top end of my 3.2 rebuilt along with the gearbox.

guy calls to go over the parts needed, then asks me how many dogs I have.

I do not have any dogs, but I recalled the PO did.

well mice has taken dry dog food up into the fan shroud area and stored them over in the crevasse near the heads. guy also noticed the valve guides were worse on the intake side which is not the norm. he suspects the stored dog food was causing spot overheating of the intake side of the head.

[Nordwest]

I got the right side opened up and the little bastards have been busy. All vacuumed out and will move on to the left side.

[RSBob]

The little rat B@$t@rds like the dark to build their nests. In the winter months I keep the frunk, glove box door and engine lid open (as well as the heater levers up). Thanks to another poster, I will also plug the tail pipe.

[Flojo]

Holy...!

Y'all, get yourself one of thos endoscopes (with LED-light-tip) für your Smartphone. Great helper!!

[RNajarian]

Besides the obvious of trying to ensure a sealed garage, I put rat poison blocks under my cars. If they are eaten or disturbed I’ll know I’ve got a problem.

I change them out once a year, fortunately they haven’t moved.

[KTL]

Originally Posted by Nordwest

I got the right side opened up and the little bastards have been busy. All vacuumed out and will move on to the left side.

Like flojo said, make sure you get a good look all the way into the engine shroud. They love to tuck their stuff into tight corners. You need to get a look at the right front area where the oil cooler is mounted to the engine.

And welcome to the rodent nest club. We're a fine and distinguished club and we don't screen members. All that's required for membership is victimization.

Here's my initiation into the club. I also found some on top of the engine, under the shroud. But the engine was peanuts compared to what I found in the tunnel (peanut pun TOTALLY intended) Winter Storage Tip

[Jesse16]

You'll have to mention where you think they got all that stuff in there ?? Is it material from inside your car? I can't think of where else that much fluff would reside in the engine compartment unless its part of your sound pad. I've had lots of run-ins with mice years ago when my cars had to live outside here in the mountains. Has to be a pathway inside the car or something nearby in your garage being taken apart.

[Dan J]

I think you should remove the alternator so you can really get

[Tyson Schmidt]

Man, did I call that, or what? lol!

Yeah, you should pull the alternator too, and after all the big stuff is out, use a shop vac, and then blow up from underneath with compressed air if you can.
That stuff gets into every crack and crevice, so be thorough.

[Nordwest]

I am getting back to this project finally. So I am trying to remove the plastic duct from the shroud and it is not cooperating. Do I need to remove the distributor? Don't want to break anything. Thanks...
Damn rodents!

[rwest]

Hard to tell from your picture, but that shroud also has a tab that gets bolted down near the distributor by the cam boxes; looks like you might still have a bolt in there.

[Geneman]

Hads a fuel pickup / delivery problem at the Lime Rock Club race about a month ago.... after getting home opened up the fuel cell and found a mouse nest INSIDE the cell... un friggin believable....

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by SalParadise

Yeah if all you guys were real men you'd run headers with no heat exchangers - then you wouldn't have any problems.

Yea, and then get rid of the AC and all the sound deading and interior carpet and make it into a track rat. Or NOT!.

I actually love to drive my car on the road, with my wife with me, and go on road trips to see the country. I plan to go to all lower 48 states. I am at 42 states now and I have been to Canada in my 911.

Enjoy you no heat car, and do to it whatever makes you happy. I will enjoy my very comfortable heated and air conditioned car.



I shot this picture of my car last November on a fall foliage tour. It was 16 degrees that morning. Withing one mile we had a nice warm car.