Rodent loving cars

Rodents gnaw constantly, to sharpen and keep the length of their teeth in check.


Unlike most mammals, the teeth of a rodent grow rapidly, throughout the life of the animal. A rat's teeth may grow up to 2.8 millimeters a week!


In just a year, they grow almost five inches. If they do not wear away, soon they would outgrow the mouth.
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Fun facts most people don't know. (Not sure if the exact numbers are correct, but good enough for me.)

Another fun fact if you have a mouse problem... if they can fit their head through the opening, they can fit. Female rats (larger than a mouse) can fit through openings less than 1". Made buying my rat cage a PITA too.
 
DC !
Nice to see your smiling face around here again !
Hope that you and yours are all well..

Thanks for the incredible article - I always thought this problem happened to cars that were never used much, no one ever opened the hood, trunk, doors, glove box, on a regular basis, were out in the country, or lastly, driven by very elderly people who frequently snack in the car, leave the doors open all night, and just cant see as well as they used to..

If the rodents are now attacking new cars, that is really cause for concern..

And where are all the cats ???
Dan F
 
Rats love the Honda/Acura 3.2 knock sensor sub-wire. Replacement sub-wires even come with a little illustration of a rat with a x through its eyes.

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Just the other day I was detailing a Prius and opened the hood and there was evidence of a rat.

Empty snail shells and a bunch of tree garbage and rat turds sitting on top of the engine.

Luckily no rat or chewed wires!:)
 
Mice just love cars of all types. Had my first run in with one in the car. Wasn`t there Friday, got in the car Saturday at noon. Dash buzzer and lights saying brake fluid low. Get out to look. A mouse chewed the wires to the brake fluid level sensor. You could see hair probably ten places around the engine bay. I looked carefully at everything and didn`t see any other signs of chewing that had happened. I soldered some new wire in. Put heat shrink on them. Then clean the engine bay really well. Trying to get rid of their trail so as not to attract more of them. I`m glad it was actually a nice day yesterday. I set up some traps, I can`t afford for them to make a big problem.
 
A product called fresh cab works great. A natural product that smells like Christmas trees and won’t hurt kids or pets. Works great for any space you have problems.
 
txb4z said:
Rats love the Honda/Acura 3.2 knock sensor sub-wire. Replacement sub-wires even come with a little illustration of a rat with a x through its eyes.
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Doesn`t seem to help much, looks like the old one had it, too. Seems that tape has capsaicin in it; maybe it loses effectiveness after a while.
 
Stokdgs said:
DC !
Nice to see your smiling face around here again !
Hope that you and yours are all well..

Thanks for the incredible article - I always thought this problem happened to cars that were never used much, no one ever opened the hood, trunk, doors, glove box, on a regular basis, were out in the country, or lastly, driven by very elderly people who frequently snack in the car, leave the doors open all night, and just cant see as well as they used to..

If the rodents are now attacking new cars, that is really cause for concern..

And where are all the cats ???
Dan F
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We had squirrels that liked to use the engine compartment of our daily driver minivan for food storage. Luckily they didn`t really chew on anything. We`d just clean it out every morning and eventually they decided to find a better storage place.

The strangest critter/car situation I`ve ever had was the `88 Mustang I had years ago. 2 AM we and our neighbors were rudely awakened by the horn on my car blaring. We ran out to the driveway, couldn`t figure out why the horn wouldn`t turn off, so my husband unhooked the wire as a quick fix so the neighborhood could go back to sleep and figured we`d take a closer look at it in the daylight. When we popped the middle of the steering wheel off the next morning, the problem became obvious. Turned out we had an ant problem we were unaware of. They had been eating away at the padding inside until finally the contact plates were touching without actually pushing the horn. The weird thing was I had never actually seen an ant in the car, but the steering wheel was full of them. :o
 
Setec Astronomy said:
Um...that can`t be right. Besides, rodents have been chewing on rubber stuff forever.

OK, I had to look into this further...I think you meant "soy" and it`s unclear that it`s a real thing: https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a21933466/does-your-car-have-wiring-that-rodents-think-is-tasty/
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Yes soy based wire insulation in most cars nowadays. In fact a class action lawsuit against Toyota over it. Not sure why only against Toyota though. They say the reason they use it is because it`s enviromentally friendly and cheaper. I suspect the later is their real motive for it. Rabbits are also a big problem out here for chewing on wires.
 
Coleroad said:
Yes soy based wire insulation in most cars nowadays. In fact a class action lawsuit against Toyota over it. Not sure why only against Toyota though. They say the reason they use it is because it`s enviromentally friendly and cheaper. I suspect the later is their real motive for it. Rabbits are also a big problem out here for chewing on wires.
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If you read that C/D article I linked (which is old), Toyota says there is no evidence to back up the claims, and looking further similar class-action suits against Honda, etc. have been dismissed for the same reasons. I`ve been hearing about rodents chewing wires in cars since forever, I had a squirrel chew through a propane tank hose 35+ years ago, I saw him doing it, and trust me, there was no soy in that hose. I did cover it (my new hose) with wire loom from an auto parts store after that...so he only chewed the plastic and never got through to the rubber hose. Getting a face full of liquid propane didn`t deter him from trying again. The teeth of rodents keep growing, they chew on things to "file" them down.
 
What do you Autopians do for rodent urine smells?? I know this thread is more about the gnawing damage rodents cause to wiring harnesses, but they do leave their "bodily fluids and excrement" behind when engaging in activities with a vehicle.

I know that Poor Boys makes a stain and enzyme cleaner for carpets and fabrics. And, yes, there are a host of enzyme cleaners for pet urine. Just curious for what you may use if any of you have ever encountered such odors in your car-cleaning exploits.
 
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