been cleaning out my new to me '85 300D....The stuff was packed in here(see photo) Where else do the cute littlefuzzy things like to visit/hang?

Rob M
Concord,MA
'85 300D

Attached Thumbnails

 

I once read about a guy that had a 930 turbo. I rat built a nest on top of one of the cylinders. Needless to say, that cylinder didn't cool properly and got ruined. He was out some big $$$$

Scott

__________________
Scott
1982 Mercedes 240D, 4 speed, 275,000
1988 Porsche 944 Turbo S (70,000)
1987 Porsche 911 Coupe 109,000 (sold)
1998 Mercedes E300 TurboDiesel 147,000 (sold)
1985 Mercedes 300D 227,000 (totaled by inattentive driver with no insurance!)
1997 Mercedes E300 Diesel 236,000 (sold)
1995 Ducati 900SS (sold)
1987 VW Jetta GLI 157,000 (sold)
1986 Camaro 125,000 (sold - P.O.S.)
1977 Corvette L82 125,000 (sold)
1965 Pontiac GTO 15,000 restored (sold)

I keep a pack of mouse poison under the hood so they have a nice last meal if they decide to move in.

__________________
1985 300D Turbo ~225k
2000 F350 (Powerstroke) 4X4, SWB, CC, SRW, 6spd ~148k
1999 International 4900, DT466e (250hp/660 ft/lbs), Allison MD3060 ~73k

Chipmunks like to live in the air cleaner as well as ventilation ducts.

__________________
Michael LaFleur

'05 E320 CDI - 86,000 miles
'86 300SDL - 360,000 miles
'85 300SD - 150,000 miles (sold)
'89 190D - 120,000 miles (sold)
'85 300SD - 317,000 miles (sold)
'98 ML320 - 270,000 miles (sold)
'75 300D - 170,000 miles (sold)
'83 Harley Davidson FLTC (Broken again) :-(
'61 Plymouth Valiant - 60k mikes
2004 Papillon (Oliver)
2005 Tzitzu (Griffon)
2009 Welsh Corgi (Buba)

rodents, and especially rats and mice, will love any dark enclosed place, more so if the pathways inside are fairly narrow (to keep predators away). Behind dash, under (or inside) seat cushions, engine compartment, AC ducts, trunk (especially spare-tire well), the list could go on.

__________________
1990 190e 2.6 - The only one I can really call "My Car".

1987 190e 2.3 - The donor car's up and running, only mods are Euros and a Sony headunit. My Dad's runabout now.

1990 300e 2.6 - The parents' ride.

Last winter I pulled the backseat on my SD to fix the seam. There was a huge pile of thistle seed under the backseat. My wife stores the birdfood in the garage and the mice found it. Seems he liked to store the seed in my SD.

__________________
'85 300SD (formerly california emissions)
'08 Chevy Tahoe
'93 Ducati 900 SS
'79 Kawasaki KZ 650
'86 Kawasaki KX 250
'88 Kawasaki KDX200
'71 Hodaka Ace 100
'72 Triumph T100R

man have I got a story for you... a few weeks ago i was poking around my unles yard and looking at all his mbs'. Had a piss yellow 123 and i looked to see how many miles it had on it. 150k, hmm I thought, i want to look at the engine. so i pull lever in dash and go around front to open hood. Its stuck alittle and I wiggle it and get it 1/4 of the way up. i see a bunch of leaves on top of radiator"what the heck is this" i think. i figure must have been some sort of creature under there at one time. I pick hood rest of the way up and there are a bunch of leaves and staring back at me from the battery box is a possum baring his/her teeth. I quickly shut the hood needless to say as I figured a case of rabies wouldnt be the best way to start the new year. I stood up on the bumper and beat on the hood right above it with me hand but it never came out. Im thinking there might be a whole family in there. So my question: Whos coming to get them out?

__________________
'85 300 Turbo Diesel- 308K

A possum isn't likely to bite you and it won't have rabies, they don't get it (something about their body temp being too low.). Poke at it with a stick and it'll leave (or grab it by the tail if you're feeling lucky.... I wouldn't try that) They look bad but they are really pretty slow and dumb. Just watch out for big rats, I've been told that they can be pretty aggresive.

__________________
1985 300D Turbo ~225k
2000 F350 (Powerstroke) 4X4, SWB, CC, SRW, 6spd ~148k
1999 International 4900, DT466e (250hp/660 ft/lbs), Allison MD3060 ~73k

So my question: Whos coming to get them out?[/
I got a 357 loaded with rat-shot that'll "git 'er done"!! The damned mice have made nests in the cowl of the Jetta, in the rear footwell, and other locations in the garage. Fresh traps every day when it gets cold in the fall. Got to get them as they come in. RT

__________________
When all else fails, vote from the rooftops!
84' Mercedes Benz 300D Anthracite/black, 171K
03' Volkswagen Jetta TDI blue/black, 93K
93' Chevrolet C2500HD ExCab 6.5TD, Two-tone blue, 252K

I agree with shooting it but Im not going to spray bullets under the hood of a 617.Thats why I beat on the hood hoping it would come out. Im wondering if its the same possum I nearly picked up with the combine while cutting beans in the field next to his house. The thing could barely move and it would only go straight and i kept having to pull back on the hydro cause I figured a possum wouldnt thresh weel and i didnt want to be elbow deep in possum guts.

And I would have to see it to believe that possum wouldnt bite as it looked pretty angry. Do you think it wouldnt bite even if it had little ones in there?

__________________
'85 300 Turbo Diesel- 308K

some kind of rodent (I suspect a rabbit) ate a whole lot of insulation off the wiring of my '85 300TD in the area of the battery and that small junction block just in front of it, and something appeared in the local paper more recently about a similar case on a much newer Audi not far from here. The critter even chewed into the battery through the edge where the top joins the sides, leaving obviously rodent type tooth marks.

Does anyone have a good wiring harness for the battery area of a W123?

Not to dispute that a rabbit, could have done it, but rabbits aren't rodents. They're actually closer-related to deer. They've just evolved a bunch of rodent-like behaviors, and teeth.

__________________
1990 190e 2.6 - The only one I can really call "My Car".

1987 190e 2.3 - The donor car's up and running, only mods are Euros and a Sony headunit. My Dad's runabout now.

1990 300e 2.6 - The parents' ride.

My SDL must have sat for awhile at some point because when I first pulled the battery tray out I found a mouse nest made out of that pink insolation. Also under the rear speaker deck they was a lot of dried out corn. Thats it though no other signs.

__________________
1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

I agree with shooting it but Im not going to spray bullets under the hood of a 617.

No bullets, rat-shot. Like very small shotgun shells. If you use a 22 rifle with rat-shot you basically just shove the muzzle right up to the critter and pull the trigger. Bye bye possum with virtually no chance of a stray pellet hitting anything else in the engine compartment. Even if it did the pellets are very small, low velocity and won't hurt anything metal. I used to blast rattlesnakes that liked to hang out on my patio in Texas with rat-shot. That was shooting down onto concrete and I never had a problem. RT

__________________
When all else fails, vote from the rooftops!
84' Mercedes Benz 300D Anthracite/black, 171K
03' Volkswagen Jetta TDI blue/black, 93K
93' Chevrolet C2500HD ExCab 6.5TD, Two-tone blue, 252K

I have seen rat's nests built on top of 911 & 930 Porsche cylinders or on top of the engine oil cooler more than twenty times. Seems pretty common around Malibu and Pacific Palasades.

Marmots ate through my MB coolant hoses in Park City, Utah.

I put my hands into the gloves in my bead blaster and found a very upset momma mouse and her babies.

And I've seen HUGE rodents running radar from their motorcycles.

__________________
You can get farther with a smile and a gun than you can with just a smile.

1984 300D
1985 300CD
1980 300SD
1993 SL500