We have a corn stove to help heat the house. It’s like a pellet stove, but instead of wood pellets it uses corn.
Because of that, I need to buy a decent supply of corn. Local feed stores have it in 50 lb. bags, so I buy several of those at a time and fill up the bins in the garage. This last time I had a couple extra bags that didn’t fit in the garage, so I just left them in the Jeep.
For those unfamiliar with winter driving in the Midwest, it helps to have extra weight over the rear axle for rear-wheel-drive vehicles. My Jeep (97 ZJ, in case you’re wondering) can be shifted into 4WD, but I leave it in 2WD until I actually need 4WD.
A lot of people get extra bags of something they’ll need anyway and just leave them in the back of the vehicle all winter. Dad used to leave 40 lb. bags of softener salt in the van. I figured I’d leave the corn in the back of the Jeep all winter unless we ran low and I couldn’t get to the store, in which case I’d use that then just leave some of the next batch in the Jeep.
Fast forward a week or two. The Jeep had been sitting unused that whole time. I got in it and needed to get something out of the glovebox, and I discovered a handful of corn in there. I know I didn’t put any corn in the glovebox – it’s all supposed to be in the back of the vehicle.
I went to the back and checked. Sure enough, there’s a hole chewed in the bag of corn and some small critter had been helping himself to my generous supply of his winter food. I immediately unloaded the corn into the garage bins, finding remnants of corn underneath the back seats.
I went back to the Jeep, and drove it as I originally intended. I noted, however, that the heater wasn’t blowing right and sounded bad.
So, the next day that I had some time for it, I went out to the Jeep and got some tools and took apart the blower.
On a side note, if you need to take the blower motor off a ZJ and you got the three screws out and it’s not cooperating, it’s not clearing the relay. Take the fuse panel off, unplug the topmost relay, and then you’ll be able to get it out.
Anyway, back to the story. Once I got the blower out from under the dashboard, it was easy to see why it sounded bad.
I cleaned the mouse nest out of the fan. Funny enough, it’s a squirrel-cage type fan design. But I doubt it was a squirrel that found its way into there.
I put the fan back in place and turned it on. It still sounded wrong. Certainly better than it did before though.
I took the fan out again. I poked the screwdriver up into the ductwork to see if I could dislodge any more nesting material. I got some, but the screwdriver wasn’t the best tool for grabbing stuff. So, very carefully, I reached up into the ductwork with my hand. I was able to pull some more out, and I think I got it all. At least all that was in that area.
I put it all back together (after I shot some WD-40 into the fan assembly because that helps just about anything that moves in a vehicle – notable exceptions being brake pads/rotors and the serpentine belt) and there was a slight clicking sound once I turned it back on. I turned the fan up a notch, and the clicking got louder. I turned the fan up all the way and the clicking got even louder, then I heard a small thunk and the fan was quiet again.
I’m not going to check. Everything is working now so I’m just going to leave it.
Moral of the story: don’t leave bags of anything in your vehicle that mice consider food.
Now these are to you the unclean among the swarming things which swarm on the earth: the mole, and the mouse, and the great lizard in its kinds,
Leviticus 11:29
This is Alpha, the first-born, when he was 2YO.
This is Beta, the second-born, when he was about 2YO.
This is Gamma, the third-born, when he was about 18MO.
