[R2D2]

Originally Posted by ramnaresh_2000

Cleaned the engine bay and placed glue mats and traps re-loaded and placed near all tires. This is getting out of control

Use peanut butter or cheese. The little pests can't resist either one of these.

They squeal loudly when trapped and even louder when you approach the glue trap to take em away.

I've caught and eliminated about half a dozen rodents in my home. As for my car's engine bay; inside live a shrew and kittens at random intervals. They are pretty effective rodent repellents.

PS: Also place a few glue traps under the car near the tyres and the sump.

[arnav17]

Hey guys,

Posting this on behalf of a friend who owns a Honda WR-V. It is the facelift model of the WR-V bought in 2021 with a Diesel Engine. Now the story goes as follows.

They were coming back from a function and were driving near the Sompura exit (Bangalore) when the vehicle speed suddenly dropped and it refused to go on further. Minutes before this, the check engine light had also come on.



Upon opening the hood, they found that the wire that links the turbocharger to the ECU has been bitten apart by Rats.



Due to this reason The Turbocharger was not able to connect to the engine and it did not know when to kick in. After this they faced a series of problems, including :

1) ABS stopped working.
2) Dual tone horn reduced to only 1.
3) Vehicle went into Limp Mode (Won't cross 60km/h)

Upon sending the details and pictures to Dakshin Honda Bengaluru, they quoted 20k for all the repairs. Is this a fair price for a problem like this?

Please do give your valuable suggestions.

Thanks in Advance.

[ecoboost Chenna]

I had many experiences of rat bites with the cars I owned Hyundai i10, Hyundai Xcent and my present Ecosport. Tried too many ways to solve this issue but failed miserably.
Finally came up with a risky methodology, but has been effective with my ecosport for more than three years. The rats are pretty sensitive to scents and obviously they retrack to the bonnet by their urine scents. So i thought(investigating mind) If I can stop those scents would prevent the rats entry to my car and it worked.
I bought a couple of Odonil freshner. refer attached snap and experimented with different flavours and the rats did not like the lavender fragrance and it stopped coming inside. The scent of lavender was so intense that it could not identify its own scent and it prevented the entry of rats.
A word of caution: Please remember to remove those before you start the engine.
I always keep a note sticked of in steering to remind me removing the Freshner.

It became a habit and it helps me when I dont use my car for a week or more and also particularly during the rainy season.

Please dont try if you have bad memory

[shankar.balan]

More on Nasty Rodents and the damages they cause.

Well on 4th Jan I was at Madhu’s and as I have posted earlier I saw that OTO Rat Guard Can. I fixed that in the Cooper engine bay and it seemed to work.

I had taken the car for a drive just to give it a run. I had also gotten it washed (outside) and had made them use the pressure air hose in the engine bay just to clear the dust etc. This was all on 19 Feb. That rat guard can which was fastened with plastic ties must have fallen off and I didnt notice. Other than this run Ive just used this car locally for one short grocery run in the early morning and once or twice for golf. (The AC and everything else was working fine at the time.)
Well two nights ago I am sure that I had a rodent visit and this nasty little beast has actually bitten through my AC Compressor connecting wire. Again I did not notice this because I havent been using the car much.
Yesterday afternoon when I was taking the dog out she was all excited and sniffing under the car and all over the place jumping up and down. So I got a bit concerned knowing only a rodent can get her all hyped up like that and I opened the bonnet and noticed the rat guard had fallen off. I started and reversed the car and saw rat droppings under the car. So it must have gotten in on the previous night and done the damage. I also see there are a couple of places where the beast has gnawed some of the plastic bits but there is no real damage except for the teeth marks. Anyway I decided on the spot to put the ultrasound anti rat mechanism and I did this yesterday evening at Tyre Empire HSR as I have posted yesterday. I never switched on the AC in this car these last several days and hence didnt notice that it wasnt working. It is only today that I noticed the AC compressor wasnt coming on when the AC was switched on. This is because around 10am the sun was sharp and I was out looking for a new battery (70AH) as required for this car. My battery is an Exide. The previous owner had put this battery in 2018. It is a 65AH battery. Now that it is 4 and a half years old I notice that one cell has weakened so it is time to change it. So the local Exide chaps (there are two shops here in the neighbourhood which I know) have the 70AH battery and I shall be getting one fitted shortly. The Exide 70AH costs 10,000/- and they are giving me 2000/- off for my old battery in exchange so the nett cost will be 8000/-. However Im still toying with getting a Varta 70 AH Silver Dynamic AGM E39 which is an OEM/ OES battery for BMW cars.This can be got from Delhi from the Authorised Importer. They will reach it to me in 6 days. It costs 26000/- including shipping.
But I digress.
So then since the first and main rodent caused irritant was the AC, I went along in the afternoon today and met a local AC mechanic - SMT AC mechanic near the HSR Bus Station. We checked the fuses in the engine bay and in the cabin and all was fine. Then jacked up the car and undid the fender lining and checked the connections. Sure enough there was one little wire which was cut. It was a relatively simple matter to re-fix it. And tape it up nicely. And then we drained and refilled the Refrigerant Gas R1234A. I chose to do that simply because I havent serviced the AC ever since I got this car 3.5 years ago. And I dont know if the previous owner bothered getting this done.
Anyway, long story short, now the AC is perfectly fine and this SMT AC Servicing person Syed is a very good option here locally. He has worked in Saudi Arabia in the past and is pretty familiar with German cars. He knows his stuff. His diagnosis was spot on and took no time at all. He has the requisite expertise and tools and gas measuring and refilling equipment and his charges seem perfectly fair and equitable. (Less than Rs 3500/- for the repair work, labour, AC Gas checking, draining, refilling etc). I dont know the going rates for this generally but I do know that Navnit BMW would have charged much more and even a normal FNG may have charged more than this. So Im fine with it. The labourer is worthy of his hire, is the way I look at it. One should respect expertise and be prepared to pay happily for it.
Thankfully now I ve taken the plunge and fortified all my cars with this anti rat ultrasound strobe light unit. I think this is very likely the only solution which keeps these beasts at bay. Perhaps to be doubly sure one can liberally spray Bitter Rat Spray too.

[R2D2]

Originally Posted by arnav17

Upon sending the details and pictures to Dakshin Honda Bengaluru, they quoted 20k for all the repairs. Is this a fair price for a problem like this?

An ASC will always recommend replacing the affected harness to ensure fool proof operation in the long term.

Depeending on how the wires have been cut you could buy some wires of the same colour and gauge (of say 9-12" lengths) and if you're comfortable using a soldering iron just solder the new wire ends to the harness and the connector following the colour code at all times. Use a shrink wrap to insulate the assembly at the new soldered joints and then wrap it with insulation tape or a black flexible conduit to make it look like the factory harness. An auto electrician could do this. This is a cheap method and does not offer guarantees of normal behavior or performance. But you can take a chance.

There's a thread on here where a Toyota owner did a DIY to an engine harness chewed by rats.

[mukeshannamalai]

Sad day today, while.i was driving to my office i noticed Start Stop malfunction warning message, after i reached home in the evening , opened the bonnet and found damaged wires, these wires are from battery and wires cut.close to the couplers, service center gave the estimate of 80K , yes thats the quote from Nandi Toyota, they are claiming that these are not single wires and it comes as full set. Total frustration, just.8 months old Fortuner.

[ramnaresh_2000]

This is the 3rd time rats chewed off my father's AC wiring in his Creta. He came up with this DIY solution. I am not sure if this is effective or dangerous. Experts do pitch in.

[Gansan]

Originally Posted by Gansan

As of now I am keeping 5-6 good sized napthalene balls inside the bonnet at a few locations. We should allow the engine to cool down before placing them and remember to remove before taking the car out. No trouble for quite some time so far.

A few days ago I found a couple of the napthalene balls nibbled at! Fortunately there was no other sign of the visitation.

I am back to raw tobacco leaves again.

A friend told me he sends his car for a water wash every month and he doesn't have the problem now. Probably due to the smell of the polish or diesel or whatever they spray inside the bonnet after they finish. The tyre polish they apply on the tyres may also be a deterrent.

[vinay kamath]

One could, under the hood, try tying a little bunch of HOGE-SOPPU, a humble dry leaf, that could be bought from stores selling Agarbathi packets, and other pooja items, etc in Bangalore. Works well, as rats dislike their smell and stay away. A bunch costs about Rs 20-30. Good luck!

[Gansan]

^^ What is it called in English? It must be be common in other states too.

[whitewing]

Originally Posted by Gansan

^^ What is it called in English? It must be be common in other states too.

AFIK this is the colloquial name for tobacco leaves.

[shankar.balan]

Last week for all the three cars, I did a Bitter Anti Rat Spray Treatment to the engine bay and let it dry naturally. This is an additonal protection to the CarCat Ultrasound and strobe light attachment.
Today just now I have procured this excellent concentrated liquid pesticide Nimbecidine. Made by T Stanes and Co. This is an agricultural pesticide and my friend suggested it because it works well for him in Coorg. I remember long years ago my Dad used to have this sprayed liberally on the rose bushes in particular in our garden to prevent attack by Aphids.
Now I believe the Rodents also cant stand this because it is bitter to the taste. And being primarily organic neem based in nature it wont harm anyone or any other animal.
So I have diluted about 1/3rd of the Nimbecidine bottle contents in water and using a normal garden sprayer I have liberally bespattered my cars engine bays and the wires and things with this. Also sprayed liberally in the wheel wells, soaking the fender linings etc to deter the rodents from nosing around.
The vehicles are likely idle for a few days under cover so Im thinking this will be a good additional deterrent to the nasty little rats.
I believe the Bitter Plus Nimbecidine Double Whammy will help in this.
Oh I forgot. The Ultrasound and Strobe light mechanism makes it a triple whammy against these rodents in each car.

[tharian]

The Bitter rat repellent spray did not work in my car. I have been on the 3M rat repellent spray for a while now which is working. Keep spraying once every couple of weeks only on wires and pipes. They are attracted to just few cars out of many, probably because of the car not moving much or the rat droppings left in it.
There is a 72' FIAT 1100D which has more than enough nook or cranny in the engine bay for these rodents to be cozy or use as a toilet and I know they keep entering it too every night. Since there are no complicated wiring in it, I clean the bay once a month with a high pressure air blower and the amount of rat dropping that fall on the ground is mind blowing. It shows the infestation. The stink is what is unbearable at times.
On my dads WagonR and my car, they enter but thankfully haven't destroyed anything yet. I proactively spray the 3M repellent liberally and leave rat poison paste or biscuits too once a while too. The poison works if the numbers are less.

[arpan_spark]

Originally Posted by GutsyGibbon

I have the mint flavored spray as well. I spray it on a bag of sawdust and tie it inside. The smell stays good for a month. You can smell absolutely nothing after a month. You need something powerful to keep them away.

Originally Posted by dksv

I got the Bardahl rodent repellent sprayed inside the engine bay of my Seltos a few days ago. MRP is Rs.1149 and the dealer says only half can would do per application.

The car smells like fresh mint from outside.
So far so good. Let me see how it turns out.

Attachment 2022688

How were your experiences regarding effectivity of the Bardahl spray?

[sumeethaldankar]

Meanwhile..

In a first, the police in Badaun have filed a chargesheet against a 30-year-old potter, accused of allegedly killing a rat by tying it to a brick and drowning it in a drain.

The accused, Manoj Kumar, a potter who lives in a small house with his three daughters, was booked in 2022 under IPC Section 429 (mischief by killing or maiming cattle) along with Section 11 (1) of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act.

https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/na...rowning-496309