Mice Ate My Car!
 

A couple of days ago I used my 2011 370Z to transport home a large bag of bird seed from the feed store. I guess the bag had been in contact with something that smells delicious to mice.

I knew I was in trouble when I saw small rubber bits near my driver's-side rear tire. Sure enough, after popping out the inside rear and left-rear finishers, some little critter had eaten through the large grommet in the rear wall, and most of the wires that pass through it. Amazingly the brake, turn-signal, and backup lights still function.

I suppose I need a new wiring harness, and that sounds like big money to me. Any thoughts on how to keep this from recurring?

Put this next to your Z,:tup:

http://i1037.photobucket.com/albums/...ps79547ad2.jpg

I hate mices to pieces.

This stinks. I bait and bait. Still they survive.

i use D-con under my cars while in hibernation. not that i have a mice problem that i know of... it's matter of when, not if.

Your Z is not a pick'em up truck, act accordingly ;)

But yeah mice & rats love grains & seeds. What type of birds do you have?

It doesn't look that bad & should be an easy splice. Just cut out the bad & wire in good wire & insulate.

Yes, it's called rat poison, available at most household retailers. :rofl2:

Luckily that doesn't look too serious. That would be if it had gotten in your intake or exhaust. If it were me, id wage all out war on the mice!

First, let me say that I was disappointed when I opened this thread, expecting to see nothing left of a Z except some undigested metal, and some very large mice lounging nearby with full bellies. :rolleyes:

OK, seriously I had this happen to another car. I had no idea there were mice in my garage until it happened. They did a good job on the wiring harness under the hood, causing a variety of codes. And an fairly expensive repair.

So a trip to the store for a pack of traps and some peanut butter led to the violent death of 4 of the little buggers in 3 days. I now always have a least one trap set in the garage as a matter of prevention. I agree with Kenchan...it's not if I get mice again, but when.

Mice hate the smell of Bounce fabric softener sheets, look it up its true! Tuck in a few of them near obvious entry points and the mice will run the other way. Don't risk using poison or traps if you have kids or other pets. :tiphat:

It happens more than you know!!!

sorry but this made me laugh. Im having a problem with these bastards in my house, but not in the car. Mine are like mutant mice, they know how to set off traps and take the bait and then laugh in my face. If you take forever to kill them they multiply so get them now! I finally got some with poison.

Thanks all...
 

I appreciate the supportive words and I am going to give the peanut butter pool of death a try. But about the dryer sheets...it's bad enough I'm feeding them--I'm NOT going to do their laundry too! ;-)

Get Rid of Mice with Peppermint Oil -


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Aug 27, 2009 – People swear by the use of peppermint oil to get rid of mice from their home. This article explains why the usage of peppermint oil is effective for ...


I was told about this last Thursday. I hope it is true.

Going to give that a try, thanks!

:tup: +1 when i refill w reps!

A guy i work with had 700 dollars worth of damage to his mustang GT due to mice chewing up wiring...boy was he pizzed.

Put dryer pads in your car. Bait areas around your car, set up traps in safe places. Leave no survivors get a kitty

mice, have not had a problem squirrels, yes on my old stang chewed on the fuel line and my GF car too.

:icon18: leave no survivors! Lol!!
We have 2 cats.....:tup:
:shakes head: i had an SUV several years ago that had intermittent running issues. It would just STOP. Took cinci dealership several tries to fix it...chewed wires everywhere. IT SUCKS.

Mice got to my car in a parking lot back in August of 2011. They chewed one of my O2 sensors which caused a CEL, and they also ate part of my passenger-side air guide. It was ~$400 to fix, and wasn't under warranty because it is considered rodent damage. Mice/squirrels got to my last two cars as well. Acorn shells on my intake manifold and A/C compressor filled with leaves with filters completely chewed. My garage is rodent-free though, so I can sleep at night with the 370 in there.

I had a exterminator tell me once to use steel wool. Just put clumps around the garage.The mice eat it and die. He stated that the poison bait just brings in more. Worked for some rental property I have.

:icon14:id torture them :stirthepot:

I can beat that!!! Car with 400 miles in shop for almost 30 days about 1700 to fix ! Not fun &$@ mice

Ps the drier sheets do work.....

Same exact thing happened to my cousin except it was his AMG crossfire that took the chewin. Squirrels tore up the entire main harness as well as all the other goodies and the main serpentine belt. 1843.97 in damages. I DIY with him and he sent me a receipt and told me to come over and kill as many squirrels as I could find haha. Needless to say I stopped parking my warm car out in the cold Texas winter, squirrels will rape your engine...

When I bought my 370Z from a dealer which was previously owned, I discovered that whenever I turned on my vent fan, I would get a banging type noise especially when I turned it up high. The car also had a weird odor. I brought my Z to the dealer to check out the vent system and it turned out that who ever had the car before me, parked it either outdoors or in a garage that had some kind of rodent in it. The sound coming from the fan was acorns jostling around and the odor was from the nesting material of some rodent. I was pissed at the dealer for not checking this out before I bought the Z so they agreed to pay half of the cost of cleaning out the entire vent system which came to around $600. What is it about our Zs that are so tempting to these critters. I guess they like them as much as we do!