An unwelcomed passenger

We have had a silent passenger in our car. We aren't sure how long it has been there, but it made its appearance late last week. I noticed it when I drove the kids to the bus stop. It was cold and the heater was on its highest setting to chill our cold bones as we waited for the bus. The fan sounded a bit noisy, so I just turned it down, making note to tell Jeff when I get the chance.

Well, I guess I didn't get the chance because 4 days later, we were in the car again, this time Jeff was present. The heater still didn't sound the same. I told him, "Oh yeah, I was going to tell you about it, but I forgot." Jeff was quite distraught thinking this was going to be an expensive fix for the interior fan.

Jeff did some research online for Acura MDX noisy fans to come up with some explanation of what it could be and if he could possibly fix it himself. He figured he needed to take it apart to see if there was anything trapped in the fan, such as leaves...etc.

The next day, he pulled it apart and this is what he found.




I was shocked. But more so, I felt violated that this potential rabies-infected rodent was in our car. How disgusting knowing that everytime for the past 4 days, when the fan comes on a mouse was spinning around and around and around.

There was obvious clean up work to be done. Haley readily volunteered to pull the wedged mouse out of the fan and throw it into the field behind our house.

She is braver than me!

Looks like those gloves from the hospital came in handy. Afterward I made Jeff thoroughly sanitize the fan. Needless to say, we'll be putting out mouse traps so we don't have that happen again. Although if it does, Jeff now knows how to take apart the fan.