Of mice and batteries...

[Aless_andro00]

I haven't driven my '20 GT500 much in the past few years. Health challenges, endless shit weather, family matters, you name it. I store it inside and it is always on a trickle charger. And as well sealed as it is, every now and then a mouse migrates inside. After having mice build a nest on the intake manifold of a truck I had which caught fire and nearly burned to the ground, I'm somewhat vigilant about it. I've used every trap made and now stick to glue traps. I feel sorry for the little bastards when their life is shortened because of them but I am reminded of the serious damage they can cause. Anyhow, suffice it to say I always have a few traps strategically placed with a dab of peanut butter so they can at least go out with a smile.

So yesterday was the day I planned on firing up the car (first time since last September) and pulling it out to change registration stickers and have a good look at it. As soon as I pull it out I have to go back into my shop to pick up some of the traps I keep under the car so that my dog doesn't put her nose into them. Sure enough, there be a peanut butter aficionado. RIP you little son of a bitch, no harness eating for you!

So I go out to the car, pop the hood, and wtf is this? I connect the charger with a lead to the positive battery terminal and the negative to a ground on the car and not the negative battery terminal so the battery management system stays happy. Living a lifetime in the northeast, battery terminal corrosion isn't something I haven't seen plenty of times before. But I'm not having that on this car.

The white/black "powder" was a rather hard crust that took some effort to chip away. I'm thankful that Ford made the terminal clamp separate from the cable and decided to disassemble the clamp, clean it up, and reinstall.

I scraped the connector and used a wire brush to remove as much as I could and then paced everything in a mini-vat of metal prep.

After about 15 minutes everything was cleaned up and I could rinse and reassemble.

I talked to my Ford Parts guru about this and he noted that the clamp "assembly" was available so I had him order me a replacement as well as some of the terminal protectant that dealers use. I'm also going to check the other end of the cable to see if there any shenanigans going on there as well. Can't have enough of good, clean grounds. And that mouse...funeral was yesterday and in his honor I placed a fresh trap in case any of his family members are eager to join him.

On to the next obstacle...

Saw a picture of a mouse trap, and I know that it can be a big concern.

In my house, I had a lot of issues with those bastards, and nothing helped. I used to find the chew wires in the car and carton boxes and their dead corps inside my car. But the issue was solved when we adopted two stray cats.

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[Strokerswild]

Saw a picture of a mouse trap, and I know that it can be a big concern.

In my house, I had a lot of issues with those bastards, and nothing helped. I used to find the chew wires in the car and carton boxes and their dead corps inside my car. But the issue was solved when we adopted two stray cats.

Nothing keeps an area rodent free like a couple of good cats.

 

[Buldawg76]

Thats one thing we have plenty of in my area is stray cats and can say do not have a mice problem that I have seen. Do have an issue with the cats walking over my car though or using the flower bed for their bathroom. Good old cayenne pepper sprinkled in the flower bed cures that issue quite well. They get it on their paws and then when they clean themselves, they get a hot tongue and remember where they get it from and avoid the flower beds.

In my area they are considered free roaming animals, so it is illegal to get rid of them other than humanely trapping them in a cage and taking to a shelter or rescue facility, the issues there is they are all usually full and will not accept them. Animal control will not do anything to help remove them from the area.

A few stray cats soon turn into a huge family much like rabbits and mice.

BD

 

[Buldawg76]

Most happy that you don't have to live on narcotics, BD and roger on thinking we'd never see forty. We males can be mighty stupid, can't we? <grin>

Hang tough, amigo..one day at a time.

Not so much stupid but rather just live a day at a time and never think about how today will affect tomorrow, So yea not real smart.

BD

 

[WD Pro]

Thats one thing we have plenty of in my area is stray cats and can say do not have a mice problem that I have seen. Do have an issue with the cats walking over my car though or using the flower bed for their bathroom. Good old cayenne pepper sprinkled in the flower bed cures that issue quite well. They get it on their paws and then when they clean themselves, they get a hot tongue and remember where they get it from and avoid the flower beds.

In my area they are considered free roaming animals, so it is illegal to get rid of them other than humanely trapping them in a cage and taking to a shelter or rescue facility, the issues there is they are all usually full and will not accept them. Animal control will not do anything to help remove them from the area.

A few stray cats soon turn into a huge family much like rabbits and mice.

BD

'Most' (in my experience 'all') stray cats can be adopted easily though and can make great pets as they are already house trained - they will be very appreciative of the extra warmth and regular food etc.

Once adopted (or once they have adopted you lol) they can be spayed / neutered like a regular house cat, reducing and not contributing to your stray cat problem.

Jumping on the car can defo be a problem - some cats will and some won't, it seems very individual.

I have three of those electronic cat repeller things outside, two mounted in dedicated plant pots that I position to cover the stang - they have been very effective

WD

 

[Aless_andro00]

Nothing keeps an area rodent free like a couple of good cats.

You are right. We had a huge problem with rodents as I described before. The same as my neighbors. And on Christmas Eve, it was snowing a little bit outside, and we saw two stray cats looking through our window. My wife and I decided to let them in for a night because it was freezing, and we gave them some food leftovers. Well, they still live with us, and we don't have mice anymore. We let them out for the whole day or night, and I even installed the cat door. Sometimes, they just don't ask for food, and the entire neighborhood is now a mice-free area.
But some of our neighbors are still against us keeping cats, and they still have problems with mice.

 

[Buldawg76]

'Most' (in my experience 'all') stray cats can be adopted easily though and can make great pets as they are already house trained - they will be very appreciative of the extra warmth and regular food etc.

Once adopted (or once they have adopted you lol) they can be spayed / neutered like a regular house cat, reducing and not contributing to your stray cat problem.

Jumping on the car can defo be a problem - some cats will and some won't, it seems very individual.

I have three of those electronic cat repeller things outside, two mounted in dedicated plant pots that I position to cover the stang - they have been very effective

WD

Wife is allergic to cats so adopting is not an option plus the only cat I would own/adopt is born without a tail as in a Manx. So, the stray/feral cats in my area will be outside cats in terms of my house.

I had a 22 pound Manx in my early 20s that was very adept at hunting most anything it wanted to eat/play with including fish. He would always bring me home half of it to share with me LOL.

I don't use the electronic cat repellers, just the cayenne pepper in flower bed and around the car on the driveway and since doing that every so often they avoid my driveway and yard/garden in general.

BD

 

[Strokerswild]

Wife is allergic to cats so adopting is not an option plus the only cat I would own/adopt is born without a tail as in a Manx. So, the stray/feral cats in my area will be outside cats in terms of my house.

I had a 22 pound Manx in my early 20s that was very adept at hunting most anything it wanted to eat/play with including fish. He would always bring me home half of it to share with me LOL.

I don't use the electronic cat repellers, just the cayenne pepper in flower bed and around the car on the driveway and since doing that every so often they avoid my driveway and yard/garden in general.

BD

Had a big tom 20+ years ago that just showed up in the garden one day as a little guy and stayed. He was a house cat to a degree but had to go outside as much as possible, and murdered everything he could. He would leave the headless bodies in neat little rows on the porch, which went over well with the wife as you might imagine. He didn't have front claws but could still climb trees and take down rabbits as big as he was, and had no fear. I stepped on one of said rabbits, headless of course, on the front step once and almost broke my neck. Unfortunately, his fearlessness eventually got him some time after we moved to our current home, which is in the country. I suspect he finally ran into a raccoon or coyote and lost defending his turf, he went out one night and never returned.

The current crop of cats are wimps and lead cushy indoor lives. No mice (or bugs) in the house ever, though.

 

[Buldawg76]

Had a big tom 20+ years ago that just showed up in the garden one day as a little guy and stayed. He was a house cat to a degree but had to go outside as much as possible, and murdered everything he could. He would leave the headless bodies in neat little rows on the porch, which went over well with the wife as you might imagine. He didn't have front claws but could still climb trees and take down rabbits as big as he was, and had no fear. I stepped on one of said rabbits, headless of course, on the front step once and almost broke my neck. Unfortunately, his fearlessness eventually got him some time after we moved to our current home, which is in the country. I suspect he finally ran into a raccoon or coyote and lost defending his turf, he went out one night and never returned.

The current crop of cats are wimps and lead cushy indoor lives. No mice (or bugs) in the house ever, though.

Sounds like your Tom and my Sneakers were cousins, Sneakers was all black with white paws front and rear. He was part house cat and part outdoor wild cat that over time became more and more wild to the point he never came back home. He could jump up on the roof of a house from a crouched position on the ground in a single leap or pick a bird out of the air at up to 15 feet off the ground. When sneakers was 4 months old he would go out to a tree in the yard that had a mockingbirds nest in it with eggs and wrap his back legs around the tree trunk and turn his upper body 180 degrees and play with the mockingbirds as they dive bombed him and there would be feathers flying till, they finally gave up.

His front and rear claws were about 5/8" long and his feline fangs were over 3/4 " long.

BD

 

[Epiphany]

So I ordered a new negative terminal clamp from my Ford parts guru as much as my cleaned factory one would likely outlive me, whatevs. I also decided to order one from Amazon, just to see if they were peddling actual factory hardware as well or Chinese garbage...

The Ford Parts part is 100% identical to OEM, as it should be. Believe it or not, so is the one from Amazon, it just didn't come with the black plastic piece (but it fits the Amazon clamp just the same as factory). Just remove from one and snap it into the other. And the Amazon clamp came with a terminal stud nut whereas the Ford Parts did not.

It was the bolt and wedge lock assembly that had the majority of corrosion on the clamp on my car. What looks to be nothing more than a black oxide coating didn't seem to put up much of a battle so I wasn't surprised to see an identical assembly available in a coating that almost looks like it was galvanized so I picked that up too.

I think I'll use that in combination with either terminal clamp, doesn't matter as they are both the same.

I also picked some of the anti-corrosion items recommended earlier in this thread (thanks again). Did I need 50 terminal protectors? No, but simple Bidenomics dictated that I pay way more than reasonable for something I'll never get the full use out of. Cornpop approved!

 

[wingnutt]

lol@cornpop approved

 

[Buldawg76]

Good to know on the Amazon clamp and cross bar being same as ford part.

BD

 

[kilobravo]

He would always bring me home half of it to share with me LOL.

Got a grin out of that, BD. I've never been a "cat guy," but I've dealt with feral cats, and know how they love to bring trophies home to show you. <smile> I've also had a few of our Dobies bring in moles. No gophers yet though, DAMMIT! <grin>

So I ordered a new negative terminal clamp from my Ford parts guru as much as my cleaned factory one would likely outlive me, whatevs.

That gave me a big smile, Tob. Clearly, you too suffer from obsessive behavior as I do because, that's exactly the kind of thing I do all the time. "Better is NOT the enemy of good enough." <chuckling>

I also picked some of the anti-corrosion items recommended earlier in this thread (thanks again). Did I need 50 terminal protectors? No, but simple Bidenomics dictated that I pay way more than reasonable for something I'll never get the full use out of. Cornpop approved!

More chuckles because my can of umpteen felt rings arrived yesterday!

 

[Strokerswild]

Now I have an insatiable need to buy a tub of terminal protectors....

 

[wingnutt]

lol…peer pressure is a bitch

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