Yesterday I was looking under the hood of our Sonata and decided that I would pop the plastic cover that covers the plugs and wires. I pop the cheap plastic cover off and there was evidence of a mouse or rodent household, several cotton balls and strands of cloth, some remnants of shoelaces and several discarded walnut type shells as well as probably a half a cup of what appeared to be dry cat food along with a good deal of bird seed and sunflower seed. I got my wet/dry vac and got it all out. No signs of chewed on wires which was good. We drive that car at least 2-3 times per week. I am guessing that as soon as vehicles starts the rodent leaves,It would be far too hot to stay there for long while engine is running. I suspect that the bird and cat food is from local neighbors who feed feral cats and birds. I quite often see feral cats carrying mice that they killed, but apparently the cats cannot keep up with the rodent population, either that or the cats are slacking. Anyone else here on BITOG ever find mice nests on vehicle that you drive frequently? One co worker told me that he has soaked a few wood chips in tabasco or mint oil, but that was for a vehicle in storage. Any other techniques to deter these rodents.
Mouse using my Sonata engine as a kitchen.
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I think I have seen this on every car I've owned.
Two people at work have had squirrels eat their wiring in the engine bay. I'm thinking maybe I should set a trao somewhere in my cars engine bays.
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A couple of years ago some squirrels chewed into internet/cable wires and that knocked out internet for about a 10 block area. Those wires have a pretty hard covering and they still chew through them . Lincoln is slowly putting Internet wire underground now which will help a great deal.
Mothballs, but not sure about time length of scent since a lot of volume of air while driving...
Dryer sheets?
Dryer sheets?
This mostly came about as a consequence of going to bio-degradable components including wire insulation. Sure, mice will come into a warm engine bay after shut down. But they never ate the wiring until the late 1990's (Toyota's) and now more cars.
Plus, we have gotten better at reducing the number of feral cats ...
Plus, we have gotten better at reducing the number of feral cats ...
I live in Baltimore city and yes this happens all the time. Fortunately the crazy cat lady 2 doors down finally got a cat that's killing 3-4 rats per day.
Her main tom cat only goes for the babies, and wasn't getting enough of them.
Her main tom cat only goes for the babies, and wasn't getting enough of them.
Had a mouse a few years ago in my Odyssey. I washed the engine bay with simple green to get rid of any droppings/urine and they haven't been back. I also leave off the plastic cover on the engine. Looked into a few methods to keep them out including sonic devices as well as peppermint oil but never went any further than washing the engine bay and putting a few traps out. Never caught anything so it leads me to believe that they were getting in the engine when my wife was at work....she works next to a farm field....
Honda sells Capsaicin oil wire wrap if you want to protect the wiring. The knock sensor wire in the V6 models comes with the wrap from the factory. They started doing this after we saw a lot of rodent damage to that wire, as it sits in the V of the engine.
AKA Rodent Tape.
https://www.amazon.com/Honda-4019-2317-Rodent-Tape/dp/B00AJTG3N0
AKA Rodent Tape.
https://www.amazon.com/Honda-4019-2317-Rodent-Tape/dp/B00AJTG3N0
Some rodent, we guessed a chipmunk, moved into my daughter's Impreza not long after we bought it for her and it sat outside without being driven for several days during a school break. Acorn husks and a fair amount of ripped out insulation in the engine compartment...my wife took it to a dealer and they didn't find any wire or other damage they were too worried about. We just make sure to not leave a car sitting outside for too long now and also put the outside car's vents on recirculate when it sits on the recommendation of one of the Subie mechanics, guess it keeps the rodents form having easy access to the whole vehicle.
The stupid things also left acorn husks inside the hood and I get to hear them clattering around every time I check or change the oil...
The stupid things also left acorn husks inside the hood and I get to hear them clattering around every time I check or change the oil...
Yup. We recently had the issue as well. The air filter housing was filled to the brim with dog food in both cars. I had to scoop all of the dog food out of the housings. About half way through I realized that the old vacuum in the garage would do the trick a bit better. We don't have any wiring issues yet. Our cars are driven daily as well, and it doesn't seem to matter to them!
Filled bird feeder daily. That is when problem started with mice. Ended up with mouse stuff in Lexus and Saturn air filter housing. Put Irish Spring soap in housing. Stopped feeding birds. Set traps in garage. Cat got several mice that came into house. However, main issue was resolved after birds not fed.
Had Sentra parked outside and would find acorn pieces on top of intake manifold. Looked like something had a party. Then one day dry grass, etc came through vents when blower on. Evap housing full of stuff. I ended up spraying ammonia under hood when I parked car to deter them.
Here are some tips. Not that all of them are good:
Keep rodents out of your car engine
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Make your engine and its entrances smell bad, at least to rats. Motorists have had success with peppermint oil, powdered fox urine, used cat litter, cat hair, dog hair, Pine-Sol, Irish Spring soap, red pepper, and laundry dryer sheets. The people who make "Rataway" tell you to spray it on all the wires in the engine.
If you give me your address and pay postage you can all the used cat litter you want.
Had Sentra parked outside and would find acorn pieces on top of intake manifold. Looked like something had a party. Then one day dry grass, etc came through vents when blower on. Evap housing full of stuff. I ended up spraying ammonia under hood when I parked car to deter them.
Here are some tips. Not that all of them are good:
Keep rodents out of your car engine
Quote:
Make your engine and its entrances smell bad, at least to rats. Motorists have had success with peppermint oil, powdered fox urine, used cat litter, cat hair, dog hair, Pine-Sol, Irish Spring soap, red pepper, and laundry dryer sheets. The people who make "Rataway" tell you to spray it on all the wires in the engine.
If you give me your address and pay postage you can all the used cat litter you want.
Anyone see the the PBS show about stone martens being blamed for car fires in Yurp ?
Deter? U want to deter these little bass turds? Start setting up trap lines around the house and vehicles. Kill em all!
I had them in both our vehicles driven daily and parked in garage. I put out traps and got about 8 mice in a week,not a lot since, maybe one every few weeks and no more in the engine bays. They sure love peanut butter!
It all started when i left a bag of shelled corn on the garage floor for a week, I found corn on top the engines.
It all started when i left a bag of shelled corn on the garage floor for a week, I found corn on top the engines.
I do not feed birds but Lots of people in my area do have bird feeders and there is a feral cat colony nearby in a park and many people feed them also. Many of these cats are probably so well fed that they see little need to spend energy to chase mice around. I might just try that Irish spring either that or I might just take the cheap plastic cover off and leave it off. It serves little purpose other than make a nice roof for mice and rodents.
Originally Posted By: BJD78
I do not feed birds but Lots of people in my area do have bird feeders and there is a feral cat colony nearby in a park and many people feed them also. Many of these cats are probably so well fed that they see little need to spend energy to chase mice around. I might just try that Irish spring either that or I might just take the cheap plastic cover off and leave it off. It serves little purpose other than make a nice roof for mice and rodents.
Try some cheap dolar tree laundry dryer sheets first, placed strategically
I do not feed birds but Lots of people in my area do have bird feeders and there is a feral cat colony nearby in a park and many people feed them also. Many of these cats are probably so well fed that they see little need to spend energy to chase mice around. I might just try that Irish spring either that or I might just take the cheap plastic cover off and leave it off. It serves little purpose other than make a nice roof for mice and rodents.
Try some cheap dolar tree laundry dryer sheets first, placed strategically
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