Rat in the engine compartment...lots of damage $$$

[Pedro]

Those ultrasonic plug in the wall pest repellers work well. we had a problem in a rental house once, and they were the only things keeping them away from the cars and kitchen.

 

[Poorboyota26]

Same kind of thing happened to a friends new 4Runner
http://www.ttora.com/forum/showthread.php?p=729849#post729849

 

[abeaudin1971]

I'll concur on the dryer sheets - up here in canada, some vehicles go to bed for the winter - my dad has been cleaning up mice carcasses in his westfalia for the last 5 years - except for this year - dryer sheets at the usual suspect entry points before putting it away this winter and this spring, no dead mouse smell (not because the dryer sheets overpowered it but because there were no dead mice in it)

-a

 

[Frankspinz]

I've had a mouse nest under my hood... The mice had eaten a bunch of wires too ! Didn't take pics of the mice but here is a birds nest ! I need to use my truck more !

 

[EMrider]

Not too long ago, my neighbor's Mercedes was attacked by rats. The rats must of chewed up a lot of wires and hoses. My neighbor was unwilling to disclose the cost of damage, but did disclose that the repair bill was in the four digits. Well, that doesn't help....that could be $1000-9999. In any case, the damage to his Mercedes was soooo bad that he took the loss, traded what's left of his Mercedes, and got a brand new one. :Wow1:

I just had the pleasure of going thru this mess with my wife's Mercedes. Unreal hassle and cost of about $5k to repair. Took 12 weeks for MB to ship the replacement part from Germany. My insurance carrier said this happens all the time, especially with Mercedes and BMWs. This was the second time that rats or mice had chewed her wiring, and it could have ended very badly. She suddenly lost her power steering at about 25mph and was not strong enough to steer the car. Close call. Now we've got traps set in hope of avoiding the problem in the future. My preference was to just get rid of the POS Benz.

 

[squatch]

watch out for porcupines also! had one on the north rim of the grand canyon wake me up trying to get to my wires then came back and hid up on my spare. took a sharp stick to get him out! camping up in b.c. at the bugaboos they had chicken wire to skirt your rig to keep them out.

 

[DarkHelmet]

Not too long ago, my neighbor's Mercedes was attacked by rats. The rats must of chewed up a lot of wires and hoses. My neighbor was unwilling to disclose the cost of damage, but did disclose that the repair bill was in the four digits. Well, that doesn't help....that could be $1000-9999. In any case, the damage to his Mercedes was soooo bad that he took the loss, traded what's left of his Mercedes, and got a brand new one. :Wow1:

I remember a very similar story from my brother who was, at the time, a Mercedes mechanic at the local dealer. Perhaps it was the same car since the owner considered the car totaled.

 

[NXN]

I feel your pain

Not rats but squirrels. Fortunately they did not get anything important. On my 07 Tundra I had my windshield washer hose eaten through and all the foam sound dampening material located throughout the engine compartment. I have since taken up shooting every squirrel in my yard on site. If you are located where you can't shoot try hanging a bag of moth balls in your engine compartment. Not sure if this works on rats.

 

[Gone2Baja]

I had this problem several years ago with my 55 Bel air, it was parked for weeks at a time in a friends garage one day I went to drive it and smoke came up from under the hood when I turned the key.The little bastards chewed into the starter wiring so when I put power to it the system grounded and melted a hell of a lot of the harness.

My cost for a new harness $485 my Insurance deductible $500 go figure.

 

[samson smith]

My 2009 Tacoma overheated on the way to work today. There was a large coolant leak. I was planning on brining it in for service because the lights in my center console went out the other day. I checked all the fuses and couldn't locate the problem.

Now the problem has been located. A rat has been enjoying my electrical harness and coolant line. Problem is none of this will covered under warranty....agggghhhhhh.

Has this happened to anyone else? Any advice on dealing with the dealer?

thanks in advance,
David...

Ok, I understand your problem. Your first task is to cover the electrical harness and coolant line with cover sheet, and then you call the insurance company for claim. The other is checking your bills, if your bill is under guarantee then contact with the dealer.