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When we lived in the Shenandoah Valley, I noticed a few straw-like strands coming into car via the air vents when I turned the fan on. Off and on for about a week.
Didn't think much of it until I saw a chipmunk scurry near my car. Popped the hood and sure enough there was some nesting material. We lived on 10 acres heavily wooded, riverfront. I parked my car in driveway.
Since the airport parking lot is large, asphalted, with no trash bins or litter, nor plants nor water, I am hoping it's not a good habitat for packrats.
Will find out in a few days and will post what we find.
They are a big problem in less populated parts of Arizona. In urban areas not so much. I have lived in areas where they are an issue and put lights near their engine compartment at night which they don't like. Your battery would be a bigger concern. The desert sun just destroys them.
Actually our car has a set of jumper cables in it. The parking manager at the airport says they have a battery service they can bring to our car. If that won't work, we have saved a few Roadside Assistance companies on our phone; they will bring a new battery and also air for tires, etc.
Great! Please come back and update this thread once all is well. I’m betting a jump and a little air is all you need. Good luck!
Depending on amount of gas in tank,
if low, fill up soon to mix fresh gas with old
if full, consider having it drained/siphoned, and fill with fresh.
Also, if jump starting, when you first get there, see if any lights (dome etc) work. If not, battery may be to dead to jump.
If some light, try a jump, but don't try to start car right away. Give it a couple minutes for battery to get charged up. Else car may stall when disconnecting cables because battery is not charged enough yet.
Good Luck........
BTW, check to see if any rodents have made a home under hood or in air filter housing , or worse, chewed any wiring
I'd do that, and also check for snakes underneath the seats. They can squeeze through much smaller holes than you'd think possible.
I wouldn't have faith in the battery being good. It might jump-start, but your first stop should be a local Parts store to buy a new battery and swap it out, otherwise you run the risk of needed to jump it every time you stop.
Tires would be my next concern. Probably have a flat by now, or maybe not. You'll want a means to possibly inflate them in the parking lot.
Fuel is also a concern. Sometimes it does well, sometimes not.
Other than that, you'll just need to inspect and react appropriately. I've stored cars for a year and simply fired them up and driven off. However, this was indoors, on a battery tender, stored on a fresh oil change, and with fresh gas tossed into the tank before firing it up.
Long story short: we shipped one of our cars to Arizona in January 2020 to begin house-hunting. We flew out 3 times and used the car to look at homes for sale. Then Covid hit.
Car has been in an airport parking lot since March 1, 2020.
We finished our 2nd vaccine dose two weeks ago and are flying out next week.
While we're pretty certain it won't start, what other issues do you think we might have? Should we attempt to drive it off the lot (assuming we get it started after a jump or delivery of new battery)?
It's a low mileage 2015 Honda CRV (18K miles). It was full of gas and serviced at Honda dealer in late December 2019, prior to shipping. The battery was under a year old; we always did all our regular dealer maintenance.
Should we expect this to be a total loss?
A rodent favorite.
If you would've bought last March, you'd have equity this March...
Don't they have that, Lost my parking ticket option, so they just charge the base?
We tried that lost ticket parking charge one time at the airport. The lady said, "No problem." Then she looked at our license plate and from that the computer generated the six day charge. She didn't even call us out on our lost ticket lie. I think it happens pretty regularly with long-term parkers.
We tried that lost ticket parking charge one time at the airport. The lady said, "No problem." Then she looked at our license plate and from that the computer generated the six day charge. She didn't even call us out on our lost ticket lie. I think it happens pretty regularly with long-term parkers.
Exactly. There are plate readers on the entrance and the exit. They’ve got you going and coming.
We tried that lost ticket parking charge one time at the airport. The lady said, "No problem." Then she looked at our license plate and from that the computer generated the six day charge. She didn't even call us out on our lost ticket lie. I think it happens pretty regularly with long-term parkers.
The parking garages at Logan Airport in Boston go a step further - they scan every license plate every day in case you lose the ticket or can't find your car when you return. It's weird the first time when you pay at a kiosk with the entry ticket and it tells you where to find your car. It allows them to find abandoned or stolen cars and when one exits, it scans the plate and the ticket to make sure they match to help prevent auto theft.
I did have to jump start it a few times. The battery never died though. I had a low tire once. Bought a little pump that plugged into the lighter and after five hours the tire had about 25 pounds of pressure in it. Enough to get m to a gas station to fill it up.
5 hours to fill just one tire? I could fill one of my sedan tires deflated all the way to Zero psi, to full, with an upright bicycle pump in probably 30 minutes, and a lot of exertion.
They make small 12 volt compressors now that put out a fairly high volume. The first ones they made, many years ago, took forever to inflate anything. I have one that will inflate a rear tractor tire fairly quickly.
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