Parked outside in condo parking.
Her Mustang is black. White Mustang parked nexto her’s was not bothered.
Co$t her $600
Any remedies?
Thank you
Trap the squirrel …
Paint the Mustang white…
Feed the squirrels so they don’t want to eat Mustang wires…
Post a pet alligator at the car…
Move to Naples, no squirrels left there, the pythons ate them…
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Just got through repairing my son’s Camaro last week for this problem. It suddenly had a misfire on No. 3 and with the hood up I found the mice had eaten the wiring from the injector connector clean up to the harness. Also found a small dead mouse on top of the intake. A 10 dollar fix in my case and that was for a new injector plug.
I scattered a few rodent pellets around the engine. Hopefully that will fix that as the rat snakes have been slacking off on the job the past couple of years.
I’m not sure what relevance the color of the car has to this situation…
Be that as it may… I’d also suggest putting some moth balls under the hood. Nowadays they come in a vented plastic bag that “contains” the moth balls, but allow the smell out.
Do you think it is a good idea to suggest putting a plastic bag in the engine compartment to an individual who has had their injector wires chewed? Just where do you think they will place the plastic bag? Right at the injector wiring, maybe? On the HOT engine?
I’m thinking some very clear placement instructions will be needed!
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It’s a fair point; I didn’t consider that, about the plastic bag. Good call.
My point was more about using moth balls. They tend to “discourage” a wide variety of critters.
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Or a portable garage or new mechanic. That’s a little steep to replace a wire. I think it cost me $80 to repair an injector wire. Maybe they replaced the whole harness.
Obviously the Floriduh mechanic has a boat payment.
@tester has reccomended this in the past.
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This spring I had to repair rodent damage to an injector wire on a 2010 Lincoln Navigator. I had to remove the intake manifold, the upper (port) injector rail and wiring to access the lower (direct) injector harness and replace the one pigtail that was damaged. Total bill was about $1100. It’s always easy to replace one wire once you get to it!
I live in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia, in a suburban area, my home is on 1/2 acre lot, I have many trees, and most of my neighbor’s properties are similar.
Last fall, I found nut/acorn/etc debris on top of the engines of both my 2019 Toyota and 2020 Honda. Some of the wire harness wrap was chewed on but no other damage. The “Scat” (rodent droppings) was larger than a mouse and Googled research suggested squirrels or rats. I have never seen any rats in the area, but there is no shortage of squirrels. I have been told (with tongue in cheek…) that I should taste the scat, I was told that squirrel scat has a distinctive nutty flavor. I passed on this…
I’ve read that modern wire insulation is often made from a plant based derivative and they may be drawn to car wire insulation made of soy, peanut oil, rice husks, and various plant-based materials. The insulation can produce a faint vanilla aroma when it is warm, which may make car wires appealing and appetizing for rodents to chew.
After experimenting with various rodent repellant sprays and various exotic oils (including peppermint oil, lemon oil, citronella oil, and eucalyptus oil), I finally decided to place a small plate on the battery when the cars are parked. The plates have mothballs and inexpensive dryer sheets on it and since I’ve done this, I have had no more issues with these “visitors.”
Admittedly, this precaution is a royal pain. Before using either vehicle, I have to open the hood and remove the plate. When returning and parking the vehicles, I have to again open the hood and place the plates back on the battery. I have also made a small sign that I put on the dash to remind me to remove the dish before driving off…
The expense associated with replacing the wiring is outrageous. My car insurance agent says the policy would cover the repair, but I imagine that would only work once or twice before I had to look for another insurance company… Besides, the alternative is even more bizarre (See Below…)…
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Wonder if a fake snake inside would scare rodents away.
Perhaps a fake hawk perched on a windshield wiper arm.
You can get fake owls at big box hardware stores. Supposedly they scare rodents and other birds away. I’ve never seen that they work all that well - animals aren’t quite as stupid as we often think, and I suspect they do start to figure out that an “owl” which never moves is not, in fact, an owl. 
The problem is with Ford’s wire design. They (and some other companies) use a soy-based wire insulation. It’s more environmentally friendly than the old petroleum-based insulation, but the downside is that rodents think it’s delicious.
I suspect there’s some other reason your car was targeted while your neighbor’s was not. Either random chance, or something about where that car was parked that made the squirrel avoid it.
If your parking place is assigned, so you will always park there, one thing you could try is to put a covered, side-vented short plastic box (to keep rain out) under the car, and fill it with used cat litter. I’ve found squirrels avoid my yard when the neighbor’s cat uses my garden as his toilet (which is great, except when I find the results while digging in the garden ).
just a thought… if it happened in cold weather. yes florida does get cold weather. the black car will hold the heat longer than a white car.
Now that it has been brought up, I remember I also tried this. We have a fake plastic owl that we bought to put next to the bird feeder to “hopefully” scare off the squirrels, and it did absolutely no good… I do not believe it scared off anything. Small birds landed on its head and left their “calling cards…” The squirrels just seemed to ignore it… But we did try the owl around the cars, in front, in back, on the sides, even on the roof. It did not fit in the engine compartment and we continued to get the critter visits… And it was not like the engines were warm and the warmth was what attracted them. I have four vehicles and I rotate driving them, some of these vehicles might not be driven for 3 to 5 days apart, Only the 2019 Toyota and the 2020 Honda were parked outside, and I checked the engines of both every day. By the way, both cars are Silver in color. The '85 Toyota and the '01 Ram are parked in the garage.
I also have a very realistic plastic/rubber snake that I bought to put on top of the porch lights. Small birds (sparrows, wrens, etc…) have tried to make nests on top of the lights, I do not want the mess on the walls, railings, or benches on the porch, so I have put the snake up on the lamps, and like the owl, the birds ignore it. I ultimately put a plastic bag over the lamp during breeding season. They do not like the bag…
If Tropical Storm Elsa was not dumping rain on us right now, I would have included a “Family Portrait” of the Owl and Snake…
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When I was a kid, those fake snakes were primarily for scaring the hell out of my dad. They worked great on him, but the wildlife didn’t seem bothered.
I have the same problem with swallows on my patio light. I even put up some swallow cup nest boxes. They’ll build a nest there, and also on the light because they’re jerks. They don’t even use the light nest. They just like to build there. I’ve given up on having a clean light during spring.
Maybe something a squirrel would like to eat – nuts, seeds, old peanut butter sandwiches, etc — accumulated in the fresh air inlet screen, the area right below the windshield. Vacuum that area weekly, and also pop the hood and vacuum underneath inside the engine compartment. You could try spraying something like a weak sol’n of Lysol or Pinesol in that area too. Who knows, might help.
you can try something like this…
Amazon.com : Loraffe Under Hood Rodent Ultrasonic Rat Repellent Mice Deterrent with Ultrasound and LED Flashlights, for 12V 24V Vehicle Auto Garage Pest Control, Keep Animal from Chewing Car Wiring : Garden & Outdoor
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Hey WW,
Actually I did try using a couple of electronic dissuasions/repulsion gadgets, I just forgot to mention it in that exceedingly long posting that I made. I’ve included a photo of the two that I tried. The little Black and Decker is a cutie and is pretty much worthless. I even put it on the bird feeder and it did not scare anything away, not a bird nor squirrel.
The Transonic Pro also did not work on the varmints, even with it turned up to Maximum… But the teenage boys who played basketball in their driveway next door complained that it was really ignoring… With it on the bird feeder, it kept the birds away, but the squirrel ignored it.
So, in my considered opinion, my best solution is still the Moth Balls and “cheap” Dryer Sheets. Thank you for taking the time to research this for me.
I hope the many suggestions help the other folk who are also experiencing this problem.
