Rodents Nest

lookforjoe

lookforjoe

True Classic
Ann's 500 has been sitting for about a month, since she broke her foot in the middle of May. A rodent decided to eat the battery blanket, or rather, chew it up & make a nest. Didn't know where the nest was, until I washed the car to remove all the crap that had accumulated & had water fill up the passenger foot wells :(

The nest was up behind the wipers/cowl, and I guess was holding the air intake open? Anyway, that's where all the water came in. Used a wet vac to suck up several gallons & then pulled the pass seat & lifted the carpet to dry out the foam. Hopefully, it'll be dry in a couple days with it left up to air out.

didn't take any pics

PXL_20220628_005621997.jpg
 
Wow! Was the cowl full of leaves and debris as well? My 500 had a 3 inch thick coating of crap all inside the cowl, still wet despite it not raining for 2 weeks before I found it. Asking for rust :) At least it was covering up the absolutely slathered on unibody sealer that looked thick enough to double the chassis rigidity.

The carpet seems to dry out fairly well in these cars, it's not like the Germans where the carpet seals moisture beneath it and its almost undetectable. My 13' was leaking water for months and I couldn't track it down...it actually turned out to be the unibody itself up under the passenger side fender.

The unibody seam sealer either cracked or was applied poorly and lifted somewhere. Not exactly encouraging that the car was built well but I ignore that.

Lifting the front footwell carpet just a little and sticking a wet vac hose underneath it, and then removing a few of the plugs in the under floor frame rail from the underside of the car did the trick for me as it allows air to flow through the carpet to dry it out instead of just sucking on stagnant air. It is also possible for water to be trapped in those frame rails, depending on how bad it flooded, so its worth checking!


I hope Ann makes a good recovery! Having a disabled foot sucks!
 
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Thank you.

There was a little debris, mostly bamboo leaves. The foam isn't that thick on the Fiat, so it dried out in a day or so with air circulated with the help of a small fan.
 
lookforjoe said:
Thank you.

There was a little debris, mostly bamboo leaves. The foam isn't that thick on the Fiat, so it dried out in a day or so with air circulated with the help of a small fan.
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Left our 2007 Mazda3 at the airport for two-weeks of vacation time recently. Got back to a dead battery and a possum living on top the engine. Freaked the AAA guy out of his pants. lol
 
lookforjoe said:
Ann's 500 has been sitting for about a month, since she broke her foot in the middle of May. A rodent decided to eat the battery blanket, or rather, chew it up & make a nest. Didn't know where the nest was, until I washed the car to remove all the crap that had accumulated & had water fill up the passenger foot wells :(

The nest was up behind the wipers/cowl, and I guess was holding the air intake open? Anyway, that's where all the water came in. Used a wet vac to suck up several gallons & then pulled the pass seat & lifted the carpet to dry out the foam. Hopefully, it'll be dry in a couple days with it left up to air out.

didn't take any pics

View attachment 63215
Click to expand...
It feels like about a third of this YouTuber's posts are about rodents in the cars he works on!

 
lookforjoe said:
Ann's 500 has been sitting for about a month, since she broke her foot in the middle of May. A rodent decided to eat the battery blanket, or rather, chew it up & make a nest. Didn't know where the nest was, until I washed the car to remove all the crap that had accumulated & had water fill up the passenger foot wells :(

The nest was up behind the wipers/cowl, and I guess was holding the air intake open? Anyway, that's where all the water came in. Used a wet vac to suck up several gallons & then pulled the pass seat & lifted the carpet to dry out the foam. Hopefully, it'll be dry in a couple days with it left up to air out.

didn't take any pics

View attachment 63215
Click to expand...
My brother in law arrived yesterday for some help with his Abarth. Same issue, rats ate the battery blanket.
 
Worked on a C30 last week - had the same rodent nest as mine did years ago when I left it parked for a month. This is behind the battery box, so not visible until battery & box are removed, which I only did to replace the transaxle mount
Fortunately they didn't chew any of the wiring
PXL_20220928_192209778.jpg
 
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