mouse under hood
- Thread starter vicjo
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I helped a friend tow an old station wagon that had been sitting in a field for years. He towed and I steered the wagon. After a while, mice started running up under the dash past my feet. I was sure one was going to go up my pantleg. There was a trail of run-over mice all down his driveway.
The far back seat folded down, and when we flipped it up the entire back well was filled with mouse nest.
To the OP: I have had good luck putting regular snap traps under the hood of a car that sat outside and only got driven on weekends.
If it makes you feel better, don't fill the tank, but I can't see a mouse totaling an otherwise good car. Are you taking it in for wire damage, or something else?
I'd be more concerned about getting sick from the mouse piss being blown through the vents. In some areas of the country, Hantavirus is prevalent. On my Smart Fortwo AND Mini Cooper rats at the ABS and headlight wires. Plus, they made a nest in the mini on top of the intake manifold. That nest was disgusting and stunk of piss and had droppings all over the engine bay. I put on gloves and a mask and removed the "debris." They never came back. I guess they didn't like German cars? Not enough room under the hood haha.
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Fill it up with gas I don’t see an issue doing that. If there is one mouse though most likely their is more. Once we had a car come in with a weird smell coming from the dash took out the cabin air filter and some dead mice and some alive went everywhere lol the customer was shocked, never did come back with any damage though so I don’t know if there was any or not. But yes I’ve seen them chew wires and everything get some moth balls and put in there while your not driving it they will get out.
Maybe that's why I don't have them. I pour my trucker bottle out under car. Also, apartments have cats here and there.
The chewing of wire on those modern electronics can fry them or make a new wiring harness necessary. It's not like in 60's where a few wires runs the car.
"To the OP: I have had good luck putting regular snap traps under the hood of a car that sat outside and only got driven on weekends.
If it makes you feel better, don't fill the tank, but I can't see a mouse totaling an otherwise good car. Are you taking it in for wire damage, or something else?"
I'm bringing the car for the mouse/mice only. I don't know if there is wire damage, there does not seem to be anything wrong with the car.
If it makes you feel better, don't fill the tank, but I can't see a mouse totaling an otherwise good car. Are you taking it in for wire damage, or something else?"
I'm bringing the car for the mouse/mice only. I don't know if there is wire damage, there does not seem to be anything wrong with the car.
That's good to hear. It sounds like the task will be to find and evict the culprits, clean up the mess, and prevent them from moving back in. There are lots of good prevention suggestions in this and similar threads.
I had a rat climb up the air intake and build a nest in the airbox using the air filter for the nest material. The hole in the air filter destroyed my mass airflow sensor which cost me $400 to repair!
A few years ago my 08 Liberty needed a battery in the dead of the winter. It couldn't have happened at a worse time. I was working in NYC and my wife called to tell me the car wouldn't start. It was also blocking my garage and she couldn't get my Jeep out to use it. She called my buddy across the street he jumped it and moved it under the carport and I would deal with it when I got home. Much to my surprise it started w/o issue, my buddy drove it locally which must have charged it enough to start again. I decided to take it to AAP and have them test the battery. When I popped the hood at AAP a kitten jumped out, startled me and the guy from AAP and bolted away. Fortunately that has never happened again! Mice can destroy a wiring harness, especially with some of the newer cars using soy based wiring. What were they thinking, Eco-friendly, pleaseeeeee!!
I dealt with these little critters a short while ago. The wife and I noticed a nasty smell coming from the air vents. It was almost impossible to bear when driving the car. After investigating, I found that mice had made a nest on top of the in-cabin air filter. They had taken and shredded some tissue from a box my wife keeps handy in the car. It took a while to clean this nasty mess up. After replacing the filter and putting everything back together, I turned the fan to run some deoderizer spray I had purchased at Walmart. The fan started to make a horrendous noise. I found this after removing the fan. I believe these guys were alive and on the nest right before I started changing the filter an I scared them down into the fan housing. There had been no noise when I turned the fan on right before changing the filter. Not that it matters but this vehicle is 100% garage kept.
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No problems so far, and I will be bringing the car in tomorrow and he will keep it overnight. I will post the results soon. I was instructed to disconnect the negative terminal from the battery after, I think, the car starts. The engine was revving up at the time and it is not clear to me why I should do this. Any ideas? Something to prevent possible short circuit damage?
Once the car starts the battery plays no role as far as I know so I can drive without the connection.
Once the car starts the battery plays no role as far as I know so I can drive without the connection.
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I had this issue with my 19 4Runner around July. A mouse decided to chew up an injector pigtail which caused a misfire. Since it is so new, Toyota would only replace the harness to the cost of $9000. Comprehensive took car of that.
Thinking it over, I am not driving with the negative terminal disconnected, but I am disconnecting it over night.
$9000 to replace an an engine bay wiring harness? Okay...
I use Bonide's Shot-Gun Repels-All Animal Repellent Spray - 32 fl oz bottle from Walmart $12.xx. I spray at the garage entrance and under the engine bay floor, have had not nesting issues.
I didn't pay for it. Even then it was just one injector pigtail.
$18K for the engine from Toyota.
I must say that’s probably the worst rip-off story I’ve ever heard in my life.
I heard hamsters are great at keeping rats and mice away. That's why I buy under-powered Toyotas that run hamsters on wheels for power. 
Seriously though, I always install a wire mesh screen over the air intake. They love to nest in air intakes and then chew up the wiring. Used to have rodent problems often until I closed up any nesting spots they could possibly get into.
Seriously though, I always install a wire mesh screen over the air intake. They love to nest in air intakes and then chew up the wiring. Used to have rodent problems often until I closed up any nesting spots they could possibly get into.
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