The Car Rattled When I Turned It On
This is a really gross story. You have been forewarned.
I was at my cousin’s house — she lives somewhat back from the main road on a huge plot of land — talking with one of her friends. The friend pointed out that other people would be arriving soon, and when they did, we would have to back out of the driveway to leave. My cousin’s driveway is steep and winding, and it’s hard to drive up going forward much less backwards. The friend said she was going to move her car so it was parked facing out. That way, she could pull out forward when she went to leave. Great idea.
I went outside to move my car first, but when I turned on the ignition, the whole car started to rattle. I immediately turned it off and sat there for a moment, confused. I had just driven back from the beach the day before and everything was fine. I had driven to her house that day and the car had been fine. I turned it on again and it continued to shake, though there were no emergency lights on the dashboard. I tried putting it in reverse and the car moved without trouble, though the horrible rattling sound continued. I turned the car around and then turned it off.
I went into the house to grab a second brain, and we started inspecting the car. We popped the hood and let the engine run. Everything looked fine. We checked the oil. That was fine(ish). A little low, but not enough to cause problems. At this point, there was also an odd smell in the car, like wet dog, and my cousin’s husband told me it was freon escaping. The problem was with the air conditioner. We turned off the air conditioner and the noise continued. But when we turned off the fan, the noise stopped. Problem solved — something was wrong with the fan.
I drove home on back roads with the windows down and the fan off. The car was fine.
The next day I took it to the shop so the fan could be repaired, and it turned out to be trickier than our mechanic thought. He suggested we take it to the dealer. So we moved the car to the dealer, who took some time to take apart the car and look at the fan.
WHERE HE FOUND A CHOPPED UP RAT!
Or mouse. I refused to look at the photos he sent, and Josh couldn’t tell scale.
It had crawled into the fan while I was parked at her house. If I hadn’t moved my car at that moment, it likely would have crawled out and I would have never known. But I did turn my car on at that moment, therefore I killed the rat-mouse. I alternated between saying, “I am so grossed out” and “I am a rat-mouse killer.”
The rat-mouse’s blood was splattered across the entire inner workings of the car, which meant an insurance claim, some new parts, and a rental vehicle for the next two weeks or so. The dealer is promising me that he’ll be able to clean out every last shred of rat-mouse, but he also asked if I wanted to trade in my vehicle for a different car. So I’m a little worried about whether this is truly “fixable” in the sense that a person will not be able to tell that a rat-mouse was once inside the fan.
I’m sorry, rat-mouse.
10 comments
Oh gosh Mel! That’s…just…horrible. And gross. And the fan lies the air into the car, in which you would breathe in the rat-mouse air…???
Ugh. Sorry. That probably wasn’t helpful.
But a related (although not as gross) story is that in 2013 we got a new (to us) family vehicle through a friend’s dealership, so we knew what we weee getting. But the a/c never worked well, and we had numerous issues every year. (Thank God for an extended warranty) Anyway, last summer, after the 5th time that summer of having it in, the dealership ripped the entire dash apart to get to the suspected leak at the evaporator, which they found but also found a giant mouse/rat nest all around the same area blocking airflow. Who knows how long that had been there!
You need parts for that? I would have thought that they could just spray down the engine, lubricate some stuff, and you’d be good to go. Wow!
I’m not sure if the dealership is just being a dealership (sales!) by suggesting you get a new car, or if they know that you may be eternally grossed out by your car having killed a rat/mouse.
I’m sorry that happened to you, Mel. I can’t stand the feeling when I have killed something by accident. It brings up all my worst nightmares. It happens, that’s life, insert other old sayings, but it is not fun. And what a mess to the car! That’s rotten luck!
You’re going to hate me, but when I was a kid a similar thing happened to family friends. Only substitute rat/mouse for kitten and fan for engine belt. Specifically her kitten. To this day, I bang on the hood of my car and wait a couple of minutes prior to getting in as many creatures tend to climb into warm vehicles.
And my hunch is you won’t need a new car, but the dealer sees an opportunity.
This happened in my family car when I was a kid too, but it wasn’t our cat…if that makes it better.
It smelled like garbage had exploded in our engine for weeks
OMG! So gross! So sorry you had to go through that!
As soon as you mentioned something rattling, I figured an animal had gotten into your car somewhere. :p I have heard similar stories from family & friends. Something similar happened to our neighbours too, except it involved a baby rabbit that entered the dryer vent from outside the house, came down the dryer hose & got caught in the dryer machinery/fan. Definitely not pleasant. 🙁
Eeeewwwwww! So sorry that this happened to you, that really is awful.
Hopefully the dealership can restore the car.
OMG. This story lives up to its forewarning.
How are you doing?
OH, NO. How awful, Mel. I’m so sorry! I hope that you have a rat-mouse free car soon …