Just Plain Bizarre...

[racing girl]

The oxygen sensor, right above the exhaust has been showing up as having a fault on the warning system on our 99 Dodge minivan for the last couple of months... but only when it rains. In the dry it goes away. We've never worried about it.

Yesterday Andrew was off work and put the van on the ramp to replace one of the belts on the engine. He noticed part of the wiring harness that goes to all the sensors appeared to be chafed, but couldn't see what it was rubbing against. So he looked more closely and realized that it had actually been chewed through, including the plastic conduit protecting the wires. Most of the smaller sections of harness to the sensors had also been chewed through, to the point where only one or two copper strands were left! The exhaust sensor was like this too... plus part of the fuel injection harness and a good portion of the ABS harness!! Add to that, large chunks of the silicon rubber in the HT leads have also been chewed out and quite a bit of the sound deadening is now missing it's filling. His 2 hour job of replacing a belt turned into an all day job to fix all the harnesses too! Oh, and there was a stash of little seeds and bits of pine cones stuffed down by the side of the fuel injection unit.

We live in the city for crying out loud, not the middle of no-where... some little critters have been very resourceful, that's for sure... but wiring harnesses?? It goes without saying that my car is going up on the ramp this weekend to get checked out. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/eek.gif

RG /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/england.gif

 

[Baxter]

I live in the city of about a million people, one block off one of the busiest streets in the metro area, and from my front yard I've seen deer and raccoons, more squirrels than I could ever count, and right now I have two chipmunks and a baby rabbit living under my front porch.

Will to survive, I suppose.

 

[Geo Hahn]

Rodentia snacking on the wiring is very common in the Southwest... Pack Rats, Ground Squirrels, Chipmunks, etc.

I always keep a couple of bars of Irish Spring under the bonnet -- rumor has it they don't like that 'nice manly scent'. I also run an extension cord in there and plug in an ultrasonic pest repeller. Between the two they seem to keeps the little guys out.

 

[Carlover325]

I have never heard of anything like that happening. And it probably won't happen to me because I park in a garage. That is really strange.

 

[PC]

[ QUOTE ]
... it probably won't happen to me because I park in a garage...

[/ QUOTE ]
A garage will generally stop squirrels, skunks and probably badgers. I've seen plenty of mice make nests in garages. It's always a good idea to keep an eye open for rodent indications just in case (or get a cat).

OBTW Kevin, I see you're in Placentia. Ever notice the shiny metal bands wrapped around the palm trees in the parks and green belts? Helps keep rats out of the tree tops.


PC.

 

[Carlover325]

[ QUOTE ]
...It's always a good idea to keep an eye open for rodent indications just in case (or get a cat).

OBTW Kevin, I see you're in Placentia. Ever notice the shiny metal bands wrapped around the palm trees in the parks and green belts? Helps keep rats out of the tree tops.


PC.

[/ QUOTE ]

I have a cat, but it never goes in the garage (because it's detached snd their indoor cats), but we do have neighborhood cats that roam around at night. Also, I haven't noticed the shiny metal bands around the tops of trees, and even if I did, I would have no clue what they were for, but I'll look for them now.


Kevin Bench
Placentia, California

 

[PC]

[ QUOTE ]
...I haven't noticed the shiny metal bands around the tops of trees, and even if I did, I would have no clue what they were for, but I'll look for them now...

[/ QUOTE ]
Not all the palms in town seem to have them. I guess it depends on the species of tree and the location. On the way to lunch I noticed that Bradford Park (bordered by Kraemer Blvd and E. Palm Dr.) has a row of them.


PC.

 

[Trevor Triumph]

Here in the east end of the the Phoenix metroplex, we have pack rats and other vermin. I have found dead animals in the fender wells of the car that spends time on the car port as well as all kinds of junk that they brouhgt into the under hood area. Just a few weeks ago I had the clear out three smelly carcasses from the the garage! One of the offending animals was in the door of the Spitfire that is undergoing restoration. It seems that being in the garage didn't help keep things clean! T.T.

 

[daddytiger64]

Little critters are everywhere and unfortunately in lots of areas there is so much development going on that the animals have nowhere to go. I often have raccoons and other small animals visiting me while working in my garage (a skunk the other night wandered by).

A couple weeks back while driving home from a car show, I was passing through a city. In the middle of a warehouse district I just about took out a groundhog with my car, he totally caught me by surprise. I locked the wheels up and went right over the top of him, he must have hunkered down enough (I don't know how since there can't be more than 5" of ground clearance without the front end doing a nosedive). But I could see him in my rearview mirror get back up and waddle away unharmed.

Years ago I had a girlfriend who had a cat who like to crawl up under the hood of my car on cool fall nights to warm himself up. One night I winged him with the fan of my car when I started it up...took the tip of his tail off and that cured him of that habit.

 

[racing girl]

Yup, development has a lot to answer for... what was odd though was that this damage has been done since spring as the minivan was up on the ramp in March for some other work and everything was OK then. The guy at the oil change place last week told my husband that the week previous another customer had exactly the same issue but was not mechanically minded enough to fix it... it cost them $1100 at the dealership.

Hey Paul - welcome to the forum, we're right down the road from each other... I'm on 8 Mile on the Novi/Northville border... I know a bunch of MG's in Northville but I didn't know we had a Tiger.

RG /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/england.gif

 

[PC]

[ QUOTE ]
...had a cat who like to crawl up under the hood of my car ...

[/ QUOTE ]
Our Vet had a stray Siamese brought in that somebody found in their engine bay one morning. She had a broken leg and was pretty cut up but she made a full recovery and was about the sweetest little kitty you'll ever meet. Doc named her Fannie.


PC.

 

[daddytiger64]

Going to the dealer is always expensive. I kind of pick and choose whether I have the time or money...never seem to have both.

Thanks for the welcome...and I am really just down the road if you are off of 8 Mile. My street ends/begins at the quick change oil place between the car wash and the Guernsey Farms Dairy...ummmm, ice cream...

I know of 4 other Tigers and 3 Alpines all within a few miles of my house. Sunbeams are everywhere but they never seem to come out, kind of like our weather these days.

 

[daddytiger64]

[ QUOTE ]
...she made a full recovery and was about the sweetest little kitty you'll ever meet. Doc named her Fannie.

[/ QUOTE ]

Glad to hear she made a full recovery, we like all 4 legged furry friends at my house.