Office of Steam Forum for Model & Toy Steam Gas & Hot Air Engines

Went to start up the F-20 a couple weeks ago, but it was stuck solid... Took the hand hole covers off the side of the engine, couldn't spot anything out of place. Drained the oil and dropped the oil pan, looked up and seen a little rust around the pistons. Nothing major, but we had a very wet spring so I pulled the plugs and filled the cylinders with tranny fluid. Fast forward a couple weeks later after soaking, still stuck tight. Looked around everywhere and still couldn't find anything out of place. Was just about to pull the head off but I decided to take the clutch housing handhole cover off. Didn't get a before picture, but those dang mice had filled it full of what looked like carpet, corn and cardboard. I didn't have any of that out in the shed, so not sure how far they brought it from, but they sure kept themselves busy! Didn't take a before picture, but I blasted everything out with air. I was in too much of a hurry to see if that did the trick and shot tranny fluid all over the barn wall, but I was very happy to see the engine turn over again! Must have been just enough in there to jam everything up tight. Too late in the evening to put it back together, will see what tomorrow brings...

I sympathize with you, Nick.

I had mice take up residence in my snowmobile engine a few years back. They peed in my carburetor and seized it up so badly that I had to cut the casting in half with a Dremel cutoff wheel so I could save the slide and throttle cable.

Nick - I must protest this inhumane treatment of such nice little inhuman critters!  Destroying mouse habitat! Humpf!

Kidding!

Down here in southeast Texas it would have been hornets or carpenter bees or fire ants or gators... ok that last one is a stretch, but we do have them in the lakes around the neighborhood.

Glad you got it turning free.

I sympathize with you, Nick.

I had mice take up residence in my snowmobile engine a few years back. They peed in my carburetor and seized it up so badly that I had to cut the casting in half with a Dremel cutoff wheel so I could save the slide and throttle cable.

I wish I would have taken a picture of my snowmobile 3 years ago... opened the hood and couldn't find the engine, it was packed solid with rotting walnuts.

when you talked about blowing all that out with an air hose, I could almost smell the mouse urine, I took nearly a small trash bags worth of Mouse fluff from a blower housing on a VW Bug engine once...you never forget that smell.

Definitely a smell that is never forgotten. My worst experience with mice was cleaning my great-grandparents house and sheds after they sat empty for 10+ years. Their nests were so big I could've lived in them!

I am more careful than I used to be. I blew everything out good and left the dusty mess till it settled overnight. I have heard a lot of bad stories about breathing that fluff and worse yet is coon feces.

Glad you got this one sorted out Nick.

We have had terrible rodent problems at my ranch.  We found the best thing was to mix concentrated peppermint oil with water in a hand spray bottle and spray it around the engine and cab.

Amazon also has a product for this, but it is much cheaper to just buy the concentrate and mix it.

https://www.amazon.com/Mouse-Rodent-Repellent-Ready-Use/dp/B00316JTQ6

Glad you got this one sorted out Nick.

We have had terrible rodent problems at my ranch.  We found the best thing was to mix concentrated peppermint oil with water in a hand spray bottle and spray it around the engine and cab.

Amazon also has a product for this, but it is much cheaper to just buy the concentrate and mix it.

https://www.amazon.com/Mouse-Rodent-Repellent-Ready-Use/dp/B00316JTQ6

Thanks Charlie, definitely something I should look into for my outbuildings. It has gotten better in the 3 years I've lived here. The previous owner had many large flower beds surrounding all the buildings, I have tilled them all under and planted grass that is kept mowed 2 times a week.

The oil pump screen was also nearly plugged with the sludge, not much was getting through here...





That's better



And only 2 of these 4 were feeding the troughs shown in the top of the oil pan in the above post. Shot some air through and got them unplugged