What is this???

[s_moody]

Hi,

I was checking the oil on my XC the other day and found this on the engine. It looks like acorn shells and my gut feeling is that some woodland creature stashed it in the car and whatever it tried to store was consequently shredded by moving parts and distributed throughout the engine compartment. The car is seldom driven.

What do you think? It looks organic. The other possibility is that something is deteriorating under the hood and showing up in weird places or do I just need to check the engine for a squirrels' winter stash?

Thanks,

S

[jmoser]

Mice and other rodents do it all the time, hope they didnt get into the HVAC ductwork or chew any belts or hoses.

Not much you can do about it if the vehicle sits that long.

[Snowmobileaddict]

Looks like goods stashed away for safe keeping by a chipmunk or squirrel to me!

We had a whole bunch of that stuff in a cabinet in our back yard shed when we first moved into our new house two years ago.

The place was vacant for about 18 months and a family of red squirells had taken up residence in the shed.

[Aviator]

If you take your spark plug covers off you'll probably find a subdivision in there. Check under your air filter too.

Dave.

[xc90-588of800]

Use peppermint oil or rodent deterrent spray to keep them out. Also on XC 90's the front cowl drains, front air intake, and rear pressure vents should be looked at as all are easy access to the interior of the cabin.