What's under the bonnet..

[LuvWatch]

..took my daughters 2014 fiesta out for a spin this morning, as she is now studying in Liverpool. The car has sat outside our house for about two weeks, so I decided to give it a good clean and check tyres and fluids.

Popped the bonnet and almost s*** myself, when I saw this..




It's a huge rat..it has made a nest from the bonnet lining and chewed through some wires.

A trip to the garage next week, I can hear the mechanic tutting and rubbing his/her chin !! before I open my chequebook and say, don't hurt me.

[Beanie]

Not unusual in rural areas, had the same with the wife's Peugeot Extra dog van. The give away is the sound deadening fibre everywhere. Mice as well as rats are attracted and can cause a lot of damage. I seem to recall a thread on a LR forum where they developed quite a taste for fuel filler pipes.
This spring I found the little sods had chewed through the wife's quad bike seat, and the charging connector for the ride on mower. A programme of rat poison traps seemed to do the trick, a bit more difficult in a car though.
Hopefully they won't have done too much damage to your daughters car.

[Eddiex]

That's amazing that it should have taken up residence in a car that it used as recently as a couple weeks ago! I think I've have been luck as my 1971 'classic car' sits outside for most of the year covered with a car cover and I have been lucky - not rodents - well, not yet!!

[Franky Four Fingers]

I generally see the evidence of rodents at least once a week in the process of my job. They can create havoc to a vehicle as they find most automotive plastics irresistible. Wiring harnesses and the foam from the underside of engine covers is a favourite as it makes perfect bedding

Took this pic yesterday of A VW van, this is the fresh air intake for the heater. Chewed straight through and attacked the foam seals. The little buggers behind the dash somewhere curled up I bet

[bobdog]

That’s nothing, opened my bonnet and found 450 horses under there!

[tixntox]

..took my daughters 2014 fiesta out for a spin this morning, as she is now studying in Liverpool. The car has sat outside our house for about two weeks, so I decided to give it a good clean and check tyres and fluids.

Popped the bonnet and almost s*** myself, when I saw this..




It's a huge rat..it has made a nest from the bonnet lining and chewed through some wires.

A trip to the garage next week, I can hear the mechanic tutting and rubbing his/her chin !! before I open my chequebook and say, don't hurt me.

.............................. and the big hens have gone!

[BEZELBOY]

My 2yr old M140i has been stationed at Lancaster BMW last week having the ecu to starter motor wiring loom replaced as rodents had taken a shine to it over the last 10 days since I used it and chewed their way through it in 3 places.
unfortunately and understandably, this was not covered under the warranty.
£1200.00 later😡

Andy

[thieuster]

Not unusual in rural areas, had the same with the wife's Peugeot Extra dog van. The give away is the sound deadening fibre everywhere. Mice as well as rats are attracted and can cause a lot of damage. I seem to recall a thread on a LR forum where they developed quite a taste for fuel filler pipes.
This spring I found the little sods had chewed through the wife's quad bike seat, and the charging connector for the ride on mower. A programme of rat poison traps seemed to do the trick, a bit more difficult in a car though.
Hopefully they won't have done too much damage to your daughters car.

*Bolt text by me.

For myself: take a mental note and buy rat poison traps to check if there are rats in the forest around my new home. Near my current house lives a stone marten family, infamous for their automotive appetite... Until now, they don't like Asian food: they've stayed away from the (Japanese built) Honda.

I need to get myself a really big cat-with-an-attitude to keep the new premises clean. Foxes and badgers may help too. Last Summer I spotted a buzzard family high up in the tree tops as well. At least they took care(...) of the chicken coop. Perhaps it will scare off rats as well.

[lewie]

I think this could be a sign of thing to come - further localised lockdown measures mean these guys aren’t getting about as much as the were before

[Hocuspocus]

I wonder how many people have gone out for a look under the bonnet after reading this...?

Sent from my SM-A202F using TZ-UK mobile app

[Dave+63]

The wife had an issue with her GLC-Class this week. It turned out to be an apparent dig tears glitch on injector number three but the technician said that if it been chewed by a tide the then it wouldn’t be covered under warranty.

Fortunately, when he took the cover off it was clear but these modern engine covers create a convenient nesting place for little critters to hibernate over winter or nest in doting/summer.

[LuvWatch]

My 2yr old M140i has been stationed at Lancaster BMW last week having the ecu to starter motor wiring loom replaced as rodents had taken a shine to it over the last 10 days since I used it and chewed their way through it in 3 places.
unfortunately and understandably, this was not covered under the warranty.
£1200.00 later

Andy

Just had the inspection report back

Red - Urgent


The following items have been identified as requiring urgent attention and can be viewed by clicking on the icon. Please select the items for approval.

Lights / Electrics		Price
	Other Eml on	£59.40
	Other Complete engine wiring harness req 6hrs lab	£1,093.81
Wheels / Tyres		Price
	Spare Tyre Inflt Kit Exp- out of date 2019	£0.00

[TKH]

Just had the inspection report back

Red - Urgent


The following items have been identified as requiring urgent attention and can be viewed by clicking on the icon. Please select the items for approval.

Lights / Electrics		Price
	Other Eml on	£59.40
	Other Complete engine wiring harness req 6hrs lab	£1,093.81
Wheels / Tyres		Price
	Spare Tyre Inflt Kit Exp- out of date 2019	£0.00

Having seen this a few times in last 34 years in Trade I can only sympathise its a real pain, what GM found out after testing is that some of the wires coatings are like cat-nip to rodents as they contain certain oils (soy) and alluring smells they GM apparently modified looms to be less tasty....

£ 218 per hour labour (inc VAT)...staggering ....= 218 x 40 x 48 = £ 418’560 charge out per year for ‘1’ mechanic....

[thieuster]

Just had the inspection report back

Red - Urgent


The following items have been identified as requiring urgent attention and can be viewed by clicking on the icon. Please select the items for approval.

Lights / Electrics		Price
	Other Eml on	£59.40
	Other Complete engine wiring harness req 6hrs lab	£1,093.81
Wheels / Tyres		Price
	Spare Tyre Inflt Kit Exp- out of date 2019	£0.00

As a result of this, I started to go through the papers. This sort of 'acts' are covered by my insurance.