Team-BHP - Rat damage to cars | Protection, solutions & advice

- - Rat damage to cars | Protection, solutions & advice (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/technical-stuff/2729-rat-damage-cars-protection-solutions-advice-53.html)

Rat problems again!

My Sunny failed to start today morning. Opened the bonnet to find the primary pump on the upper-right corner bitten and mauled by rats. Pressing the pump leaks diesel out.

Thanks to the extended warranty, the car was towed free to ASC. The component was replaced and I was charged Rs. 2000. As with all ASC's - the entire primary pump assembly was changed, eventhough the tubes were intact and only the baloon like component was mauled.

I was wondering, if meshing out the under compartment stop rats ? Has anyone tried it in Sunny ?

Quote:

Originally Posted by girimajiananth (Post 2954965)

A service advisor at Nandi Toyota in Bangalore told me that a rat repellant spray is available for 600/- .

Dont know how far this is genuine , havent tried it yet . Any team-bhp members tried it ?

I did buy it - not from Nandi toyota. The one I got was RatGuard from metafin solutions. They charged 800/- for a 550ml bottle. Not sure if Nandi is giving the same thing.

My friend's Santro engine bay was a rats paradise, after using this spray there has not been any problem for 3 months now.

Unfortunately, in my Innova and Santro, rats keep visiting just after 2-3 days of spraying.

Now I have gone back to my proven diesel spray process. This works great, just that i need to pour couple of litres of diesel-water mix every 2-3 days inside the engine bay!

Rats chewed up half of the air filter on my palio. Car was idling close to 5k and was not decelerating. It even entered the cabin and chew up some upholstery on rear seat.

A friend's Ford Ikon Flair in Chennai is down due to rat menace. Car was not getting started up, though lights were all working fine. It had to be towed to authorized service station. He is sitting on estimate of 25K for parts and 5K on labor. Any idea if there would be substantial reduction in cost if done to third party service center ?

Quote:

Originally Posted by GTO (Post 2903093)

- Complained to the BMC to take necessary steps in my building
- Brought on Pest Control India with their rat treatment. They are going to treat the entire building
- Plugging all holes, soil etc
- Rat traps across the building (cage and the sticky sheet).

Tried Rat traps with the sticky sheet type with some pieces of biscuit on it. Rats have become smart at avoiding these traps. They had eaten the biscuits and run away and I was left with only shaking my head in disbelief :uncontrol

Keeping just 2 napthalene balls in my engine compartment solved it for me in my Superb. Now I don't see any rat poo. I had also kept Ratkill on top of the engine but it never got eaten.

After 3 bags of naphthalene balls, I still had to part with close to 2000rs for re-wiring for my right indicator, thw wires of which were eaten for lunch or dinner by his highness rats!!

And then a genius told me to correct my parking style such that the engine bay is away from the walls. It worked like a charm. Been about 6 months since and going strong!

Oh dear, a different kind of rodent problem!

We have one or more "munjeli" (this is what my wife calls them in Tamil: it is bigger than a mouse, much smaller than a rat, and has a pointed nose) living behind the EB distribution board which is enclosed in a cupboard.

We rather like these creatures, and don't think that they do any harm. If I can "evict" them then I can close up the hole they are getting in and out through. We don't want to kill them, but want to get them out of that cupboard.

Hope they won't go to the car to live!

Quote:

Originally Posted by samm (Post 2962919)

This works great, just that i need to pour couple of litres of diesel-water mix every 2-3 days inside the engine bay!

Won't this lead to potential fire hazard? Diesel layer on a hot engine bay just needs a small trigger.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dkaile (Post 2964506)

I had also kept Ratkill on top of the engine but it never got eaten.

Mortein RatKill is Wax based - NEVER keep it in the engine bay when HOT - it melts and is difficult to get rid of the mess - Tried this in my Car and suffered

Quote:

Originally Posted by planet_rocker (Post 2964601)

Mortein RatKill is Wax based - NEVER keep it in the engine bay when HOT - it melts and is difficult to get rid of the mess - Tried this in my Car and suffered

Obviously mate. This and the napthalene balls were kept only at night and removed in the morning/next time of drive.

Quote:

Originally Posted by planet_rocker (Post 2964613)

I kept it over night and it was yaaak! in the morning!

Maybe you didn't wait for the engine to cool down. These are some elementary precautions to take while using any extraneous product.

No, i didn't wait - when i held it in my hand, i thought it was made of stone :p

Now i don't use RatKill instead use WD40 on the cotton wool and apply on metal parts. helps! ;)

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techni...ml#post1722250

Quote:

Originally Posted by Guna (Post 2964597)

Won't this lead to potential fire hazard? Diesel layer on a hot engine bay just needs a small trigger.

First of all, the mix ratio is very lean - about 100 ml in 5-6 litres. The objective is to keep the rat odor away so that they won't come back, or lose their way.

Also, this mix is not put on the engine. Basically I'm just doing a regular engine bay wash. Have been doing this for many months, no issues so far.