Last Saturday I went to QuickLane, got an oil change. Also picked up a new insulated battery bag for $30 to replace mine, as it was disintegrating after three years.

Go home, disconnect battery to replace bag Saturday night. All is well.

Sunday morning, go outside to car, find tater tot on my cowl? Someone must be trolling me.



This morning driving to work I realize the center stack says the outside temp is 50 degrees, which can't be right because it's 25 out according to my phone. Try to think back and realize it may have been stuck on that temp for the last day or two, but it's been pretty warm all week anyway until today, so not really sure. Think it must have something to do with the battery disconnect, so I come home tonight and open the hood to disconnect the battery and I find this...a nest made out of leaves and garbage:







Hood liner is trashed:



Brand new battery bag is trashed:



PVC Tube (?) chewed up:



Some wire near the front right of the engine is chewed up:





The question is, is that the thermometer wire (wire my finger is on in the following pic)? Here is another shot for perspective. It looks like a small cluster of grounds that branches off a larger loom of wires, could be the thermometer ground?:

 

Here's an update:

The Inlet Air temp is correct when viewed from the gauge cluster - the air temp is right, and it got warmer in my heated garage:




But the stereo display is stuck at 50:

 

Looks like its time to put peanut butter out with traps. What a PITA. Keep us posted with pictures of the dead body.

 

is it safe to assume that those two temps are reading off two separate sensors and are unrelated? i know the external temp is down in the lower grille, is the inlet air temp based on another, separate sensor in the intake?

i just was driving the car and watched the external temp go from 50 to -40 in about five minutes, degree by degree, then switch immediately back to 50, then drop again to -40.

 

Yes, those are two sensors. As you stated, the one in the radio is coming from the sensor in the bumper, the one in the display of the gauge cluster is coming from the MAF sensor.

LEXiiON

 

Yeah I would try and follow the wire coming from your bumper air sensor and see if there is anything wrong when you're tracing it back. But I think if any wiring was amiss your radio stack should read "--" for the temperature read out.

 

That wire looks like a ground wire the way it is terminated at the fender like that. It might be the body to motor ground which would be lucky if it is because they could chew all the insulation off it and it wouldn't mean anything because it's a ground. But I don't have that model year mustang to be able to know that for sure.

 

Boy that really sucks. Looks like a mouse family just found a really nice warm place to move into. Probably mov'in on up in your garage. They worked very quickly. Very destructive little varmints. Good luck getting things back in place. I think the suggestion for traps and peanut butter is a great idea.

 

so is this something where i need to worry about the same creature returning and this being a recurring thing where I find myself looking underhood on a weekly basis from here on out, or is this likely a one and done, meaning i cleared the nest out and the critter is too dumb to know how to return to the same spot and make another nest?

waiting for ford fo call me back to see if they can squeeze me in today

 

Do you park inside? If so yes I would think if the critter was not there when you took it apart it or more likely they will return and rebuild. If it is outside then it is hard to say. No matter what I think I would set some traps around your car, unless you have a chance of catching your dog or kitty cat. Good luck!

Also might look into putting mothballs or dryer sheets where you found the nest. But since it is your daily driver traps might be a better solution.

Here is some good info if you were storing, but since you are not maybe it will give you some ideas. I would search the web for more ideas.
https://www.hagerty.com/articles-vid...of-stored-cars

 

car is parked outside year round (beetle and camaro get the garage)

 

Well there's the problem

Camaro should be outside

 

Fixed...

 

Wow, that was a busy rat. Hate to see this happened puma.

 

Update:

-Wire up top is not damaged and just needs new insulation around it.
-About a foot of the horn wire and ambient air temp wires are chewed up underneath and getting replaced
-With diagnostic, looking at about $345
-Plus hood liner, PCV, and battery bag I will be doing at about ~$130 + tax, this is looking to be about a $500 nest.

 

That's exactly what I said to myself when I first saw it.
Glad it wasn't a really expensive fix Puma. Still sucks, but could have been worse. What year/kind of Camaro do you have that it must be in the garage as opposed to your Mustang?

 

It doesn't matter...

 

Thanks, I can't seem to catch a break with this car, from having the wheels stolen, to getting hit with a golf ball on the very back edge of the hood where PDR just didn't work due to the metal being folded over, to having the hood corrode (that one's on Ford but I got to get the dent fixed too and they did a fantastic job), to now having a critter build a nest on the engine? Aye carumba, when will it stop? That said the car has never been in an accident and has been mechanically flawless, best car I've ever owned hands down.

Unfortunately it's only fair that my wife gets one of the two heated garage spots. As for the Camaro, a little toy I've had nearly 18 years - first car:










When we bought our house I had to make one concession to get a nice remodeled home in a top school district at the price limit we self imposed on ourselves...that had to be the 3 car garage, but there's always the option of trying to squeeze a four post in there, but I think with a 9 foot ceiling I'm around 8-12" short.

 

That's the exact same color as my wife's car in high school

She had an 88 Camaro but it had the silver on bottom and said Camaro in the little rocker panel label. I think the next year they chanted it to say RS.

That Camaro is the main reason I hate Camaros. I had to fix so many thing in that car for her. It gave me some mechanical experience though.

 

My mom had a brand new Nissan Rogue and she doesn't have a garage at her house. A Mouse chewed a wire harness which cost $1500 and some change to replace at the dealerships. He car insurance covered the fix, just a thought for you, not sure if it's worth it or not in your case, because I would imagine the premium goes up.