Not so much a question but a suggestion to anyone with the 4.0 liter v-6 toyota engine. The knock sensor wires were chewed by rats making a nest in the area under the intake manifold. To prevent this or at least encourage rodents to feast elsewhere, I bought a new sensor harness, partially disassembled and wrapped the exposed individual wires. I did this by placing a single layer of electrical tape on the wire, then placed a heliocoil over that followed by electrical tape. Reassembled and had mechanic install. Give the 20 hours of labor to replace, I felt this would be added insurance.
Just get a cat.
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A cat trapped in a garage isn’t going to be very happy.
And cats should never be let outside, because they will not only kill the mice, but also every bird they can find. Outdoor cats are environmental disasters.
A family friend has had mice rectory chewing the wires of here Nissan Murano where it sits outside. I don’t know if it works but she was told to use fox urine to repel the mice. I just hope the cpscent doesn’t come through the vents when the car is running. I had a mice problem in the house a few years ago and peppermint oil helps keep them away as well
I don’t know about the teeth on rats and mice but I suspect wrapping the wires will merely slow them down a little. We had a Rubbermaid closed container on the deck with bird feed in it to refill the bird feeder. The squirrels kept at it and finally had a hole gnawed in it big enough to get in and eat their fill. We switched to metal. A little plastic didn’t take them long.
I had good luck using moth balls when I stored cars inside the barn for the winter. A couple in the engine compartment, couple in the trunk, and one on top of each tire.
Wrapping wires in aluminum foil may deter them. Of course you want to make sure the wires’ insulation is OK. Chewing aluminum foil is a big yuck for small mammals.
Get a couple of mouse traps all over your garage floor.
We apply this product in a pole barn where classic cars/street rods are stored over the winter.
Never had animal damage.
Tester
Yeah, pretty much. I’ve seen mice chew their way through aluminum garage door panels. The little suckers are like living drills.
It works, but it has to be reapplied often, especially if it’s exposed to weather. Rain will wash it away. I also use it to keep rabbits from eating my garden, and I’ve discovered that mixing it with glycerin helps it stick around longer outside.
The main problem with using it on your car is that… Well, it’s pee. It smells bad. Not a big deal when you’re sprinkling it on plants - humans stop being able to detect it outside after a few minutes.
But when I kept the bottle in my shed, the inside of the shed smelled horrible. I keep it outside now. Using it in enclosed areas will make a noticeable stink.
She might try sprinkling it on the ground around the car - that might keep the rodents away without stinking up the car.
I have to wonder how they collect all this fox urine ??
Bill, you can wonder all you want. There are some things I just don’t need to know.
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good point. some of the images that brings up are not pretty.
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They, and I swear I am not making this up, train foxes to pee into a jar held by the urine collector on command. Same way they collect deer urine for hunters.
So! Today you learned that Urine Collector is an actual job title!
I applied for that job and thought it was for “ERMINE collector”. I thought gathering all those furry little critters would be a fun job.
Yosemite
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Call Discovery Channel. It’s another episode of Dirty Jobs.
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Cats are not a big threat to birds. Squirrels and chipmunks are a much bigger threat.
I like cats because they don’t want your constant attention. We always had cats when I was a kid and never ever saw a mouse the whole time and we lived in an old house. I remember only once that our cat came home with a bird. Oh wait a minute, twice I guess. We were taking care of my sisters parakeet and somehow the cat got that one too. I never liked parakeets anyway but my sister was not too pleased.
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I was having some problems with chewed wires at my place. A couple stray cats showed up or were dumped on my county road by people who didn’t want them. Both were females and both were pregnant of course.
They had cute little kitties which I gave away once they were old enough and had the mothers fixed. I haven’t had any chewed wires since but find dead mice and packrats outside all the time. Packrats are the WORST for damaging cars from what I can see. I started a car and all the dash lights were on and the sensor readings were all nonsensical. I opened the hood and had like 60 lbs of sticks and trash all over. I am lucky this didn’t start a fire.
Cats are way better than chewed wires! My parents ended up getting the two darker tabbies and think they are great as well.