Customer told me their car was making a "funny noise" and it turned out to be a squirrel's nest in the air intake

Drove 45 minutes to a gas station in Des Moines for what they swore was a transmission problem. Opened the hood and found 3 pounds of acorns and insulation stuffed into the filter box. Has anyone else found weird stuff animals left in engines?

2 comments

2 Comments

johnson.adam19d ago

Man, I feel your pain on this one. I once had a guy call me in a panic because his truck sounded like it was dying on the highway, and I drove an hour to find a family of chipmunks had stuffed about two pounds of sunflower seed shells into his cabin air filter. They built a whole little condo in there, complete with a nest and everything, which is honestly kind of impressive if you ignore how much it sucked for me. I was so embarrassed for the customer that I pretended it was a "common issue" with that model just to make them feel better. My wife still brings up the time I got paid fifty bucks to clean out what was basically rodent leftovers.

barnes.jamie19d ago

common issue" works every time, I told a guy his check engine light was a "sensor gremlin" and he nodded like I was a wizard.