General How to stop mice living in my engine bay :(

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General How to stop mice living in my engine bay :(

dac69er

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Never had the issue before until more recently, now nearly every winter I get Mice living in my cinq!?

2017 was the first time. They chewed the hell out of the bulkhead material and my spark plug wires. Caught 3 mice and then it seemed to stop.

2018 I removed the engine, cleaned the bay and fitted a new engine. The winter of 2018 I got no mice.

2019 they are back building nests in the engine bay, I laid a trap last night and caught one.

The car is daily driven. I have multiple other cars it mine that are not used over winter which they don't touch.
My girlfriend parked her panda next to mine last night and they stayed away from that entirely and only seem interested in the cinq?

Any ideas as I just don't understand it!?!? Bare in mind I have tried almost everything, I just can't see why they are only interested in the cinq?
 
They'll be picking your car since it's warm, whereas you other cars sit cold.
Doesn't explain the panda experiment though.

Do they make the nest in the same part of the engine bay?

Perhaps it's just that the cinq has some better-shaped crevice somewhere and the panda doesn't, or perhaps they're used to the cinq and didn't bother trying the panda... or perhaps there's some kind of chemical that's attracting them.
 
Perhaps. They still get in if I don't use the car for a day or so over the weekend though.

They tend to make a nest on top of the gearbox and near the passenger side suspension top mount.

In the past they have hidden behind the battery tray but seem to have stayed away from there so far.

I have tried parking in a different place on my drive to see if that helps!

So odd I never got this issue before I had the cinq? Something must be attracting them to that specific car!?
 
This happened to my punto when I parked it to repair for a few weeks. They made a nest ontop of the fuel tank and ate the sender wires!

Few years later i found a nest in the air filter of my lexus IS200 after it had not been driven for 6 months. Ate through the filter! Would have been a scary death for the critters if they were still there! These were both in a rural location quite near horse stables.

Other cars kept at the house for years and haven't seemed to have any mouse attacks!

Not sure how to stop it - mouse poison?
 
I got some poison grain from the people we use for rodent control at work and the mice just stripped the outer layers off and ate the inner bit that didnt have poison on!!!

I catch the. Easy enough with traps, but it's just such a ball ache having to constantly check the engine bay every morning and then set multiple traps.
I'm not sure why they are so obsessed with my cinq!?
 
A fox ate my Alfa 155 once.. :D

The little git ate both of the headlamp washer modules. I guessed it was because it could smell screen-washer, which is sweet and alcoholic, so fair enough. Foxes like alcopops too.. :lol:

Your mice might just find it easier to climb into the engine bay of the Cinq. If it's lower than the other cars or it has a dangling exhaust etc. or maybe the bumper is closer to the ground. You need to work out how they're climbing up there, then you'll work out how to stop them.


Ralf S.
 
A fox ate my Alfa 155 once.. :D

The little git ate both of the headlamp washer modules. I guessed it was because it could smell screen-washer, which is sweet and alcoholic, so fair enough. Foxes like alcopops too.. :lol:

Your mice might just find it easier to climb into the engine bay of the Cinq. If it's lower than the other cars or it has a dangling exhaust etc. or maybe the bumper is closer to the ground. You need to work out how they're climbing up there, then you'll work out how to stop them.


Ralf S.

nothing is hanging particularly low. if anything its slightly higher than it used to be. they are just climbing up the tires as nothing else is low enough for a mouse to latch on to. unless i can make the car hover, nothing is going to help!

since catching 1 mouse, it seems to be ok at the moment. i will leave it a week and call it a day if i get no more activity........
 
nothing is hanging particularly low. if anything its slightly higher than it used to be. they are just climbing up the tires as nothing else is low enough for a mouse to latch on to. unless i can make the car hover, nothing is going to help!

since catching 1 mouse, it seems to be ok at the moment. i will leave it a week and call it a day if i get no more activity........

Maybe the wheels are just easier to climb up, being 13"? Once the scoundrel is onto the suspension wishbone, it's an easy clamber onto the gearbox too. :D

Are you sure your mice are not "resident" in the car? I had a spider (the arachnid type, not Alfa convertible type) once that lived in my passenger mirror. No matter where I went the beast would hide in there (even surviving car washes etc) and would put up a new web between the mirror and the A-pillar every day. In the end, it was harmless so I just left it alone.. :)

Your mice (minus its extended family which is being attrited by your traps) might think "the world" is the inside of your engine bay, if they've never left it. They might wonder what all the noise and vibration every now and again it.. :D Drive carefully so your mouse colony doesn't get frightened.. :D


Ralf S.
 
this thread made me laugh; but it brings me to a more pertinent and perhaps slightly relevant question-

has anyone ever sourced a Cinq / Sei under-tray?

Is there such a thing? There's a little OE cover under the radiator inlet on the right side of the bumper.. but I've never seen a full-size undertray... Might be useful, if someone knows of one..


Ralf S.
 
Thought they had gone as I had no action for about a week, but now they are back. Car isn't even being used for the last few days and they are straight in there. I have used everything I can think of and they don't seem to be deterred.

I've stuck a couple of traps by the wheels again. It's driving me up the wall!!!!!
 
Car hasn't been used today. Opened the bonnet half an hour ago and the little bastard was just sitting there staring at me.

I had a couple of traps down near the wheels and it ignored those!

I just don't get it. I'm going to start parking the car in the street in the evenings to see if that helps.
 
Maybe they've developed an interest in old fiats?

How about constructing a purpose built mouse house nearbye to provide a more comfortable home with regular meals? ;)


Have they built a nest hidden somewhere like near the heater box? They might be returning to the nest? Both occasions I've found mice in my cars they have made a nest - once on top of the fuel tank (punto mk2) and in the air filter housing on the Lexus. They like the sound deadening material for making their nests.


I'd say the car not being used every day is probably a contributing factor.
 
Even when it is used every day they still get in. It doesn't seem to make any difference.

No nest that I can find. They keep making small nests of leaves that I keep hoovering up.

The first time they got in they chewed the hell out of the sound deadening stuff that covers the heater matrix/blower.

I don't leave them long enough to make much of a nest now.

Car is now parked in a slightly different place, so will see if that helps.....
 
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Tenacious bugger.... I admire it. :ROFLMAO:

If you can work out how they're clambering up there (I'd guess up the tyre, onto the caliper, then driveshaft and gearbox) you might be able to make it more tricky. :nerner:

Apparently a spot of cat's urine will keep them away. Failing that, I can dig out some cat turds from my garden (neighbour's cat keeps crapping in my dahlias) and post them to you... :slayer:

Ralf S.
 
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well moving the car to the other side of the drive seems to have done the trick.


only concerning thing is that this morning the EML came on and off a few times, so perhaps they are just nesting in a different part of the engine bay that i cant see easily!?
 
Was a map sensor fault. Changed the map sensor. Checked connections and wiring and remade the pipe end as it had a small split where it connected to the manifold.

Hopefully that issue won't come back now!
 
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