when i used to be a mechanic at the local pepboys.. a man came in complaining that his car would stall whenever he let off the gas.. one of the other techs brought it in and opened the hood.. an there happened to be a muskrat wedged in between the serpentine belt and the alternator... it was pretty gross.. we told the guy that we werent gonna touch it and that we also didnt want the animal in our dumpster... it was all good fun.

Once it goes round the belts a couple times...how can you tell what it was?

it got wedged on a bracket and the body of it was pinched.. the head and the rear end was intact so it was distinguishable

And I thought Will would be the one making this post first! That'd be a major power-loss for his C*v*c!

Sorry I stole his thunder!

my friend'* mom ran over a possum and it got caught in the belts, cost em like $300

Who is this Holly, and what'* she doing with this gopher?

Or is she a new cartoon character?

A friend gave me a truck once that had been sitting in the tree line on his property for who knows how long. When I went to pick it up, we looked it over, popped in a "good" battery, and generally banged it around some. Got in, fired it up, and a whole family of mice (6 or more) came bolting out of various parts of the dash and upholstry. That was a case of "First you say it. Then you do it" (almost)

I banged on the truck even more with a tree branch for about 10 minutes just to make sure they didn't leave any friends behind....

I believe they are still using hamsters:




When I had my first car, 1977 NewYorker, like most cars of that day and age, it had a fan mounted to the waterpump pully. I hated the clutch on those things, so, I always removed it and used a spacer instead. This wasn't a good thing in the winter, as far as cats are concerned. Stray cats love to warm up under your engine in the winter, and in those days, the fan had a shroud around it, which served as a nice hard hammok for the cats. I soon learned to kick the car, or pound the hood to be sure no cats were there, after i nearly broke one in half one morning.

I heard a whining, and shut off the engine, and the whining continued. Took a few seconds to realize a cat was hurt under my car. She was pregnant, and her back was broke, so, she was as good as dead. I was told by a couple ladies(drunks) in my neighborhood, that I was so cruel for what I did. I never intended to hurt the cat, and had I known, I would have taken precautions.

My dad had a cat in his one morning, but that one ended up making quite a mess. I guess dad'* reflexes weren't as quick as mine, and he shut the car off a few seconds too late.

Also, in my area, it is common for small birds, rats, or squirrels to take residence under the hood, and around the wheel wells and so on, if you've got a car that'* been sitting, and not run in a while.

Happy hunting to you all... Sam