Fuggin rodents! 🖕

[Vandelay Industries]

Things were going well with the Grand Cherokee after changing the battery last week. Until things weren't.

I get in, hit the starter....loooong crank time to start...WTF?

Ding! Ding! Ding! CEL and other lights pop on.

Shut it down, check the basics under the hood, no puddles underneath.

Restart....same thing happens. For shits and giggles I try driving it. It goes right into 3rd gear. I'm stuck in limp mode.

Alrighty then, let's check for trouble codes. I plug in the OBD2 and see seven codes stored.



At this point I don't have the time or desire or equipment to sort this out any further...the Jeep gets hauled in to The Guy.

Turns out that mice have been feasting on the engine harness, and maybe other wiring too...not sure yet. It makes no sense to me as this is driven every freaking day. It never stays in one place for 18 hours.

The only good news out of this is that apparently my insurance will cover the damage; I'm just on the hook for my deductible.

[Big bob]

You need protection .

[MikeB]

Hmmm.
Sounds like the ol' soy based wire insulation thingie.

[outrunm]

I bought a car for my kid last year that had a 7 day test drive option. I saw some rodent evidence on some wires under the hood and gave it back to the seller due to the possibility of electrical issues down the road.

[Vandelay Industries]

Originally Posted by Touringmike

Hmmm.
Sounds like the ol' soy based wire insulation thingie.

You know, I wasn't aware of that until this happened.

The repair shop mentioned it, and so did my insurance agent. She said they've been seeing a lot of this lately.

Gotta save the planet!!

[Louie Detroit]

Originally Posted by Big bob

You need protection .


Attachment 75828

A ball bearing mouse trap.

[The_Dude]

We've had mice get into some of our classics. No wiring issues yet, but they've ruined some upholstery and got into the heating system. There's no getting rid of the smell. For several years now, my wife has put out enough rodent poison to kill a small city. No more issues, but a few dead bodies.

[the new me]

The rodent issue is the main reason I don't collect cars.

[GTOguy]

Originally Posted by Touringmike

Hmmm.
Sounds like the ol' soy based wire insulation thingie.

Yep. And the cure is Mouse Tape, which is made by the Honda Motor Company. It's about $40 a roll on line and works.

[Bruze]

I stumbled into the best rodent deterrent some years ago, and posted it on "that other place" at the time. Forget dryer sheets, mothballs, radio wave gadgets, etc.

If you dig into these "solutions" you will find that they might work to some extent. Mice may avoid that particular spot for some time, or may not. I live on a dirt road literally "in the woods" and there is no shortage of rodents around here.

I store my Vette for about five months in my barn during the winter, and considering the amount of electronics on these I was very paranoid about rodents messing it up.

The first few winters I kept snap traps on each side of the car, plus dryer sheets inside the car and under the hood. From around November into January, when they're really active finding winter shelter, I would probably get one mouse per night, sometime two. Taking dead mice out of traps is not my favorite thing to do.

We all know how mice/rats avoid light and are mostly active at night. What if I kept lights on around the car all the time? Well it works, and it works great and nothing messy to deal with. I just looked up my picture dates and I started doing this in November 2016, so the first winter of success with no mice wasn't just a fluke so I kept going.

I use 60-75w equivalent LEDs, one on each side of the car, a few inches off the floor right where their runway is.

Another thing that came to mind was to leave the hood up, with another bright light above the engine. With the hood down the mice would have a huge playground, protected from the cats, with plenty of wires to chew on.

After all these years, I can tell you this is absolutely the best, simplest, and least-effort mouse deterrent.





The other side:





Hood up:




I also keep a bucket trap there year 'round, with heavily salted water in the winter so it doesn't freeze -- although it was -12 last night and did freeze, but 40s+ coming for the next week plus.

There will be 1-2 mice in it per calendar year that can't resist the ramp with a few dabs of peanut butter on it. What I theorize is that they will run through the lit area but will not linger and nest there. So far so good.

This was during summer and I had sunflower seeds in it:




EDIT: FWIW, since 1982 I have stored another Vette, several motorcycles, and my tractor in this barn with zero traps, poison, or other deterrents and never had one problem. Probably just lucky.

[TheHammer]

https://www.amazon.com/Rat-Zapper-Ul.../dp/B00CM859OA

[theandies]

Originally Posted by Touringmike

Hmmm.
Sounds like the ol' soy based wire insulation thingie.

Yup. Jeeps used it a lot. My brother-in-law's Jeeps wiring was eaten by mice.

[the new me]

Originally Posted by TheHammer

https://www.amazon.com/Rat-Zapper-Ul.../dp/B00CM859OA

Those are okay. I have a few. Sometimes a rat will get in one and it won't be enough juice to kill it and the rat will squirm around for a while. Usually in those circumstances they leave with the bait.

[Frankie the Fink]

I feel ya'. Bro-in-law parked his Caravan at the sister's rural Florida panhandle farmette and overnight the little b@stards ate his wiring up, $1,300 worth. I parked my Tundra there many times for days at a time and no issue. I don't get it.

[Vandelay Industries]

Originally Posted by GTOguy

Yep. And the cure is Mouse Tape, which is made by the Honda Motor Company. It's about $40 a roll on line and works.

I'm looking in to that. Thanks

[Yadkin]

I store my trash in my third garage (cold closet) next to the overhead door. That's the most likely place that mice would get in. I have two old-fashioned traps there and kill'em before they get any further.

I'll have to keep an eye on the Ranger parked outside.

[Tikiman]

Back when I was growing up in Pennsylvania, we had issues with porcupines. They like to chew rubber brake lines apparently, and it was not unusual to get in your car and have your brake pedal go to the floor. After the second time it happened, I was given carte blanche to shoot all of the critters I wanted.

[TheRealBadger]

Watched this guy eat about a dozen big field mice in about 30 minutes of chasing them one day. Made me not shoot him.

[Yadkin]

Originally Posted by the new me

The rodent issue is the main reason I don't collect cars.

More for me then.

Seriously, just use moth balls. one or two under the hood, one in the enclosed interior, one in the trunk, and one in each exhaust pipe.

[GTOguy]

Originally Posted by Frankie the Fink

I feel ya'. Bro-in-law parked his Caravan at the sister's rural Florida panhandle farmette and overnight the little b@stards ate his wiring up, $1,300 worth. I parked my Tundra there many times for days at a time and no issue. I don't get it.

Depends what the wire insulation or plastic is made from. Doesn't seem to be super consistent. I learned about the mouse tape helping a friend who has a newer Camry. It was a squirrel issue with her. They even took bites out of the battery and air intake box. Crazy. The Honda Mouse Tape has fixed the issue for the past 3 years or so. Her damage was $3400.
With my old '83-'94-'05 Toyota trucks, never a problem once.