...what am I gunna do!

Sorry about that! Driving over to my parents house last night, pull out the driveway, car feels a bit odd, as I continue a feels like a misfire, gets worse and worse and I pull over after about 2 miles.

Open bonnet, have a look round and find one of the HT leads worn through, thought it must have rubbed against the manifold of something as it quite a bit of the insulation has come off.

Phone the AA, as Im waiting I look over the engine, notice something on the inlet manifold, what looks like rat droppings!

On closed inspection of the HT lead you can see the little teeth marks, shame there wasnt any current flowing at the time, would have given him a nice little shock! AA man stripped back the leads and did a nice bodge to get me home.

Phoned the council and they are sending someone out.

Also had to buy a set of 3 leads as Ford dont do individual leads and Halfords only supply all 6.



Rat

[Edited on 26/2/2007 by greggors84]

My grandad used to have a snake that lived in the dash of his volvo 9something. It was my dads and had escaped.

it reapeared when my grandad was driving a client to his factory. Quite a shriek I was told.

Rat and mouse damage in cars is surprisingly common, and they can cause a lot of damage if they get behind the dash!!!

brother in laws farm pick-up dropped a cam belt and trashed the engine when a sleeping rat got caught un awares

why do they do that?

surely it doesn't taste good or have any nutritional value

Get yourself some good old "break back" traps...that way you know you've caught it and no nasty smells if it hides and dies from the poison!

my nextdoor neighbour had a nest in the
heater of her nissan primera
took it in and had it removed
bugger me they came back again
she had to have it removed a second time
at least the mechanic was well practiced

I had one eating the trim in the boot of my old golf, luckily that was about all the damage it was doing. Eventually I managed to drown it in a bowl of engine oil (not on purpose, i'd forgotten about it after draining the oil out of the engine and had left it under the car overnight. Gave me a bloody shock when draining the bowl the next day )

There was a car on pimp my ride that was full of rat crap. When they pulled the dash out they found the live rat!!

I used to have pet rats, great fun and remarkably intelegent.
Rats teeth never stop growing so they have to knaw on stuff all the time, thats why they do so much damage but they do seem to be able to extract nutritional value from just about anything.
at the end of the world all that will be left is Rats and Cockroaches.

I've heard about rats chewing through CV boots to get to the grease. I used to share a workshop a few years back and the rats we had were HUGE not shy either.

Beware.... if you have rats crawling about in your workshop and over your car etc etc.

PLEASE wash you hands thoroughly, and especially before you eat.
Rats can carry Leptospirosis, which is nasty and if untreated can be fatal.

Leptospirosis is a bacterial disease that affects humans and animals. It is caused by bacteria of the genus Leptospira. In humans it causes a wide range of symptoms, and some infected persons may have no symptoms at all. Symptoms of leptospirosis include high fever, severe headache, chills, muscle aches, and vomiting, and may include jaundice (yellow skin and eyes), red eyes, abdominal pain, diarrhea, or a rash. If the disease is not treated, the patient could develop kidney damage, meningitis (inflammation of the membrane around the brain and spinal cord), liver failure, and respiratory distress. In rare cases death occurs.

Many of these symptoms can be mistaken for other diseases. Leptospirosis is confirmed by laboratory testing of a blood or urine sample.


As I said, not very nice. Also commonly known as Weil's Disease.
Wash your hands... You know it makes sesnse.