We got my son a slightly used Subaru Crosstrek (5 speed manual lol) last year. Nice little vehicle that is perfect for the youngsters to go lightly off road. Anyway he was heading back to college Sunday afternoon and loaded his vehicle up. We had some snow and ice so he decided that he would start it up and let it warm. Uh, oh. I had just came back into the garage when he started it and MAN! All of a sudden there was a whine and smoke and crap started billowing up from under the hood! I grabbed the fire extinguisher and ran back out (fearing the worst - always keep a fire extinguisher in the garage) and he had shut it down and was popping the hood. I ran up, opened the hood and.....ugh. There was a squirrel leg laying up on top of the radiator cover. There were entrails draped over the fan. There was fur everywhere and blood dripping from the front of the engine. The belt was shredded broke and a piece of it was lodged behind the idler pulley.

Apparently the squirrel had decided to climb up there to get out of the wind and snow and had been sitting on the lower part of the belt when my son fired it up...literally. Talk about a stench! Burnt rubber from the belt, burnt squirrel intestines... jeez. Glad it was cold! He had to go back to school so that night after everything was frozen I went out there with a screwdriver and scraped and pried up all the frozen bits of squirrel I could find. I then took a bucket of hot water and a rag taped to a stick (to get in the cracks) and cleaned up all the blood and squirrel fluids I could. I then crawled underneath and removed the plastic cladding and used the water to clean it up. Went and got the belt yesterday and only took about 15 minutes to put a new one on. What a mess...

Best. Thread. Title. Ever.

i read a news story where a snake did the same thing in the southwest. not a mess id wanna deal with

No pics?

Never did find the skull or the tail hence the "vapor" in the title. Man that was one nasty engine compartment. I used old rags and as I would sop up all the crap liquid I just threw the rag into a Walmart bag and tied it up. The entrails and squirrel parts I took out back in the woods for his brothers to see and teach them a lesson...

No doubt!

We had the exact situation once. Wife's SAAB and the family cat. SAAB belts must be stronger as kitty was firmly wedged in the alt pulley. Wife was so upset she had to be sedated.

You're a good Dad Greg. My son would have had to clean his own car. Find any nuts? (Tree, or squirrel).

That sucks. I got a kitten with the g/f's Taco some time ago... she's a HUGE cat lover. Poor thing was beside herself but life goes on. Not for the kitten though.

My girlfriend's parents had an LX470 about five years ago in Columbia, SC. It resided outside in the driveway over the Xmas holidays for company to park under the house. A cold front came through one night; the next morning they went to start it and no go. The squirrel had chewed through the main wire harness as well as putting a hole in the MC reservoir. Total cost replacement was over $4000.

I wish I had a nice Crosstek while in college, nice car, though the wheels remind me of some vehicle out of the movie series "Tron".

He's paying for his own college through scholarships both athletic and academic. Least I could do is get him a ride. I think my contribution last year was $247.