This is a Truck or car preventive maintenance tip that could possibly save you a major expense this fall….and forever more:
It’s starting to get a bit colder in the Mid-Atlantic Region of the U.S. The Rodents are beginning to move inside. This means your house and far less thought about, your vehicles.
You don’t have to be in a rural setting for rodents to make their homes in your vehicles. I’ve had it happen in a vehicle I left sitting, undriven, in my driveway for a year plus, in a busy neighborhood.
It’s less common for a rodent to hole up in your frequently used vehicle, but that’s precisely what one has done in my F-150 this fall. I recently experienced misfiring in the motor of my F-150 and thought it was a bad coil pack. So I hooked up the scanner and sure enough, two cylinders were misfiring. I replaced the coil packs on cylinders 2 and 6. I cleared the codes, and reset the engine light. I fired her up…..rumble bumble rumble bumble…misfiring still. I re-scanned for codes, and sure enough cylinders 2 and 6 were still a problem. So I was thinking of fuel injectors or fouled plugs.
I took the truck to the shop. The Mechanic calls me today and tells me a mouse has chewed through the fuel injector wires on the fuel injectors. I had considered the wires might have a problem but didn’t see any damage to them. I simply missed it. Most importantly, even though I’m an avid outdoorsman and no stranger to wildlife, I had simply never considered a mouse would crawl up inside the engine compartment of a regularly used vehicle and eat the fuel injector wires. Lesson learned.
There are 2 practical fixes for this problem
I’m going to be picking up one of these:
There is also a Rodent Tape to be found here :
I know you can use fox urine and different wire sprays. Not my first choice for obvious reasons. I also don’t need another thing to remember to do. I don’t want to have to continually remember to re-apply.
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