If your car smells like it's on fire...

...as my Subaru did when it arrived home this past week after running errands, lift the hood and check on top of the engine block. You might find (as I did - photo above) a mouse nest! I retrieved about a fistful of insulation, scraps of cloth scavenged from the garage, and miscellaneous detritus, the very tip of which was charred after being in contact with some hot component of the engine. Just lucky it didn't happen on a long trip and trigger an engine compartment fire.

So I searched the web, and found hundreds of hits on the topic. The best is from WombatNation, entitled "Mice ate my car." A brief report of this type of event, followed by 314 (!!) comments from readers detailing their own horror stories.