Seriously, parked at work in Richmond BC, and some squirrels took up residence (for the day) in my engine compartment.

They chewed through the throttle cable, DSC/TSC wiring, AND THE FREAKING BRAKE FLUID RESEVOIR. Of course they also ripped chunks out of the hood blanket as well to make their nest near the brake fluid resevoir.

It's at the shop at Midway Mazda in the Richmond automall. I didn't have my camera with me (or enough light to take pictures with my cell phone camera) so I'm hoping the shop can take some pictures and email them to me tomorrow.

Best part of the story is that I drove the car from Richmond to Vancouver (arbutus) because I was heading for a chiropractor's appointment. When I started the car it started a bit rough, but it was cold out so I didn't think much of it. Also, the brake warning light and DSC/TSC light went on, but I've seen that before in the cold, usually it fixes itself when you stop and restart the car.

So when the car was warm, at a light I shut it off, and had trouble restarting it. I thought "this is odd, those three systems aren't all related (DSC/TSC and braking yeah, totally)". But I had to get to that appointment. Brakes felt find and were responding normally.

After the appointment, I hobbled it down the street to a chevron, and under the lights popped the hood. The first thing I spotted on the right side of the engine (opposite the brake resevoir) was wiring that looked funny. My first thought was that something melted or had been thrown up into the engine compartment and thrashed the engine blanket. Then I looked at the brake fluid resevoir!

There was a nest of the blanket material near it, and you know the lip around the resevoir that goes around the whole thing about half way up? That was almost entirely gnawed away. They had actually punctured the resevoir and it was leaking fluid.

Called the tow truck right and got it towed. Stupid to have driven it!

 

hahaha...unlike others who have spiders in their tail light..pretty unlukcy you were.

 

It was really Alvin and the Chimpmunks.

 

Hot damn... I hope they've left for good and aren't running around your interior (like the rat in my car was...)

 

I can't stand those destructive little beasts!

You may see them again...
I had to trap and destroy the ones that invaded the roof of my house.

 

Holy **** that sucks!! Funny story though...

 

stop storing nuts under your hood

 

Update:

Apparently it was probably Rats, big ones :-)

Three people at my company had this problem last year after parking (in cold weather) near sewer grates in the parking lot. One of them reported that half of the critter was found in the engine during repair work. ICBC will help cover the repair costs.

 

Update 2: Finally heard from ICBC. $3000+ damage! Entire wiring harness needs replacing. $2300 just for the part.

Hood blanket, brake resevoir and other wiring was $800+. Still not sure on the labour for the wiring harness.

 

You poor soul...who did you **** off in your past???

Well on the brighter side of things at lease you will have your car working again.

 

I have/had a rat problem too... But thankfully they didn't chew through anything important... Just the hood insulation and some other insulation in the engine compartment.

ICBC will help you cover it? Do you just pay a deductable??

 

Im sorry to hear that man. But i couldnt help but LMFAO !

 

ICBC covers it yeah, I only have to pay the comprehensive deductible (300 in my case).

I really love this car, but I think it's time to move on. The starter went recently WHILE it was in the shop too. They (white rock mazda? whatever one is here local) wanted to charge 700+ for the part (685 or so for the part + labour) after THEY broke it (after I foolishly "flooded" it... I freaking KNEW it was going to flood "crap, I shouldn't have shut it off that quickly!"). I said "I'll do it myself". Ordered the part online for a third of the price... haha long story there, first spot I ordered it from didn't have it, ended up paying half the price that the dealership wanted, but because the first spot screwed up, it took 6 weeks to get the part.

Starter's an easy easy repair though, two we put it up on two jackstands and had the starter out in a couple of minutes. We futzed around with it for a few mins trying some troubleshooting steps with it from the shop manual, then put the new one in. Seriously easy replacement, 2 bolts essentially, 38-51nm on the wrench and you're good to go.