Gekko

A while back I opened my hood and was shocked to see that some animal had decided to use my engine bay insulation as nest material.




I didn't think anything of it until yesterday when I took out my cabin air filter and found this:




When I reached up in the blower housing I pulled out this mess:



Needless to say I'm disgusted that I've been breathing air from that thing.

Out of curiosity, how would an animal get in the top of the blower housing? On most cars I've worked on the only path in is through the vents in the cowl which are way too small for any critters to pass through.

RIWWP

iTrader: (2)

The story, paired with your username, is making me chuckle a bit


Yes, it's not all that unheard of. If you've ever actually seen/picked up a field mouse, you will see that they are actually really thin under the fur. They can definitely fit.

rickeo

iTrader: (1)

I would be ******* horrified.

Get new filters in there ASAP.

mazdaspeed306

I work in a shop and you'd be surprised were they can go and what they'll eat I see it all the time, iv'e pulled many blower motors that burnt out because they got stuck in there.

godesshunter

Holy 7,462 mega pixel camera

Wingznut

iTrader: (1)

Same here, I've seen it many times. Often you see them hoard pet food in the heater box or air cleaner box too.

A mouse needs less than a dime's worth of space to find it's way into places you would rather it not be.

monchie

Just clean it up and put it back...jk, lol

Gekko

I keep my car in a garage and have never seen any evidence of mice in there. I think this happened while I was parked at my parent's house outside for about a week.

I was pissed that they had the ***** to eat part of my car, but hoarding all that crap inside my blower motor took it to the next level!

Huey52

iTrader: (2)

It's a common rodent nesting area. I had similar once when parked outside/covered and too much snow for the local cats to patrol. They actually brought some firewall fibers into the exterior side of the CAF in my case.

Socr8tes

Sorry, man. Same thing happened to me. Once they get in there, it's "marked" and they'll just keep coming. Putting the 8 in the garage was the only way I could stop it.

cyclone1208

iTrader: (5)

no joke i had a squirells nest in mine with a baby squirell in my engine bay...i have a thread in here somewhere

pistonhater

/\

sweetfa

I had a rat in mine when I bought it, think it was in storage for a while - Distroyed the filters and took weeks to get all the insulation out of the aircon system.

Bob Sagget

I had the same thing happen while my car was parked in our shop while i was serving in england for 2 years, luckily my old man is a carpenter and so the mice hoarded a ton of house insulation we had left over from a job. I started my car and turned on the heat and well the smell gave it away immediatetly

Gekko

I can't believe this has happened to so many other people. I would really like to know what path a mouse or other rodent would take to get in the blower housing. I haven't taken apart my RX-8 but on my older Integra the cowl pretty much seals up the entrance to the blower inlet. There is a drain path on the driver's side but it is really small. I'm assuming there is some type of similar drain on the 8 that the bastard mouse was able to climb up.

Sorry about the picture size. My computer was being weird and wouldn't let me save them once I reduced the size.

RIWWP

iTrader: (2)

Every single car out there has the potential for wildlife issues. The very nature of car design means there are warm nooks ideally suited for shelter when the car isn't running. Be it air boxes, fenders, tailpipes, trunks, grills, etc...

comebackqid

iTrader: (13)

man you guys are scaring the crap out of me! my car has been outside since I moved from GA, to CA and I live near a field but there are plenty of cats out here at night that make my sensors lights go off all night long so hopefully I'm safe I'm going to check today though it's been pretty cold lately so hopefully they are shacking up else where.

Gripen

iTrader: (2)

I've got this problem, also. I do keep my car in the garage, but because I live out in the sticks they still find a way in. Had to order new cabin filters because they pissed on the ones in there.

Vorsanss

Had this happen to me a few months ago. I was a the Mazda dealer for my oil change and during their full inspections they found it. only $200 of damage because they it chewed through a few things. My insurance covered it though. When i came home i went to pull in the garage and found a dead mouse on the floor. Engine got him so i thought my problem was solved.

Well just this i started my 8 and got the tire gauge out to check the pressers (Colder weather) and i watched another one jump out of my front grill........ THIS MEANS WAR!!!

I didn't find anything under the hood but i am heading to the dealer to have to look everything over.

I am stopping on the way home to pick up Peppermint Oil, dryer sheets, mothballs, sticky traps, and anything that will take care of them and i am covering my garage floor.

Also found they if you keep a light on under your car it will deter them because they don't feel safe in the light and prefer the darkness.

Vorsanss

Any suggestions on how to get rid of them? What worked for you??

9krpmrx8

iTrader: (46)

Move to Texas where rodents stay outside in the warm sun

nycgps

iTrader: (1)

Put rat traps Around the car, with the right bait, you will get it all within a week. when I mean traps, I mean those ones that will give it an instant death kind, not glue kind, it's useless.

do not put cheese, it does not work, put a piece of cooked meat works MUCH better,even a slice of an apple works better than cheese.

j9fd3s

i bought my car about 600 miles from home, and i pulled over and popped out the filters and mine showed signs of habitation too.

of course 3 weeks later, a thorough cleaning is showing that the human was much dirtier of the two animals!

i'd post pics but i'm eating

Jims5543

iTrader: (1)

I used to keep my Porsche in my Garage up in North Carolina, I had mice problems, IN the garage.

I ended up placing a metric F*ckton of traps all over the garage, and I was horrified when I returned 2 weeks later to find 9 dead mice in them.

was told to put moth ***** where they want to go, they hate the smell, since they were digging the trunk so much I did it and that plus the mass killing, seemed to stop the problem.

Vorsanss

When i was placing Dryer sheets in the garage i watched one keep running away from where i had placed them. I also used a small about of Peppermint Extract and dabbed it on the insulation next to the tower strut bar where they kept chewing at the insulation.

I didn't find anything in the snap traps yet but i also put out two poison traps.