[geeks] Mice and wires

[Francois Dion]

Everybody has read the story about the ENIAC and the bug. What I
didn't realise is that mice are a lot more destructive than any bug.

Recently, I've had glitches in the electricals of my Peugeot 505 turbo
wagon. It's a well maintained car and all, my daily driver (and a
great vehicule for "antique" computer rescue operations as you can fit
a computer rack in it). I couldn't find anything wrong, checked
voltages etc. Added a LED to monitor power to injection and ignition
ECU. Since it was nothing big (tachymeter stopping from time to time,
stuff like that), I continued to drive the car. But, alas, one day it
left me stranded at work. Had the car towed home and checked spark,
compression,  fuel pressure, tested for air leaks etc. Discovered that
the injectors were flooding the engine.

First tought, ECU or AFM. I had a spare of each, known good. Swapped.
Still a problem. I ended up doing quite a bit until I traced back some
wires that had 12V going to the ECU that shouldn't. So this weekend, I
opened up the fusebox, removed the PC board. Looked at the wires.
Rubbed my eyes, pinched myself, no I'm not dreaming. Looked at the
wires again and sure enough about 12 wires had been chewed by a mouse,
some making contact.

Apparently it's common:
http://www.wombatnation.com/category/the-unusual-and-the-weird

Argh. Splicing some new wires, insulating others, the car is now back
on the road.

I'm just glad the fuel didn't shut off while accelerating under boost
to get on the highway, might have ended up with a blown piston or
headgasket or something...

Moral of the story, keep some cats 24/7 around your car :)


Francois