Pest Infestation In My Engine Bay!
 

:sigh: I guess it's that time of the year again... Fall/Winter... When pests need a warm place to invade and call home.


So today I decided to open up my hood and check my engine oil level...

Smiling as I opened up my hood; JUST couldn't wait to see the nice clean engine bay... UNTIL...

http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...Z/DSC_0539.jpg

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Cleaned as much as I could with wet napkins and ran the engine and went to do some shopping for rat traps and whatnot and came back; opened the hood... WOW it smelt BAD!

Anyways; what do you guys think? Should I plastic bag the battery, alternator, intake, and pressure wash everything there to get the smell out?

P.S. The car is usually garaged; but the past 3 days it was parked out in the driveway...

Those damn Canadian mice.

Whatever it was, you scared the shit out of it!

Iv been pressure (45 degree nozzel) washing my engine bay once a month for 5 years without covering anything up. I also use engine detail. I'm not saying the way I do it is correct, but it works for me with no problems.:happy0180:

Serious rat problem... Be careful, they love chewing on anything with an electric charge running thru...

:( Yeah those damn "meese" LOL

That's what I'm most concerned about... And the smell of their urine and stool will bring them back to their territory if I don't clean 'er up... :cry:

Do you park outside?

Dirty Rat Bastards!

Normally in the garage; but just for the past 3 days have I parked outside since the garage needed some work...

Ugh, those pics are pretty gross, cleanup is going to suck. Perhaps you can 3M attach a mousetrap in there!

no offense, but that looks disgusting!!!!!

I feel for you. I am a neat freak and I hate to even see my new car even smudged.

Get it cleaned out asap! whatever it takes.

You don't need to cover anything unless you have a air filter exposed or something. Just pressure wash it.

Oh wow. I would recommend storing a stray cat under the hood, to fight the rat crimes!


*ba dum tiss*


But that is terrible, just pressure wash it away. And see if you can find a nest. And rat trap the shit out of the garage, hopefully that would keep them away from the car.

Just put a remote start on there :)

3 or 4 midnight cranks should either help them get the picture or get lost, one way or the other ;) You'll have to pressure wash anyway so why not! haha.

I can't believe I feel like I oughta say this, but I'm totally kidding. Don't grind up rats with your serpentine belt, it'll probably screw up your engine.

I've had some rodent chew completely through my corvette's spark plug wires before. Thankfully nothing else was damaged and it was an easy fix.

you think rodents got in because you parked outside?

that's fucked! I feel bad for you. I thought the bit of tree sap or bird shit I clean off mine every now and then was bad!

Damn......


Now I need to check mine tomorrow!!! :scared0016:

It is very likely, as my brother's MR2 (parked outside on the driveway) also has some sh1t in his engine bay as well.

We'll just have to wait until tomorrow to see if there is another pile of crap under my hood...

Keep the car inside if you can. You're lucky that you only have to do a bit of clean-up.

My rodent problem nearly ended with my car burning up. A few days after bringing The FR-S home, I went out to start the car, and stood beside it having a smoke while waiting for it to warm up. Half way through my smoke, I caught a strong whiff of gas. When I looked down, I was standing in a big puddle of gasoline. Long story short...a rodent had been chewing on a couple of the rubber fuel lines feeding the HPFP and it chose that moment to pop. What a mess! The paint on the intake cover was ruined, electrical tape peeling everywhere, hood blanket ruined, gas on the paint on the bumper cover and fenders...I just about had a tear. I had to cut out the bad sections, and bend up some 5/16" steel line replacements just to get it to the dealer. They replaced the lines under warranty, stating that it probably happened while the car was sitting in port for a couple of weeks during the rail strike.

Moth balls...vermin don't like the smell of 'em (we don't either, but they smell better that hot rat waste).

Make sure to check the airbox. I've had several small rodents of some kind make nests inside of the airbox on both cars and motorcycles. You'll find a small pile of straw and grass in the corner. You should probably replace the filter after you find one of these nests.
I just evicted a large spider from my engine compartment yesterday.

Our rat trap caught a rat outside the size of a standard cordless phone. This morning, before I went to work I popped the hood to check for rodent droppings again. Nothing! :) so it's safe to say the garage is okay for now... We setted up a trap inside the garage last night too, but got nothing this morning... Which should be a good sign.

It's nice out today so I will be checking the intake filter and pressure washing the engine bay.

Does anyone know if it's safe to use car wash soap in there?

Darn, somehow I lost my quick reply.. Recap: Other than going Mid-evil AKA Caddyshack on them, I store my cars with a product called "One Bite", get it from my son who works at a stable, it's commercial, I'm unsure if you can get it where you are. Place 2 2" blocks in trunk(protect material), 2 on floor mat and 2 on engine, works good, no carcasses, they die elsewhere. Spring time comes, remove blocks(partially chewed) good to go. This stuff doesn't attract them, you don't want to ring the dinner bell, but they're opportunistic feeders(Once, LOL). Hope that helps. Tis the season in the cold parts of the world!

R/Mac

As odd as it sounds, some of the guys over on Spyderchat put mothballs or urinal cakes in or around their Mr2 Spyders when they store them for the winter. They say that mice, rats, squirrels and chipmunks hate the smell of them and will stay out of the cars when they are put around or in it. I typically drive my car every few weeks when the weather warms up and the roads are free of salt so I have yet to store the car long enough to have to try this method. I know you are not storing but maybe putting some of these in the garage will deter the little vermin.

This must be a northerner's thing, because never in my life have I had to worry about pests getting into my car.

I've heard about that. Maybe I should 3M tape some mothballs in the engine bay area to deter future infestations...

ohh my god! they shat on your engine!
must be obama mice!

Lol, indeed they did...indeed they did...

ewwww wtf, I live in nyc and don't have that problem lol. clean your street! :bonk:

Wow! That's one dirty engine bay. I've always used a hose and run water over my engine bay for years on all sorts of makes and models of cars without one single problem. A detailer told me it's not really the water, but the high pressure hoses that causes the problems. Glad you caught the culprit! :happy0180:

I had the same problem with an Avalon and mine was parked in a new garage. I now have traps all over the place.

Ok dude this is what I recommend (I do it all the time at work), use a few fabric softeners and cover them up with poison and zip tie them to multiple places in the engine bay. As for your question yes pressure wash the engine and check the cabin air filter ( not sure if our cars have one but they like to male a nest on the filter.

FYI: most rodent damage takes place in cars garaged

Thanks! By cabin air filter you mean the one in the glove compartment right?

If so, how does one get access into there? I can understand nesting in the air intake manifold...but... :iono:

Edit: Just checked the cabin air filter and there was nothing unusual happening there... Just a dead fly, a small leaf and dust...

LOL would hate to put a trap and one day be excited to show someone your awesome engine bay and see a dead rat instead :lol:

Yes the cabin air filter is also known as an A/C filter. It is located behind the glove box (that's if our cars are equipped with them). The rodent can also eat a hole in the filter and get stuck in the blower motor and get chopped up. So if the odor is really bad you might have a dead rodent. Good luck and if you have more questions let me know

LOL says the one in queens Nothin but love for NY dude but queens is far from clean :bonk:

Streets are clean; couldn't be any cleaner actually lol

The problem is... it's getting colder now since the season is changing... My brother works at a dealership and about 3-4 cars went in today complaining about chewed up wires in their engine bays. :confused0068: Some BARELY started.

Caught the first rat a few days ago; but no pictures...

Today, we caught another and we've got pictures this time!

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Must say... I do feel a little guilty for killing these things... All they're trying to do is just survive. :(

If you start to feel bad, just look at the pictures of your infested engine bay. The feeling of remorse will quickly subside.