The Nightmare:
The nightmare of chewed and severed ignition wires on two of our vehicles is finally over. It seemed that the culprit went where ever we choose to park the wife's Lincoln, and so we finally decided it probably wasn't the squirrels. The dirty beggar even jumped over and sampled the wires on the top of the gas tank on my work van, and since the fuel pump is in the tank, it too lay dead for a few days. Four different times did I replace and solder the wires to the fuel injectors and so in a sudden fit of utter frustration, I put the Lincoln on the lift at our local COOP and starter going over every inch with a high pressure air hose. I was just about to give up when I saw the culprit run along the drive shaft to the rear of the car and I called for assistance. With two blow guns going full blast we were able to knock a very large pack rat to the floor where he/she was promptly sent to Rat Hell. This must have all started when the car was parked in the parking lot of our local transmission repair establishment, which is next to a large open field, since the destruction began the day after we brought the car home. To date a number of cars and trucks in this area have suffered attack and they have reportedly even eaten the side walls of tires on implements that have been left parked on some of the local farms. Now you must understand that all this carnage started with a broken two dollar plastic clip that attached a cable from the throttle linkage to the transmission allowing the transmission pressure to increase burning up all the clutches. Now I'm told that this is a very common problem with Ford transmissions. Total cost in dollars was a bit over 1,000.00, while the cost in frustration is immeasurable. You can rest assured that the offending plastic clip will be receiving regular scrutiny in the foreseeable future. But, darned if I don't like to drive those big Lincolns on long trips, but I just might look into a horse and buggy if this happens again, always did admire the tranquility of the Amish life style. Dale -- The Old Man Of The Plains