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If it wasn't for bad luck?

CigarMan Andy

Traveling Herf Man
Joined
Sep 20, 2008
Messages
1,833
Location
Fresno, CA
So I go out and get into my car to run an errand, my car made a clunk sound and wouldn't start. I thought my starter blew. My car is stll under warranty, so I wasn't concerned. I called road side assistance and had my car towed to the dealership.

Today I get a call from the VW dealership and they said "This was one for the books". It seems that a rodent has been storing dog food in my intake box and sucked dog food into my engine. I have at least one blown cylinder and other issues. They say I will most likely need a new engine and it is not covered under my warranty. Just my luck. Money has run out and now this.

Anyway, we called our insurance company and they say they will cover it, but we still have the deductible to pay. At least I don't have to pay for an engine... But now I have no car for at least another week. I guess I will have to stay at home for a week.


Wait, I have cigars here. Well, I guess it won't be too hard after all. LOL

I hope you all have better luck than I had, and stay rodent free...
 
I was working with something similar at work, only my customer had a brand new BMW M6. A mouse chewed through his wiring harness, because it was nesting in the engine bay. BMW covered it as goodwill for the customer.

I hope things work out for ya Andy. I'm glad to hear your insurance will step up. think of it this way, if your engine had crapped out just because, your insurance would not have helped.
 
Sorry to hear that Andy. That really sucks. A year or so ago I was driving home and smelled this nasty smell in my car, came through the vents.. It only started smelling after the engine had been running for a few min. A rodent pissed on my engine, I think... Never did figure it out, either I cooked a rodent somewhere under my hood, or it was rodent piss. After a month it faded away...
 
Sorry to hear that Andy. That really sucks. A year or so ago I was driving home and smelled this nasty smell in my car, came through the vents.. It only started smelling after the engine had been running for a few min. A rodent pissed on my engine, I think... Never did figure it out, either I cooked a rodent somewhere under my hood, or it was rodent piss. After a month it faded away...


That's what ended up being the smell in my car. Only the dash had to be taken apart until we found a rodent in the A/C motor. Don't even ask how the hell it got there. Took MONTHS for the smell to go away. Glad the car was a lease!
 
Mice and rats do alot of damage to car and trucks all the time. We have one or two repairs a month from critters chewing the wires or getting in the ac unit. Warranty usually will not cover critters!

Rich
 
Andy, I'm just not getting my mind around a blown cylinder from inhaled dog food. Food nuggets just aren't hard enough to interfere with valve or piston movement. Might get some very brief abrasion as the nugget disintegrates. This is just wrong.
 
Sorry to hear about the luck there Andy. I know all to well how expensive it is to fix anything major on a VeeDub. I hit a raised manhole in my old 02 Jetta turbo, it hit the tranny skid plate and drove it into the pan. Well as you might think I had a few choice words to say but it was running just fine so I drove it the rest of the way home. It wasn't till the next morning that I saw the tranny fluid all over the driveway. It was towed to the dealer and they said it needed a new tranny, it was the triptronic and cost of the tranny and to have a new one put in was $5000! Thank God the insurance co paid it and I was lucky to have a $500 deductible.


So believe me I am feeling your pain.
 
Andy, I'm just not getting my mind around a blown cylinder from inhaled dog food. Food nuggets just aren't hard enough to interfere with valve or piston movement. Might get some very brief abrasion as the nugget disintegrates. This is just wrong.


From what he told me, it wasn't just one piece. I'm not a mechanic, so I don't know, but the adjuster will be there on Tuesday, and I want to see what they are talking about. I will bring a camera.
 
Andy, I'm just not getting my mind around a blown cylinder from inhaled dog food. Food nuggets just aren't hard enough to interfere with valve or piston movement. Might get some very brief abrasion as the nugget disintegrates. This is just wrong.

Another possibility it that it hit the spark plug just right, closed the gap, and that cylinder isn't fireing anymore. A much less expensive repair.

I agree though. I wouldn't think a dog food nugget could do much damage at all.
 
Sorry to hear that Andy. That really sucks. A year or so ago I was driving home and smelled this nasty smell in my car, came through the vents.. It only started smelling after the engine had been running for a few min. A rodent pissed on my engine, I think... Never did figure it out, either I cooked a rodent somewhere under my hood, or it was rodent piss. After a month it faded away...
Fords always smell like that.

NA
 
We had that happen with a mouse storing seeds in our Saturn's airbox. They have a screen AFTER the air filter which kept the big stuff out though. Most of the intake was blocked off that it took awhile to figure out why the car was so sluggish.
 
The RATS at the parking lot where I kept my car use to chew threw my belts & spark plug cable every week and leave bird bones, I had to get my truck out of there quick before they started on the tires... :angry:
 
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