[Sree73]

Originally Posted by Jagann13

Unfortunately rat took out the wire connection to a spark plug. Only 2 out of the three cylinders are functional as of now. I will visit a service centre tomorrow. Hoping for a low bill amount.

Sad to see the wire cutting. Time being, you can join the wires if the length / location of the cut permits. Disconnect the battery before trying to join. Can use a sleeve above the joint and a good quality insulation tape. (This is a temporary measure till it's replaced.)

[Jagann13]

Originally Posted by Sree73

Sad to see the wire cutting. Time being, you can join the wires if the length / location of the cut permits. Disconnect the battery before trying to join. Can use a sleeve above the joint and a good quality insulation tape. (This is a temporary measure till it's replaced.)

Thanks for the tip. But we are short on length. The rat should have eaten a bit or the connection would have been tight and close together.

I think that a wire connection will be good permanently rather than changing the complete wire harness because it is the only chewed up area and nothing other than this is touched. I will update once everything is back.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Ouch, that looks nasty. Back in the old days a spark-plug lead would have been cheap: don't know about now?

[donzerus]

Originally Posted by Chetan_Rao

3 month review of Varna Surakha ultrasonic repellent device:

I've not had a single rat-related issue with my car since i started using the ultrasonic repellent device in early Jan 2014. I drive the car at least once every 3 days now (driving it to office once a week takes care of mid-week running; weekend driving as usual), and haven't had any battery issues after the initial days when I left the device connected for a week straight.

All in all, happy with the device and worth the money invested.

How's the device holding up? Have you had any rat intrusions in your car after this device was installed?

[Chetan_Rao]

Originally Posted by donzerus

How's the device holding up? Have you had any rat intrusions in your car after this device was installed?

I gave that device away when I sold the car as I'd planned to go car-less for a while. The device worked fine until I had it (year+).

The only downside of course was the battery drain during extended parking (week+). No issues for a regularly-driven car.

[Marauder]

Had to replace the whole wiring of the engine bay on my Honda Jazz last month when rat(s) chewed off the wires near the coupler connecting it to the ECU, which cost me around 16k.

Now I have to replace crank shaft wire which has been chewed off by rats. It's going to cost me Rs 1600. Also, I have been driving the car everyday for the past 2 weeks, so the recent wire damage is a bit surprising.

The Honda service center guys are suggesting Phenyl balls to avoid the menace. They are suggesting that I avoid anything that kills the rats.

Looking through this thread, it seems that there is no foolproof solution to the menace. I live in a housing complex with fixed parking slots and I don't have the option to switch or change parking slots.

help

[Cedia2013]

There is a garage in NEYVELI-Tamil Nadu which fixes the rat issue sealing the potential rat entry points with a steel mesh as shown in the picture. Rats had damaged my entire car wiring, for which I had to spend around 85k in Mitsubishi service centre recently.
Finally I hope this works for me.
The menace!


The entry point is the fresh air intake(mitsubishi cedia)


Steel mesh in place still allowing fresh air intake functional


Thank you. If anybody need the address, reach me through godvin(.)dr(@)gmail(.)com

NB: The garage is mainly for car AC and rat related issues. Other works are secondary to them. Work is satisfactory.

[Jaggu]

Nicely executed work. Maruti workshops used to offer this very long back in Bangalore, maybe such a mesh should be mandatory for all cars sold in India lol.

[CowlFlap]

I had rat problems in my car a few years ago, and IMO there's no chemical or even sonic treatment/solutions that can prevent the damage. The only way to reduce rat problem is to ensure people in your locality (area where you park) stop throwing rubbish or food remains. This one aspect alone has virtually stopped rats from causing damage (up until now, fingers crossed) to my car. In my observation, rats tend to pick up these food remains and eat them inside the car's engine bay. Then they start chewing on other things, perhaps because they give a bit of the food smell from stuff they themselves carried inside!

[daredemon]

Finally i think i have managed to get rid of the Rat Menace in my car.
Short History:
My car (Honda Jazz) usually lies idle for long periods when i go offshore. Last time the rat had chewed some rubber part next to the battery & had just nibbled outer covering of few wires. Thankfully i did not suffer major damage in expenses as the wires were fixed by electrical tape. We tried the Rat Cake & Glue Pad and after that the Rat never came.
This time a smart rat has managed to get inside the car from rear passenger seat belt area by nibbling and making a hole through it. He also cut the seat belt into 2. My father in law has temporary stitched the seat belt firmly & i intend to replace it when i go back on time-off.Attachment 2104545

Attachment 2104546

I told my wife to keep checking the car on daily basis. When she opened the bonnet, the Rat had nibbled & cut one of the wires (i believe it to be of the headlight). I instructed her to keep the rat cakes in places wherever possible inside the bonnet and also the Rat Pad. Next day there was no activity of Rat inside the car, but when the bonnet was opened, she was stunned to see the smartness of this little creature. She found that all the rat cakes have been moved from their places & ended up on top of the battery & also some rat shit around it. I told my wife to clean the area & repeat the process of keeping fresh rat cakes again. After checking the car on 2nd day, the same issue persisted of finding all the rat cakes in one location with shit all around it. Again same procedure was followed for 3rd day and the result was same .

I was getting worried day by day, finally TBHP comes to my rescue & i see a pic posted with nails on the plywood and around the car externally. I have used the same idea of nails on plywood, but instead of keeping the ply outside surrounding the car, i have customised it to cover the below area of the car. This was done keeping in mind that i have an open parking and didnt wanted to take any chance of anyone stepping on the sharp nails by accident and getting hurt. If the rat wants to enter my car, he has to cross a lot of sharp poking nails. Sorry for the long story, please find pictures below




Attachment 2104559

[Visaster]

My beloved Ciaz has taken a hit.

Don’t even know from where this came from.
The other side is already gone. So I assume it is some insulation on top of the wheel arch in the front. I hope it is replaceable.

Fellow ciaz owners, can someone confirm how does this area normally look, with a possible photo. I hope the freaking rat did not drag this whole lot from somewhere else.

What are my options replacing it, I am sure Maruti won’t be selling sponge paddings as replaceable parts.

[cuboid]

Need some help here. 2 days back in the morning my i10 refused to crank. Audio is there, displays are fine but no cranking. On inspection it was found that a severe rat bite damage to the main wiring harness got the electric connection to engine cut off.

The pics are attached. I got the car towed to service center, Advaith Hyundai, today. They are saying whole wiring assembly replacement which is 15000 in parts alone, plus around 10000 in labor.

Any idea if there are any alternative solutions? Or any other place in Bangalore, who specializes in this kind of repairs? I stay near Indiranagar.

[sumeethaldankar]

Originally Posted by cuboid

Need some help here. 2 days back in the morning my i10 refused to crank. Audio is there, displays are fine but no cranking. On inspection it was found that a severe rat bite damage to the main wiring harness got the electric connection to engine cut off.

My insurance company had agreed to cover the damage on my old Honda Civic when rats had bitten the wiring harness. However due to delay in parts I got it done from a garage for 8k. Honda had quoted 30 to 40k via insurance. Kindly check if your insurance will cover else a good garage is the way to go. You can look up team bhp directory for same.
Good luck.

[vidyHyd]

Never expected rats to cause damage to my vehicle. Thanks to times we are in, I did not move my car for a few months and it became a home for rats. Had to take it to the service station to get the chewed wires fixed.

Read through this thread and this what I am doing.

- Keep cooking / puja oil in a Diya and place rat glue pad (I used Hit) in the path to the Diya. I caught a few rats with this process.
- Apply Pepper Mint Oil liberally to the vehicle periodically. Bought it from Naturalis - amazon. The smell is really strong. This is based on the assumption that rats hate strong smells.
- Bought dry Tobacco and strongest Gutka from local Panwala. Mixed the two, put it in a porous cloth and tied to at couple of locations around the engine. We have stray dogs near our house which is a clam residential area. They are quite friendly and normally never bark when my car enters the street. The day I tied the Tobacco they started chasing the car and stopped only after I got down. My guess is that they could pick-up the unfamiliar smell!
- Went around the house to check for any rat holes and covered them with stones.

Key finding is that rats are attracted to oil smell and if we create a diversion by placing oily food a little away from our vehicle that should do the trick.

[mtnrajdeep]

My Ameo has taken a hit twice in as many days due to rats! The rats first chewed through the boost control valve solenoid and this caused the glowplug light to flash and a permanently on engine check light. The service center replaced the solenoid cabling and next day morning we found the wires cut once again.

I immediately ordered Ratol paste and applied it in the engine bay. Now as an after thought I read the ingredient list and found that it contains 3% phosphorus. Has anyone applied Ratol in the engine bay?