[supremeBaleno]

Originally Posted by planet_rocker

@SB - i am sure you didnt have to go through this: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/727615-post586.html but then - play safe man

You are right. But I did not have the cigarette when I was checking the engine bay.

Also, since the basement did not have enough lighting (for the MASS guy to do his job), my colleague pushed the car to where there was light, which happened to be the smoking area of our building. So, the car is there surrounded by people smoking.

BTW, cost him 350 bucks.

[rranjith_kum]

Originally Posted by manaa45

we used to advise the customer to buy napthalene cubes and tie them to all the major wires, hoses by putting them in nets.

hyundai dealership in coimbatore once advised me to use mortein rat cakes ...

i too had got affected by rat once in my santro it bit all my wires if i remember i even took the photo of the case ...
will post picture of that soon

EDIT : pic 1 :
pic2 :


this why rats are my best friends

[DriverR]

Ahhh Rats... they chewed off some tube (coolent? don't remember) in my parent's aveo which led to overheating and smoke spewing from the engine bay. Gave my folks quite a scare, as it happened it the middle of the road. The Chevy guys came and identified the problem immediately and fixed it pretty quick.

[aNiLdEv]

I was also victimised by this small creature once. Lost precious time and of course money. The actual repair charge was only a mere 50 or 60 rupees. But the total bill amount exceeded 1000 bucks, thanks to exorbitant toeing charges.

[Jaggu]

RATS!! Mortien cake!! Regular supply of it.

While on the topic, my colleagues palio busted its battery and he got electrician with spare battery and started cranking. Car wont budge, i was standing and watching.

I offered help just before the spare battery was about to give away, and it cranked in first go. Any guesses???

Ok i am also guessing, but i guess this is what i did different.

I waited for ignition to run for few secs without cranking, if i remember correct, waited for the fuel pump wrr to stop also. Once the sound stopped (fuel line pressurised) car just cranked in one go

[nitroxx]

Oh RATS!!! Well, its happened a few times with my swift at home, they had chewed on my windscreen washer pipe a couple of times and once on the spark wire. Funny though I have my honda parked in the same zone and they dont mess around? Maybe they like Maruti alot.

[Absar]

Originally Posted by supremeBaleno

Yes, a rat chewed away both the fuel line and the cable that gives input to the fuel gauge. So, no fuel to the engine, which is why it wont start. And no indication of fuel-in-the-tank on the fuel gauge.

Actually the mechanic said the rat was still around and only jumped out when he started checking the piping/cabling from the fuel tank.

LOL! Nice humor here. Our factory OMNI suffered ratbite too in the fuel lines recently and it took a long time to figure out that (not by me, the mechanic)

But I'm learning a new thing, rats can bite through the fuel gauge signal wire.

cya
A

[carlover98]

I heard about a similar incident regarding a dog biting away a wire of a Mercedes and then this wire had to be brought from Germany which cost the owner 40 or 50K.

See what a small dog can do to a mighty beast.

[Jaggu]

Originally Posted by nitroxx

Oh RATS!!! Well, its happened a few times with my swift at home, they had chewed on my windscreen washer pipe a couple of times and once on the spark wire. Funny though I have my honda parked in the same zone and they dont mess around? Maybe they like Maruti alot.

In my case its the other way around <Touches wood>, ate the Crv's wiper wash fluid, built home inside the car and left the swifts alone. Luckily no major costs till now <holding on to wood>

I gather it has more to do with the temperature, which ever car is more comfy, especially in the winter.

[raveesh_k]

Hi all,

Today when I took out my car to go to work in the morning, the first thing my wife complained about as soon as I drove a kilometer was that she could smell petrol. I did not pay much heed to it but after driving for a kilometer more I just looked into the rear view and I was shocked with what I saw - there was a trail of a thin dark patch that my car was leaving behind. I steered the car left and right to make sure the pattern followed suit before confirming that yes, it was indeed something from my car that was leaking.

I stopped the car immediately on the side and stepped out. Yes it was indeed petrol that was leaking from underneath. Bearing in mind the low ground clearance of i20 the first thing that hit my mind was that the petrol tank must have bottomed out several times and over a period of time, it gave in. But looking underneath, what I saw was, the petrol was spraying out like from a shower from a bent in the fuel hose pipe away from the petrol tank toward the engine chamber. Rightly, as soon as I switched off the ignition the shower of petrol stopped and was reduced to mere drops of fuel leakage.

Because I was in the middle of nowhere then, I did a 'bold' step which I would not recommend to anyone. I started the ignition again and drove another 300 meters to park in front of an apartment complex whose address could be easily given to any assistance that I could possibly get.

[Need your advise on what could be the next steps in case you in no mans land and you end up in a situation like this. How safe is it to start the ignition?]

Next I called up the Hyundai helpline and they assisted me with arranging a tow truck to the nearest service station (Trident Hyundai, Hosur Road) in the next one hour. He did turn up on time and I made a move to my work. The vehicle was dropped to the service station soon after it was towed but as expected I had to follow up several times to get some assigned to my car. It was eventually after 5 hours after it was towed away (it being a weekday) that the supervisor called me to inform that it was a - Rat bite!

In the meanwhile when I reached work, everyone expressed their seriousness towards the issue of fuel pipe leaking like the way it was. After hearing all the opinions, I was sort of taken aback when the supervisor informed me of the rat bite being the cause. I know rodents are a threat, but of all - the fuel pipe? To that the supervisor explained me that in i20 there is a small part in the hose bent towards the engine compartment that has rubber exposed, which was the target area for the rodent.

He advised me a permanent fix by putting a wire mesh around that piece to which I readily agreed thinking it should have been a part of standard factory fixture if there was even an inch of possibility of such a case arising.

Anyhow the replacement was done with some 950 rupees for the hose pipe and 250 rupees for the wire mesh. They delivered the car after 24 hours (this again I was not too happy about, considering that they had the spare part with them).

I will be posting the pictures of the bill and the rat bitten hose pipe soon so that you know what it looked like.

I am glad in a way that this did not turn into anything ugly for me. Till next time then.

Cheers!

[FlatOut]

Running my cars on vegetable oil means that when temperatures drop below zero and rodents get very hungry, my cars can be a target unless in use every week. They show extraordinary intelligence. But my Terriers enjoy the challenge.

[svaid]

Hi Folks
Posting on behalf of a friend. Can you help with the query below?

<snip>
I have a Fiat Palio 1.2 ELPS (2001 model). The rubber fuel pipe is damaged (apparently by rats). As usual FASS doesn't have spares for the same.

I tried 99rpm.com and they don't have the part either. I wrote to them and they said they will try to procure the same. But they wanted to know exactly the part to procure.

My car knowledge is extremely limited and from what I can see the rubber pipe is a black colored 18inch 'U' shaped hose connected at one end to the metal petrol pipe coming from under the car (I assume it is coming from the petrol tank after the fuel pump) and the other side is connected to another pipe like cylinder but much thicker and stronger that has the following markings - CB 154 Magneti Marelli PA 66 GF 35 2641 1544-B

A picture is attached with the damage marked.

I'd like to know the following -
1. What is this 18inch 'U' shaped rubber pipe called?
2. Is this rubber pipe connected to the "injector rail" on the engine
side? (99rpm's question to me)

Any Fiat Palio owners/experts out there who can help?
</snip>

[nkrishnap]

This is the mail fuel pipe coming from the fuel tank. My palio too had the same issue of pipe rupturing. Got that fixed from FASS a couple of months back.

Will dig out the bill and give you the part number.

Note: This will be single unit and will cost around 2300 bucks.

[nkrishnap]

The part number is for the fuel pipe is 46811284. Fiat Authorized service center or 99 rpm should be able to source it for you. It took me 2 weeks to source this after getting hold of the part number.

[svaid]

@nkrishnap: Thanks!

The damage to the pipe was only in the outer rubber portion - the
inner hard fibre (?) portion was intact. I covered the damaged rubber
portion with mseal yesterday to let it cure overnight and this morning I
took a short 20 minute drive - no leak was observed.

BTW 99rpm did manage to locate the part and have listed it on their website.

Does anyone have any experience buying spare parts from 99rpm?