$1000 mice

[mikim]

Hauling a lot of junk from my in-laws (FIL recently passed so we're cleaning out the house) when I suddenly had a check engine light and a little rough running. Mice had chewed on my wiring overnight --- gonna run close to $1000 to get my truck back. Have to wait til Tues for parts, and labor is going to be 80% of the bill.

 

[case245]

sorry to hear bout your wiring problems

 

[bcp]

Many modern wires are insulated with mouse food.

Rodents love to eat soy-based materials of

"Recent reports indicate that automakers are now using wire insulated with a soy-based product and even making seats out of similar materials. Unfortunately, it turns out that rodents like the materials even more than they like cheese."

Bruce

 

[CliffordK]

I've had mice chew up computer network cables, and my nice 10AWG extension cord, but never wires in the vehicles (that I know of).

My old Renault Encore had a design where the battery was located in the cowl right above the firewall penetration of the main wiring harness, as well as one of the brake lines. Needless to say, I had a brake line leak, and as the car aged, the lights and connections started doing odd things. Later versions of the model had the battery moved to a location away from so many critical components.

One of the more annoying things that a critter did to me was a squirrel that would hide a nut in the steering mechanism of my pickup. I'd get in and start driving, and find that I could make a right-hand turn, but not a left-hand turn (or straighten the steering after turning). I'd take the nut out, and a few days later, another one was put in the same spot.

 

[Renze]

My neighbour has a Renault with fish oil based wiring. rodents cost him big time last year, so now he parks his cars on steel grids, as they say the rodents hate to walk on 30x30mm holes between 2mm vertical steel plates.

 

[RedNeckRacin]

I can one up that one. I had an 05 cummins with a standard that was my weekend towing truck when i got a company truck. Long story short, a mouse decided to build a nest in my bell housing and had long enough/enough mice that it burnt my clutch up because there was so much garbage packed in the South Bend DD clutch.. That was a $2k+ expense but the insurance picked up most of the tab!

 

[aczlan]

Sorry to hear that... Hate those little critters.

Aaron Z

 

[CliffordK]

I've blown clutches before. I've always ended up replacing my own clutches (for a lot less than $2K). Nothing from the insurance company. Next time I might have to stuff a few mice into the bell housing then see if anybody would pay to get the mice and clutch out.

I'm surprised the bell housing wasn't better sealed on the 05 Dodge/Cummins. Unless dented up, I thought they would generally at least be mouse proof.

 

[dwhite]

I had a similar problem (and cost) when we were building our current home. The truck sat on-site and field mice got into the fuse/connection box and chewed all the wires and made a nest. Since we moved in, keep the grass mowed, and house mouse free, no more problems.

 

[crazyal]

I rarely use my Tundra so mice are a problem. When my father got sick I was driving the car all the time. After sitting for over a year I decided to pull the interior and wash all that mice smell out of everything. About a year later I backed it up to the garage to fill it with garbage for a dump run. When I went to start it something sounded funny and the engine was running real rough. I shut it off and couldn't get it started again. It turned out that a mouse decided to try and make a nest around the timing belt. The stupid thing got caught between the belt and one of the cam gears knocking the timing off by 2 teeth. Luckily I had just changed the timing belt so I know how to do the work, about 3 hours later I had it back to normal.

 

[TomSeller]

One of the more annoying things that a critter did to me was a squirrel that would hide a nut in the steering mechanism of my pickup. I'd get in and start driving, and find that I could make a right-hand turn, but not a left-hand turn (or straighten the steering after turning). I'd take the nut out, and a few days later, another one was put in the same spot.

Sounds like what a nutty ex wife would do. Glad I don't have one.

 

[Sysop]

I thought they would generally at least be mouse proof.

Is anything?

 

[CliffordK]

Mice have troubles chewing through steel, and presumably thick aluminum. There should be a cover over the front side of the bell housing. I haven't paid a lot of attention to it, but I'm surprised that there would be more than 1/8" gap, unless the vehicle was driven offroad... a lot.

There was a Car Talk episode about a critter, maybe a squirrel chewing holes in a person's radiator (plastic tanks?).

I wonder if the squirrel was addicted to antifreeze. Ethylene Glycol is very sweet tasting, but toxic. Perhaps they were using Propylene Glycol.

 

[Ken45101]

Sadly we just had a similar problem with our Chevy truck. Idiot lights on, "service 4wd", radio "locked". Turned out mice got into the fuse block and their urine corroded the connections. $800 job that took a week since the dealer was short handed due to vacations.

That's the first time we've had problems with the truck although multiple times we have had mice get into the heating/ac ducts on the Jeep and die in there and really stink up the Jeep. IDK if Jeep doesn't screen off their ducts

 

[CHDinCT]

Not exactly a related incident, but these mouse mishaps remind me of the summer night about two years ago our AC compressor came on and made a loud, strange noise. I quick jumped up and turned the AC off and went outside with a flashlight. Took me a few sec's to realize what all the red puree was all over the fan blade. Then I saw mouse foot and tail pieces and knew for sure we had a mouse execution. The good news was there was no damage or cost involved.

I once did pull about a small coffee can of seed shells out of my car air filter cartridge. Darn mouse must have been feasting in there for a month or more. Of course the car did run better after cleaning it out. :laughing:

 

[crazyal]

Not exactly a related incident, but these mouse mishaps remind me of the summer night about two years ago our AC compressor came on and made a loud, strange noise. I quick jumped up and turned the AC off and went outside with a flashlight. Took me a few sec's to realize what all the red puree was all over the fan blade. Then I saw mouse foot and tail pieces and knew for sure we had a mouse execution. The good news was there was no damage or cost involved.

I once did pull about a small coffee can of seed shells out of my car air filter cartridge. Darn mouse must have been feasting in there for a month or more. Of course the car did run better after cleaning it out. :laughing:

When I had a mouse commit suicide via timing belt I thought maybe it was the cam position sensor. On a Tundra you can remove a small plastic cover to see the timing marks and the sensor. At first I thought the timing belt shredded but then I realized that it was mouse fur and a tail wrapped around the sensor. Forgot all about that until just now.