OT Fun with Rodents..Whats that smell in here?

["David A. Leonard" <dleonar1@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

So my wife called me this afternoon.."David I'm at 'Tumblekids', with Jake,
and my car (92Buick Roadmasher) is making this Godawful rumbling vibration,
with the key on, before I start the engine."  " I'm afraid to drive it"

"Want me to try it again?"  I allowed as I could be there in 45
minutes..just wait..Diagnosing bizarre noises over the phone is always
interesting.."is it a Screechy thing.. like rrrrr.. No a " rumble"

She is well trained..called me before attempting any terminal experiments!

I know I've gotten older, because I was thinking starter, and I had resigned
to pay the tow truck to drop this POS in my yard, instead of doing the
parking lot starter/ramp/ jack dance..

So I get the other kid off the bus, head down, and sure enough..when you
turn the key on, it feels like the dash is going to vibrate itself off!  I
turn up the auto climate control, and when we hit ambient temperature, the
noise stops.  It also stops when we turn off the climate system all
together.  I think its a refrigerant sound of low freon squeaking thru the
expansion valve..we shut the climate system off and drove home.

Fired it up again, with the compressor wire off and the noise is still
there!  Determined it was the heater blower fan.  Called NAPA .. $47.00 for
the cheapo motor, $104.00 for the good'un.

Anybody know the answer yet?

Next clue..shredded carpet backing under the throttle body.  Can you say
mouse nest?

So I get the Haynes manual ( Yes Haynes does domestic cars too), and read up
on how to remove the blower.  Start digging under the right dash, which is
always fun when you are 6'4" 240 lbs..I always feel like puking when I do
this..but I once owned a 64 MG Midget, so the Roadmasher's velour split
bench is a lot easier to lie on!

Aha!  More shredded carpet backing remains!  Its becoming clearer..Oh ...did
I mention this summer the mysterious one week old suckling baby mouse the
kid found wiggling on the floor and wanted to save..forced my wife to take
it to the vets..
Pulled the squirrel cage type blower (ought to call this one a "mouse cage"
blower) and there it was.. full grown mouse doing an imitation of an
astronaut in a runaway centrifuge.. very dead..very fresh...very jammed to
the I.D. of the fan......thankfully un-decayed.. imagine the stench?  Must
of gotten in this morning.  Nothing like a mouse stuck to one side of your
blower to unbalance the system.  My 4 year old helped me.."Dad..there's a
mouse in our unit!"

Anyway, put it all back together, and all is well in the Leonard motor pool.

I'm not sure exactly what this has to do with BMWS, but it just goes to show
you.. take things apart before you buy parts to fix them..things aren't
always as they seem. I couldn't seem to find any mention of " rodents in the
works" in Bently, Haynes or Chilton..though I did see reference to it in a
"Seloc" Mercruiser Stern Drive manual.

I'm off to Denver Thursday to pick up a 93 Suburban there, and driving back
to Maine..Can you say " Road Trip"..Buddy works at an airline  free first
class tix out, and hopefully a
good ride back..ought to be able to catch a few winks in the back en route.

We figured the Halloween party at Cedar Point amusement park
www.cedarpoint.com ..biggest rollercoaster in the world.. and maybe a few
strip joints in the Canadian side of Niagra Falls..will round out the
adventure...

That will get the Leonard fleet up to 5 cars..I couldn't just buy one
locally..where would the fun be in that?

Dave Leonard

A man with a lot of rolling stock.
Looks like we have land, sea, air and snow covered..Maybe I need a race car!
Or a tractor, yeah, thats the ticket.. maybe one of them Grey Market Jap
units!

88 735i
91 325ic
92 Roadmasher
89 3/4 to Suburban
93 1/2 ton Suburban (loaded family type)
88 Wellcraft v8
66 Boston Whaler
couple of 96 Arctic cats
72 Bellanca Super Viking 300hp airplane

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End of bmw-digest V9 #1948
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