Rodents in the darnedest places

[woodroe]

Turned on the truck AC and awful noise and vibration going on.
Tore into it and pulled the blower motor out. Stuck in the fan blades was a
hairless baby red squirrel I think. Don't know how it got there and no signs of a
nest anywhere to be seen. Project took about an hour . All good now although
some lingering odor.
All I can figure is we were in the woods with the truck in some terrain and the little fella must
have gotten bounced out of the nest.
Auto makers don't do much to prevent rodent intrusions. We've found nests and acorns in carb air intake filters before.
That became a safety problem when the car suddenly started accelerating on its own.

[HemlockKing]

I have a huge disdain for those bug eyed red squirrels, noisy loud destructive territorial little things 

[sprucebunny]

It's pretty sad how little effort car makers take to exclude rodents !!!

I've had to make my own screen to keep them out of air cleaners. And I had a Dodge Dakota that I just had to stop driving. Nothing stopped the mice; not those pine smelly things or foaming obvious holes. It was just too disgusting to use.

[Jeff]

I believe we still win.

https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?topic=104469.0

[woodroe]

Guess I missed that thread Jeff. Definitely a good read.
I have seen Ermine in the past going in and out of the truck engine compartment
searching for rodents.
One thing is for sure, if you see a red squirrel hanging around there is bound
to be trouble soon. Anyone else ever had rodents drop into their blower fan ?
Not an easy job getting that blower fan out in my f 150 .
I have also resorted to covering carb air intake with hardware cloth to
keep the rodents out of there but not sure where to plug entrances to cabin air.
That critter must have fallen in when the outside air door opened.

[jb616]

Incredibly, manufacturers are using starch based and soy based wire coverings for cars...Cost a co worker over $1500 to get her car rewired after the squirrels got at it...  https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a21933466/does-your-car-have-wiring-that-rodents-think-is-tasty/