I am changing the starter in my 2005 Turbo and found these rocks or pebbles in the engine... what's up with that? How did they get in there?

 

That's odd. I wonder if there's a certain type of rodent that would bring them up there?

 

chipmunk.

 

Ah the rare Rock and Roll option. Each of those rocks are about $13 at the dealer

 

I've had the car for 3 years and kept it in the garage... it must have been a previous owner that didn't drive it much. I still don't see how anything could get in there!
Crazy!

 

Unless it was in a flood, and that spot was too much trouble to clean out.

 

Campground for a rodent that found the open area between the intake manifold and firewall.

An exterminator explained that if a pencil will fit in an opening a mouse can as well.

 

Those look like tumbled lava rock. Probably the hibachi option. Very rare performance option. Provides more even cooking of the plastic coolant pipes.

 

Are they rocks or niblets? (Those pellet like things people feed dogs..) If they easily crush or cut - they're dog food and some rodent decided this would be a great place to keep them.

 

They are rocks.

 

 

That's just plain weird. Any smell? Like animal pee? I can't imagine what animal would make a nest of rocks..

 

Nothing I could smell, thanks to the small busted plastic coolant hose.
No hairs or chews on the cables in there though.
Weird.

 

From Don Sutherland, zoologist, Natural Heritage Information Centre, Peterborough, ON: “I’ve never seen this myself. I’ve never seen a definitive explanation for this behaviour. An alternate explanation in the literature has been that this sort of behaviour may be an attempt to disguise food caches and foil cache-pilfering by other squirrels. Gray Squirrels are scatter food-hoarders, caching food items in a wide variety of sites. When squirrel populations become dense and/or when food becomes scarce, the pilfering of caches by other squirrels becomes a problem. Caching stones, pebbles or other items may be an attempt to confuse/foil potential pilferers.”
Well I'll be damned...Wouldn't want a squirrel in my engine bay, that's for sure.

 

Wow!
Well, these must have been here for a long time then... at least 5 years.