911 Mouse House!

I just took my 83 SC out of storage (the winters are long in Minnesota) and was disappointed to find a mouse nest in the engine compartment under the AC compressor.

Now I am concerned about the damage the mouse might have done to my car. I'd like to identify the material the critter used to construct the nest. It is gray foam pieces, perhaps stuffing from part of the interior or a foam filter of some sort.

Any ideas out there? There is no visible damage to the interior, and the car runs OK.

Thanks. Tim

Tim:

The only place that Porsche uses something like this is the sound insulation between the engine compartment and the rear seats (it's actually in the engine compartment).

If you open your engine lid, look all the way back, and there should be some greyish "stuff" (how's that for a technical term?) visible in a vertical position. It's possible that this friendly little Mickey found the insulation to his liking. He may have gotten some of the down near the bottom, which is why you can't see it missing. The insulation extends all the way down to the sheet metal covers of the engine, way behind the engine.

If you are reasonable certain that you have it all out of the compartment, a tiny amount missing sholdn't compromise your engine noise insulation into the cabin. If, in the unlikely case, it were to be "ingested" into your induiction system, the air filter shold stop it before the cylinders get it. Open the induction cover, and see if the top of the filter is clean. If so, youshould be all right.

However, do run the car and see if Mickey hasn't "eaten" anything else, like wire covers, etc.......Andras

Also check the Air Filter Housing....
Never know what you might find.

Good Luck
Joe A

You may want to check in the fan shroud for more critters.

Bruce

Some of their 'cousins' could have made their way in through the heater 'dump-valve' above the heat exchangers through the 2" tubing all the way to the top of the clinders ... nests have caused air blockage and extreme over heating of some cylinders and pistons! So, it would be a good idea to pull those two 'triangular' sheet metal/plastic pieces where the 2" hoses connect, and check with drop-lamp and mirror for additional nesting evidence!

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Warren Hall
1973 911S Targa

I had a squirrel nesting in my '71 for an unknown period of time while the PO had it stored. The nest was in the engine compartment, but the *&%# rodent decided the top of the heat exchanger made a great place to store his nuts. I extracted 53 acorn shells from the top of the exchanger using a length of garden hose connected to a vacuum cleaner. Didn't seem to hurt anything, but I'm glad I got it cleaned out before the weather warmed up...

And I thought I was the only one with such a story. My first was a 69 that had rodent access points courtesy of rust in the front pan. I can't describe the feeling you get when you're fiddling with a fuse block and notice a shining pair of deer mouse eyes staring at you from next to the battery!
That mouse rode back and forth to work with me for a week before I finally trapped it.