Thanks for the tip. I'll check it out.

 

I've had this before, mice in the garage. I use urinal cakes. I hang them in the engine area, and throw them under the car. Ever since then, no issues. I know it won't help for any issues that mice have created this year, but good preventive maintenance.

 

Something we use in buildings/motor homes/campers/garages/etc. is Irish Spring soap, the original.

Rodents HATE the smell of it, put a half bar in each corner of the car, the center and a couple chunks in the smaller places. You can even throw a chunk near each tire, it'll stop them from trying to climb up.

I bet bet you won't have any problems after that.

 

The timing chain and most everything else on this car can go well past 100K and past 200k. I'm at 208K and aside from normal wear and tear items. I'm on the factory starter, alternator, water pump, etc. Not sure what was done in the early part of it's life but my 03 the last 12 months has been great aside from dumb PO issues and a bearing.

OP The suspension is what you need to worry about on a old G/Z and if the PO serviced it when things need to be services. My experience with 9 out of 10 car owners is if the car starts it's ok. And when the car won't start that's when it gets some work done. Oil changes regularly and all other fluids are ignored until they start having issues. People don't do preventative maintenance or really care too. On to the next car if it gets bad enough. So since you probably aren't mechanically inclined I would take the car to a qualified ASE Master Tech and no less too look at it.

 

I feel your pain. I also live in upstate NY and when I took the Z out of storage the smell was awful. I found 4 nest and 6 dead rotting mice in the spare tire well. This is the first time in 5 years that I've had a problem. I'll definitely be doing dryer sheets, moth ***** and peppermint this winter.