Mice like wires!

So, I yesterday, my check engine light went on. Then, shortly thereafter, it appears that the A/C went kaput!

So, I brought it in to the dealership today. Turns out, there was a mouse, or several mice, living in the engine compartment.. :-/

It/they had started to build a nest and everything. Only about $500 to fix it. *sigh*

I think it musta been there before I bought it 3 weeks ago, since I've been having some electrical woes for some time now.

Anyone else experienced this? Know of a way of preventing them from making a home in your engine compartment?

it's probably cause the car was sitting for so long, if u don't let it sit around in like bushes or the garage (if u have mice) for to long, you shouldn't have that problem I don't think, never heard of animals living inside your daily drivers besides cats underneath lol

We probably get them here at the dealership about once a week and its always the same type of vehicles and the same places.

Cavalier/Sunfire - they have a tendency to get into the hvac vent system - makes a truly bloody mess when they get caught in the blower motor - cost avg $320 for cleanup - add $355.00 if they took out the blower motor

Impala - under the engine cover and always chew on the injector harness (typically around the #3 for some reason) - $320.00 for cleanup and a couple of point to point wire repairs - add upto $1200 if they shorted out the harness and injectors.

Express & Astro Vans - right on top of the distributor at the crest of the engine hump
- typically free cause they don't seem to do any damage & we normally find these while doing other work (also typically some of the most elaborate)

Trailblazer - 2wd models only - it uses the wheel and hub assembly for the 4wd but since the shaft is missing - they crawl through the open hole and live inside the wheel cover - typically free cause they don't seem to do any damage & we normally find these while doing other work

Number 1 thing we tell our customers is to move parking spots for at least a week after this happens.

Mice, argh.
My Pickup truck is a daily driver and they still find time at night to build a nest on the intake manifold.

Motorcycle: layed up for the winter, next season I fired it up to a shower of Sunflower seed shells coming out the exhaust.

I've tried moth balls in the driveway. The smell only ends up bothering ME.

I think my truck is an exception so bet if the 'X' is your daily driver you should be OK now that you got them out. Pop the hood a few times a month when the Fall hits again. You will be OK through the Summer

We used to have nasty problems with mice making their home in our snowmobile engine compartments when we stored them for the summer. Throw some tea bags in there and they never came back since. A friend suggested the tea bags beacuse they had mice living in their camper during the winter. They tried the tea bags cause moth balls wouldn't work. Never had a problem again with any kind of rodent.

what kind of tea bags?

Just regular tea bags such as Lipton or whatever. It wasn't anything fancy, just regular tea bags did it.

Hey there! I'm new to the site, but have had a similar experience. I have two cars in my garage I only drive occasionally, to car shows and what not. One day I notice all this black shavings under my corvette. I opened the hood and holy crap....my engine was trashed! Luckily my auto insurance covered it, the repair bill ended up totalling $5,500. They ate the fiberglass flip up headlights, the battery, the master cylinder, AC hoses, the NOS and every frickin wire under there. It had only been 10 days since I last drove the car....they were on a mission. Mine ended up being field rats. I set up rat traps, mouse traps, rat bait and sticky traps. I caught one and it was so big I couldn't believe the rat trap had killed it. I live in a brand new development and just had the house built, so its not like I was in some rat infested house or anything. Now walking thru my garage is like a land mind field. Also I bought some rat repellant and place around the engines of my car while they're sitting...its kind of nasty, but it contains coyote and fox urine and thats suppose to keep rats away. The website I bought it at is www.critter-repellent.com and they have repellants for about everything you can imagine.
Oh yeah....I had the car towed to a Corvette shop for repairs and when the mechanics went to start looking at the car another rat dropped down from the engine bay, apparently it was hiding up in there. They stomped it though.

lol they stomped it, i dunno why but the way that was said is funny

Oil of mint is supposed to repel them.
I had the 240V wires and fittings in my central air eaten up once. It was replaced under warranty. Next time they critter stood on the hot and gnawed on the neutral and my mouse problem eliminated itself.

Ha! I had no idea this was such a common problem.

The dealer said that I just need to place a single trap, with some peanut butter in it on top of the intake manifold when I park it overnight.

Hopefully, between that, and driving it daily, this shouldn't be a problem.

I've owned LOTS of cars, and parked in some really odd places, including wheeling. And never NEVER had a critter make a home of my vehicle. Much less damage anything.

Sorta funny, but irritating at the same time.

Glad I caught it as soon as I did though, rather than letting it sit in there for a while, and damage more stuff. *sigh*