Beware 4 Legged Visitors Living Under The Hood

[182RG]

Intermittent air bag warning light at 47K miles.

Cause - Field mice nibbling insulation off of a wiring harness under hood, intermittently shorting the sensor for the seat belt interlock.

$216.

Not the first time I've had this. On two other cars it was spark plug leads. On one other car it was insulation above turbocharger.

Time to set some long term traps in garage.

 

[Bobmbx]

Or get a cat.

 

[CajunFordEx]

No!!

Or get a cat.

NO cats for me!! Have you ever had the belt thrown off from a cat being under your hood when you start your truck? It's not nice.

 

[Rick]

Rodents recently nibbled through an ABS sensor wire in my pickup truck. Destructive little varmints...

 

[zukman]

Cat crawled up under the hood of the H3. Started the truck drove out the driveway felt a thump bump, thump bump, confused as truck was pointed out the driveway and all was clear, I turned around to see what happened. BIG cat!! H3 1 cats 0

 

[dco43054]

I prefer to "feed" them.

 

[XSport88]

Yep, varmints ate through ABS sensor wire as well as tagged my airbag sensor. Joy.

 

[Tony407]

I've heard stories of mice crawling up the exhaust, and then nesting inside the cylinder heads before. That's crazy.

Tony

 

[peterk9]

I have a mouse that is either in the vehicle or comes in and out from the garage. Attempting to track the varmint down. Also found sunflower shells on top of the engine cover a while back.

Peter

 

[TourGuide]

Squirrels do an amazing job of destroying stuff too. Cost us $300 to fix squirrel damage on our Escape which we park in the driveway. I'm planning to spray the underside with a red pepper and water mix. Lets hope I don't have squirrels that like spicy food.

 

[peterk9]

Caught one mouse last night on the 4th attempt. Now I wonder how many more there may be.

So far I have evicted 8 little ones over the past 3 days. Also found a dead one on the passenger side liner. I think I still have at least one in the vehicle since the peanuts I put down keep disappearing overnight. I should have my live traps this week to hopefully take care of this issue in the vehicle. BTW, the pics are all of different ones caught.

Peter

 

[peterk9]

Squirrels do an amazing job of destroying stuff too. Cost us $300 to fix squirrel damage on our Escape which we park in the driveway. I'm planning to spray the underside with a red pepper and water mix. Lets hope I don't have squirrels that like spicy food.

As you can see from the above post, squirrels are not my issue. I have lots of them but they stay in the backyard where my feeders are. The dogs are kept busy most of the day chasing them. The vehicle is always parked in the garage and the only other visitor other than the above tenants, is a chipmunk but it doesn't stay in there.
Good luck with your homemade tonic.

Peter

 

[LukerDooker]

Date Complaint Filed: 01/21/2014
Component(s): ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
Date of Incident: 01/16/2014
NHTSA ID Number: 10560846

Manufacturer: Ford Motor Company
Vehicle Identification No. (VIN): 1FM5K8D87DG...
SUMMARY:
TL* THE CONTACT A OWNS A 2013 FORD EXPLORER. THE CONTACT STATED THAT RODENTS WERE DESTROYING THE WIRES UNDER THE HOOD. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO A DEALER WHO STATED THAT THE WIRE INSTALLATION WAS MADE FROM SOY BEANS, WHICH WAS ATTRACTING THE RODENTS. THE VEHICLE WAS REPAIRED. THE MANUFACTURER WAS NOT MADE AWARE OF THE PROBLEM. THE APPROXIMATE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS 10,000. *TR

 

[peterk9]

Thanks for that info. I think I still have one in the vehicle. Found a dead baby mouse about 3 weeks ago on the passenger side floor liner. I put a small peanut on that liner a couple of times after that and it disappeared over night. Not sure if it was the ones I already caught that found their way in and out but I guess I'll find out soon enough. I have a couple of small live traps on order and should have them this week.

Peter

 

[peterk9]

Update. From the garage I've evicted 24 so far, all by using the garbage container shown in my pics above. Have caught one in the vehicle but there is still another one that is proving to be very elusive. This is starting to become personal now. Put a different live trap in there today.

Peter