Engine Bay Insulation Damage
 

After moving to a slightly more forested area, I was treated to this nice surprise when checking my oil level today. I don't know what animal caused it but rest assured that there's going be quite a bit of rat poison around my carport from now on :yumyum:.


https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...c3fc227f16.jpg
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...02b7391ece.jpg
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...c0285d5260.jpg


Haven't decided if I want to remove the insulation all together or try to order some replacement pieces. Seems like installing the insulation directly behind the engine could be a pain.

Anyway I was wondering if anyone could think of anything in particular that I should check following suspected rodent damage?
I usually monitor my temps and none of them appear to have changed for the worse. My fluids also all appear to be at their same levels.

You can just remove it, but ideally it might be better to replace the hood piece. The firewall & fender pieces aren’t that big of a deal and a lot harder to replace.

the question is, where did they put all that? You might better pull the glovebox and vent filter to make sure they didn’t get in there. It’s happened before.

Ya that happened to me a couple years ago. Cabin filter was packed.

Valid question, funnily enough I actually uncovered a massive insulation nest in my cabin air filter compartment about a year ago but that was when all the insulation appeared to be undamaged. I made sure to check the engine's air filter, thankfully they didn't get my K&N.

Guess I'll post if I find anything interesting. Isn't the hood portion just for fire suppression and noise reduction? Or is it actually insulating the paint from dangerous amounts of heat?

I had actually removed the hood insulation at one point to access a minor dent and drove with it off for a week or so. Hopefully doing so long-term won't hurt anything.

Well it could get fairly hot and then if rain, water, etc. got on it could water spot badly. Otherwise it wouldn’t be that big of a deal.

Fair point. A majority of the material hasn't been removed, yet, so I'm sure I could just leave it I'm just not keen on having that be what I see every time I open the hood. May see if there's an economic solution for the meantime, maybe a high-temp tape? I'll probably just see if a pick a part junkyard near me has an RX-8 and pay them a visit.