Rats!

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#22
Mentions of soy in wiring. When my FIL passed away during the pandemic, I had been furloughed and was bored.

His Ford Escape had been parked in the driveway in their farm community for years and had largely been consumed by mice. I had nothing better to do so I took on the car as a project to get it cleaned up and see if I could sell it.

Mice had covered the engine in snail shells. Eaten the hood insulation and stuffed the hvac vent tubes with it. Built their homes in the kick panels.

Gutted the interior, cleaned everything and put it back together. One of the oddest things was that all of the light grey wires had been eaten, killing the wipers, signals and other various functions.

Turns out Ford was using soy-based insulation in light grey wires.
 


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Intuit

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#23
Was using, or is using? Did you buy new (soybean) harnesses or patch the missing grey?
 


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#24
Was using, or is using? Did you buy new (soybean) harnesses or patch the missing grey?
Not sure if Ford is still using soy based wire insulation. The Escape was a 2011, and it was the case at the time.

I patched the damaged portions of the wiring with what I had at the time (probably plain black) to get all of the affected functions working again since I was selling the car. I raided a few junkyards to get a replacement hood insulation pad, firewall insulation pad, and fuse box cover. The buggers had eaten a hole in the under hood fuse box cover and were living inside the fuse box.

Took two weeks of solid work to get the car clean and get the smell out. I was quite proud of the results.
 


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#25
Mentions of soy in wiring. When my FIL passed away during the pandemic, I had been furloughed and was bored.

His Ford Escape had been parked in the driveway in their farm community for years and had largely been consumed by mice. I had nothing better to do so I took on the car as a project to get it cleaned up and see if I could sell it.

Mice had covered the engine in snail shells. Eaten the hood insulation and stuffed the hvac vent tubes with it. Built their homes in the kick panels.

Gutted the interior, cleaned everything and put it back together. One of the oddest things was that all of the light grey wires had been eaten, killing the wipers, signals and other various functions.

Turns out Ford was using soy-based insulation in light grey wires.
Wow, dealing with rats and mice in a car can be a real challenge, especially when they start causing damage to the wiring. It's amazing how much trouble those little critters can cause when they make themselves at home.
I've had my own pest problems at home, which is why I've been considering trying out a pest control company. I found one that seems pretty versatile in handling different types of pests. I figure it's better to give them a try before my house gets overrun. Check out https://pestcontrolcompanies.net/ for more info. What do you think?
 


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