So I drove my 1 &1/2 month old F350 to Northern Tool to pick up some stuff on Sunday. As I start to leave, I heard a loud grinding/ripping noise... So I stop and check everything, all seems normal... Drive a few hundred feet, and hear the noise again... WTH??? Get out check under the hood, in the wheel wells, look at the drive train etc., again nothing, but the engine starts running a bit rough at idle. Drive around the parking lot for about 5 min since I'm about 50 miles from home, and no noise, just rough idle. Put my blue tooth scan tool on and check for codes... Nothing! Temps are normal, and no liquids pouring out on the ground. Might as well head for home. Drives smooth & normal on the interstate, monitoring temps with scan tool the whole way, all normal. About 10 miles from home, the heater goes out and I'm thinking "Great, must have split a heater hose..." Get off the interstate and notice water temp starts to climb a bit. never even to the yellow, but noticeable. Get home and see coolant on the passenger side battery. Thinking "Yep, heater hose..." Monday 6.a.m. crank it up and run to dealer about 5 miles away, engine barely warms up. Drop it off and go to work thinking it's warranty work, no big deal. Tech calls around 10 a.m. and asks for the story, he's got no codes and can't find any hose issues. 11 a.m. calls back and says he thinks I may have blown a head gasket and pressurized the coolant tank and that's where the coolant came from. Great! He says he's going to do a pressure test etc. and will let me know soon. Calls back around 1 p.m. and asks: "Are you missing a pet?" Seems that a feral cat decided to warm up in my engine compartment while I was at the store and has now destroyed my radiator, intercooler and various other pieceparts in the process. So now I'm truckless for a couple of weeks plus get to eat an insurance deductible... What a way to start the week...

 

Man that's awful. What year truck was this? I thought the intercoolers were air/liquid and mounted off to the side not in the air path up front.....

 

2016 F350... They are off to the side a bit, but apparently pieces of cat, fan blades and radiator went everywhere...

 

That's friggin terrible. Hate it for you man. What's crappy is you are out of a ride and deductible. The cat, well, I'm willing to bet all I got that it won't make that mistake again.

 

my mom killed a cat like that once but not with the motor. He went to jump down and she ran him over. She is the type to have it in gear before it even fires up. Cat didn't have a chance.

 

I had a squirrel do that to me. Was on a date and he decoded to warm up in the engine bay..went to leave the restaurant and had a horrid squealing noise....fan belt and squirrel don't mix.

 

My dad used to be a real estate agent. He was at a couple's house try to list the house for them. When he left, he started up his truck (it was an '86 F-150) and the wife's cat was under the hood. He said it looked like the cat tried to jump through the belts to get out and didn't make it.

He didn't get the listing either.

 

we had a rat under the hood of my wifes car and he found the big red battery cable and must have thought it would taste good well he almost burned down the car and he fried himself to everything

 

My Mom did the same thing in her 280-ZX. Cat was asleep on the wheel, she fired it up, cat didnt get a chance to move before wheels rotated and she squished it.

It happened on her birthday, I remember she cried all afternoon. Damn.

 

Well, got an update... The insurance adjuster called and says the bill is going to be about $3600 unless they find additional damage to the secondary cooling system, so it could go up even more. Fortunately, I only have to eat the deductible. Shop hasn't completed tear down yet, so no word on the final damages... Hopefully will have the truck back next week.

 

A few years ago I had a power failure at one of my car washes. When the power company got there, they immediately saw a tripped breaker near the pole. The squirrel at the bottom of the pole was no match for the voltage at the transformer he shorted out...well done

 

This happens ALL the time. I'm a lineman for utility contractors, and power companies invest a lot of money in "squirrel gaurds" and "wildlife protection", usually to no avail. I've known some guys to "blame" a squirrel on a transformer when they knocked a line out

 

Thats a pretty healthy tab! Glad its just a deductible (which still sucks but has to be better than $3600).

I like the witty title lol.

 

Hopefully your rates wont increase next year.

 

You and me both...