Damn mice!!!
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 379
Likes: 170
From: Buffalo Grove IL
Damn mice!!!
Had to share these photos with everyone, I was disassembling my passenger side door to get the Bose amp out, and found a bit of a surprise:
There's actually 3 wires coming off the connector in front of the door handle, but mice ate all (and I mean ALL) of the insulation off the wire for several inches. Actually it looks like they were eating the cable itself.
Also check out the upper wire going to the power door lock switch, no shortage of exposed copper 
How the wires weren't shorting out and blowing fuses is beyond me.
Are there any other common areas that mice like to call home in a C4 that I should be checking out?
Ben
There's actually 3 wires coming off the connector in front of the door handle, but mice ate all (and I mean ALL) of the insulation off the wire for several inches. Actually it looks like they were eating the cable itself.
Also check out the upper wire going to the power door lock switch, no shortage of exposed copper How the wires weren't shorting out and blowing fuses is beyond me.
Are there any other common areas that mice like to call home in a C4 that I should be checking out?
Ben
Le Mans Master
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 8,246
Likes: 114
From: Watkins Glen NY
Yea, they decided to make the area behind the breadbox on my 85 home. I discovered this when I took apart the hvac controls when they weren't working right. Turns out they like vacuum hose!
I think I caught the little SOBs before they got too comfortable--I didn't have a chewed wire anywhere, just the vacuum tubing.
I think I caught the little SOBs before they got too comfortable--I didn't have a chewed wire anywhere, just the vacuum tubing.
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Verdad Gallardo
Race Director
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 17,551
Likes: 26
From: El Paso Texas
Wait till one of the furry little bastards takes up residence in the HVAC blower motor and dies in there. First time you crank up the A/C, you get a ugly clunking noise followed by a sickening smell that won't go away.
This was my Mom's car. She lives up in the mountains of Southern New Mexico, and the mice love to nest in people's cars. She came down here and said her A/C didn't work and the car stunk. When I pulled the blower motor out, I though I was gonna chuck. The bloated little bastich had chewed the plastic squirrel cage in half before he died.
A trip to Mohammed's junkyard with $40, a quick stop at Albertsons for a gallon of bleach, and all was well.
Have fun rewiring your car. Might not be a bad idea to pick up some traps next time you're at Lowes.
This was my Mom's car. She lives up in the mountains of Southern New Mexico, and the mice love to nest in people's cars. She came down here and said her A/C didn't work and the car stunk. When I pulled the blower motor out, I though I was gonna chuck. The bloated little bastich had chewed the plastic squirrel cage in half before he died.
A trip to Mohammed's junkyard with $40, a quick stop at Albertsons for a gallon of bleach, and all was well.
Have fun rewiring your car. Might not be a bad idea to pick up some traps next time you're at Lowes.
Instructor
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 143
Likes: 0
From: Nebraska (no smog tests!)
I know they like the tailpipes. A friend of mine fixed that with a pair of suitably-sized tin cans over the ends of the tailpipes. If it wasn't for the fact that cat claws can be a hazard to the car's paint, a garage with a live-in cat would seem an option. Few things puts fear into rodents like a cat. Except maybe an owl. Or snakes, of course.
A lot of folks around in road-salt country here store their collector-type rides over the winter. Starting the engine, shifting through all the gears, driving a few dozen feet back and forth, steering lock to lock, letting it warm up and boil off some condensation from the crankcase. Just driving the car causes enough noise and vibration that they might think about not living in your car in the first place.
A lot of folks around in road-salt country here store their collector-type rides over the winter. Starting the engine, shifting through all the gears, driving a few dozen feet back and forth, steering lock to lock, letting it warm up and boil off some condensation from the crankcase. Just driving the car causes enough noise and vibration that they might think about not living in your car in the first place.
Intermediate
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 33
Likes: 0
Been There done that
The mice even carried in a shop rag to use for a blanket under the hood under myplastic corvette engine cover. They also got into some of that block jalepeno christmas cheese in my glove comaprtment. The ironic thing is the mice also got into the rolaids. Must have had heart burn from the cheese.
Instructor
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 117
Likes: 0
From: MIRA LOMA CA
Originally Posted by jmn1888
The mice even carried in a shop rag to use for a blanket under the hood under myplastic corvette engine cover. They also got into some of that block jalepeno christmas cheese in my glove comaprtment. The ironic thing is the mice also got into the rolaids. Must have had heart burn from the cheese.
now thats funny!!
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 758
Likes: 6
From: Gainesville, FL
The Ferrari in the avatar had been garaged for a real long time up north in Wisconsin (had under 20k original miles on it) - every single hose was rotten with age and just about everything was replaced on the car in that sense to get it to run - fuel lines had just about disintegrated (turning the FP on figured that out real quick)
- Anyway - under the rear seats was a giant horde of rat S*^% and two areas showed where the rats had eaten the foam... I only found this later when I replaced the useless rear seats for a custom carpeted box I made for a cd changer - and amp and speakers... looked much better that way with two seats.... so.... IF Vettes had rear seats I suppose that could be another place they would live - perhaps they are living in the boxes under the carpeting behind the seats...BEWARE
- Anyway - under the rear seats was a giant horde of rat S*^% and two areas showed where the rats had eaten the foam... I only found this later when I replaced the useless rear seats for a custom carpeted box I made for a cd changer - and amp and speakers... looked much better that way with two seats.... so.... IF Vettes had rear seats I suppose that could be another place they would live - perhaps they are living in the boxes under the carpeting behind the seats...BEWARE
Last edited by 4REGT4; May 21, 2006 at 07:25 PM.
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 1,001
Likes: 1
From: sd
Dryer sheets will alleviate your problem. No kidding! $1.49 dryer sheets from Wal-mart and you are good to go. Rodents HATE them! I stored my car for 3 winters in a barn in the middle of a field here in South Dakota and never had any problems with mice. Dryer sheets on the engine, in the exhaust, and all over the interior of the car. Every year I put my battery back in and drive out of the field with no problems. Bait and traps don't work and why on God's green earth would you put bait in your car is beyond me? I think there are some other simple ways to get rid of them too but dryer sheets have always worked for me.
Burning Brakes
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 1,019
Likes: 1
From: Weymouth Dorset
Same problem
Over the last winter they managed to get into my 90 and did a lot of damage , they even unthreaded a tape that was inside the center console and pulled it up past the shifter to behind the glovebox $&*"ing mice
.
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Melting Slicks
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 2,753
Likes: 15
From: backwoods upstate ny
Originally Posted by AGENT 86
How the hell did they get in the door dryer sheets work till they stop stinking....magnifying mirrors (get them at ladies cosmetics dept) placed around the car also work--apparently little mice are terrified by seeing big mice
Racer
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 417
Likes: 0
That sucks....the rat exterminator told me that a one foot rat and mice can fit through a hole the size of a quarter!!!!
They have the ability to dislocate all of the bones in their bodies. So doesnt surprise me that they can get inside your door or anywhere else in this world. Crazy.
They have the ability to dislocate all of the bones in their bodies. So doesnt surprise me that they can get inside your door or anywhere else in this world. Crazy.
Heel & Toe
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 21
Likes: 0
Yep,
We had a cat, it was an indoor/outdoor cat, we kept her dry food in a room next to the garage were the vette was stored. The car sat for about 4 months during the fall/winter season (upstate NY).
One fine morning I got in the car, started it up, all was well, let it idle a bit, I walked around the back and saw some cat food a few feet behind the car, WHAT THE #!*$. I went back into the car and gunned the accelerator and frig-in cat food was spraying out of the exhast pipes, lots of it!! I was spraying catfood for days!!!! The little bastards were taking food from the next room and storing it inside the mufflers *&%#. This was last year, and to this day I can still smell toasted Cat Chow.
Damn.
Yes COVER UP TAIL PIPES!!!
...Sanche
We had a cat, it was an indoor/outdoor cat, we kept her dry food in a room next to the garage were the vette was stored. The car sat for about 4 months during the fall/winter season (upstate NY).
One fine morning I got in the car, started it up, all was well, let it idle a bit, I walked around the back and saw some cat food a few feet behind the car, WHAT THE #!*$. I went back into the car and gunned the accelerator and frig-in cat food was spraying out of the exhast pipes, lots of it!! I was spraying catfood for days!!!! The little bastards were taking food from the next room and storing it inside the mufflers *&%#. This was last year, and to this day I can still smell toasted Cat Chow.
Damn.
Yes COVER UP TAIL PIPES!!!
...Sanche