Check for Squirrels!

[Chapol]

After a mere 190,000 miles on my '90 Camry V6 the thing quit on me on the way to work. Wouldn't restart for anything; just died on me going up a hill. Left me and two others out in the cold rain. At least it went out near the shoulder so I didn't block traffic. Had the car towed to my mechanic, who kept it overnight and couldn't find anything wrong. I drove the car home, and a day later it cut out on me again.

I searched under the hood for anything unusual, and I spotted a bell wire coming from a connector obviously chewed in half. I connected it using a jumper, and I haven't had the problem since. The reason I think it was squirrels is because I saw my ignition wires nibbled a few weeks earlier and I replaced them.

So, beware of them critters! They'll do-in a Camry!

[jsinton]

Do those squirrels also drive the motor? I think I have mice on a tredmill in my Camry.

[tntang]

I had a rat living in my air filter box. I don't know how it fitted in there but every morning I see rat droppings on my valve cover. I put some peanuts in there to see if it would eat it and it was gone the next day! So I put in some traps that triggered when the rat tried to get the peanuts. I didn't actually catch it but I think it got scared off from the traps. Good thing it didn't chew off any electrical wires. I didn't know it lived in the air box until I replaced the filter, when I say a a whole ton of poop in there. Eww...

[Bossman]

I had a little field mouse get up into my engine bay once and he chewed through the windshield washer hoses. I was wondering why they were spraying the engine compartment and not the windshield! The teeth marks were clearly visible and all I did was wrap a little electrical tape around the holes and all was well. These little critters will look for a warm place in the winter and your warm engine is just the ticket!