Damn... that customer has quite an infestation going on! Is that a vehicle you are actually working on? Is that you narrating the video?
I'd for sure be looking for bio-hazard pay and insist on a thorough engine cleaning with disinfectant spray if the customer does authorize the work.
What a mess! I'd suggest the customer claim this on their insurance, if they kept coverage on it. Something like this would be covered, although I'm positive it would be a total!
But then they would have that much more to help pay for the repair, should you take it on.
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What is to give light must endure burning -- Viktor Frankl
Yes that is me narrating the video. From what I heard, the customer has opted to trade it in to us for $0.00 and buy something else. It will sit outside the dealer for a while and eventually it will be towed to the junk yard.
Oh yeah, the good 'ole dealership fall-back of -- "Ya your current vehicle is a train wreck POS that is going to cost you more to fix than it's worth -- but come on up to the showroom, we got lots of new and used ones for you to choose from!"
Classic!
I'd assume the $0 trade in waives his inspection fee's? Seems to me someone could have a nice car, depending on the miles and interior condition with nothing more than a few cans of engine brite cleaner and a power wash. Might not be worth it to get fixed at the dealership, but might be a cheap fix for a mechanic on the side. Think I paid like $130 for my used harness... Little gas sippers like that vehicle are in demand with gas prices what they are right now.
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What is to give light must endure burning -- Viktor Frankl
Perhaps there's a pooper scooper out there that wants to donate his own labor and put this back together with a bunch of used parts. But if they do, they will still be left with an overwhelming piss smell. You can't even spend much time inside the car before your eyes start burning.
Speaking of focuses, how is yours going, did you try Forscan to do the parameter reset yet?
-- Edited by PowerStroker on Wednesday 30th of September 2026 09:03:10 PM
I wasn't aware they got inside the vehicle, that sucks! I had an old 1975 Corvette a customer had us work on that was infested and we tried EVERYTHING and there was no getting the smell out of that fiberglass floorboard. We hit it for two months straight while it was completely gutted. Every time we would button it up after a good few days being open, the smell would come right back! It ultimately ended the project, and rodent piss smell is hard enough to get rid of on steel, let alone porous fiberglass.
With regards to my Focus, well -- I've been distracted by this 400,000 mile 2010 F150 Super Crew Lariat 4x4 truck I bought for Brandee and the company that needed an engine. It's all done now and the details will be posted up in the off topic web crawlers thread since it sort of ties into that whole fiasco. I have the plug connector -- I just don't want to install that FORScan software on my business laptop that I use for invoicing as you are correct that the software is very much Russian. That being said I have a good HP laptop that just needs a fresh copy of windows installed and I plan to use that unit exclusively for programing.
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What is to give light must endure burning -- Viktor Frankl
