Have you ever...? (Part 2)
Read Part 1.
Have you ever had an unwanted house guest? I have!
(This does NOT refer to all the friends who visit and whom I love to host!)
Truth be told, I had noticed some signs.
About three weeks ago a warning light came on in my Acura. I read the manual and determined the light was related to the fuel line/emissions. It suggested re-seating the gas cap. I had run into this before with my Honda and the gas cap trick always worked. Not this time! So I called Effrim, my handy dealer service guy. I took it in on a Friday afternoon and got a sweet loaner vehicle, a 2007 Acura MDX. The shop was busy, so it was Monday morning when I got the call about the cause of the light... The conversation started with Effrim asking if I had small animals. No. Do you park outside or live near open land or fields? No. Weeeeelllllllll, the problem is that the wiring harness for you knock sensor has been... well, chewed through. What?!?! There was a long story about how rodents (mice, rats) like to crawl into warm engines to sleep, especially in the winter. While in the warm engine compartment, the mouse apparently cannot just sleep. There must be gnawing... on wiring harnesses. It turns out that the casing for the wiring harness is made of soy. Nice, just give the mouse something good to eat. Smart. (Here, mousey, mousey, mousey! Please.) Anyway, that stinkin' mouse cost me $800. That's $100 for the wiring harness (old one shown below) and $700 in labor. The joy! Luckily the dealer didn't charge me for the loaner car, which technically became a rental as it wasn't a warranty issue.
I've since made my garage a less desirable place to live. I've put the bags of bird seed into a container with a lid. I've cleaned up the bag of mulch with the mouse hole in it. I've set traps and put out sticky mouse trays and mouse poison. I have not caught any mice. But I also haven't seen any evidence that the sorry rodent is still living rent free in the garage. I hope he's gone. But I'd rather have had evidence of his death! I know, call PETA, I'll turn myself in.
The dealer took this picture for me. I have the actually part in an envelope.
4 comments:
Oh, no! I hate rat in the garage stories. But now you can be assured that Shelley won't ever enter your garage again until you have proof that the little rascal is dead. You can hide things in there from her FOREVER! Keep up with the updating. : )
Sara
Word of Consolation:
What if he hadn't only eaten lunch there, but also fallen asleep...and fried, right there on your engine!!! I mean, at least you'd know he's dead, but, well, maybe that's worse than not knowing (and still being able to breathe in your car)?
(I have a slight fear that someday, I'll rev up my engine on a cold morning, and thus unintentionally force my poor kitten to an awfully early death. Philip told me stories about that happening in Colorado. Of course, it gets *cold* there...)
Had this happen in Ft. Worth. But it was a rat, no sweet little mouse here. And the word is they usually travel in pairs. :) Our mechanic said that I apparently carried one of the rats to his shop when I took my car in b/c it got loose and he had to put out traps there at the shop. Just think about that a minute: driving down the road with a rat in your engine. I have the heeby jeebies just thinking about it. Anyway, he assured me there was NO WAY the rat could actually get into the car from the engine. I'm not sure I believe him. He may have just been trying to make me feel better. Anyway, we put a trap in the garage and it snapped about 20 minutes later. David was the lucky guy who got to go throw the thing away. I don't do rodents - of any size. Sara's right, I'll stick to using the front door. :)
love ya!!!!
Thanks for the comments.
Mine could have been a rat also… I think the mistake I made was to make my garage undesirable for the rodent before I set the trap…
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