BlueAllroad

So, 2019 P+, less than 20k...been parking in the same spot (home garage) for years. Never had this problem with any car, ever before. On our way to NYC this weekend, received a notification that start/stop wasn't working (could have cared less). Car drove fine. Parked on UES in the city Friday afternoon and returned to the car Sunday morning for the ride back to Boston. Car ran fine, same notification but car performed great. Got home, took it to Costco for gas and the car wash and noticed on that short drive the check engine light was now on. Just took it to my mechanic, as I'm 2 months out of warranty and he tells me I have visitors that aren't paying rent. Mice have chewed through the wiring harness. He is going to fix the issue but what is the best way to prevent this from happening, Gonna call Waltham services pest control and have them do their thing in the garage and also lavender soap was suggested. Any other suggestions??

FrenchToast

Pest control working on the garage is the best prevention.

I haven't heard of soap. I have heard of mint oil but not sure if it works. I can say the dryer sheet method is BS - they will defecate on top of them. Not to mention that would be a fire hazard in the engine bay.

Unfortunately the engine bay is the only part of the car that can't be sealed, so it is always open to vermin.

If they come back, you can source some ramps to park the car on so it is harder for them to climb onto the suspension and into the engine.

You should inspect the rest of the car to see if they have managed to get inside the cabin, which can pose health hazards if unchecked. Modes of entry are trunk cabin vents or cabin air intake.

BlueAllroad

Thanks - They are not inside the car...car is kept spotless and vaccumed regularly. We have a cat now, so I will probably send her into the garage nightly for a bit to do a perimeter sweep until the pest service can get here. Wife is going to pick up some lavender soap while out and about today.

mikeru

Honestly your best bet is to spend some quality time with your favorite search engine, and also ask your pest control company if they have any suggestions, as they probably have a better idea than we do. Asking a question like this in a forum is a good way to separate you from your money, especially if you're prone to jump on suggestions. One thing I will suggest is that you stay away from those ultrasonic devices. From the 10 minutes I spent looking this morning, they can be effective on mice initially in tests, but the effect diminishes as the mice become accustomed to the sound and realize it does not post a real threat.

Rodents can wreak havoc on a car's wiring. And the manufacturers aren't doing us any favors by using insulation materials that rodents find appealing. I had an issue with mice in an old car I used to own. I lived on a farm so there was no way I was getting rid of them. I started keeping traps in the trunk. That actually seemed to work. I checked the traps daily, and ended up pulling out about a dozen dead mice. After a couple weeks the traps weren't catching anything anymore. But the only thing that cured the problem was when I moved to a house in town.

BlueAllroad

Also sort of curious why they attacked the Audi, and not our 2020 Lincoln Aviator or 2013 MDX that are also often parked in the garage.

Zombie5150

Put a few traps out baited with peanut butter. Try and find where they might be coming in and put some steel wool blocking the entrance. They won’t try and chew through it as they hate the way it feels on their teeth.

mikeru

It's hard to say why. My question back to you would be are you sure they haven't attacked those cars? The damage they can do is not always obvious to see until you start removing covers and look inside areas that aren't normally visible. There have been class action lawsuits against some car makers which claim the soy based insulation used on their wiring attracts rodents, while those car makers claim there's no real evidence of that. Again, please take some time to research this on your own. You will probably find more answers than what can be provided here.

LightningTruck

Mice in the cars is very common in Pennsylvania. We use Ramix, little round green *****. Put a few out in the garage, see if they take them away. It works! Get it on Amazon.
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LightningTruck

Look into the eco-friendly wire harness stuff Germans have been using. Rodents love to eat the insulation on the wires!
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142 guy

1. Put your cat to work
2. Use mouse traps baited with peanut butter or unshelled sunflower seeds. My experience is that pure peanut butter without emulsifiers and sugar seems to be more effective as bait. I think it has a stronger peanut smell than the stuff with the additives. I use this style of trap which is easy to set, durable and has been very effective.
Victor Quick Kill Mouse Trap, 3-pk | Canadian Tire
Last summer we dumped 40+ mouse carcasses into the waste food / compost bin. For a while it was 1 a day.
3. Clean up any junk around the outside of the garage

Mice like to travel where they have cover. If you have boards or other junk piled up along the outside of the garage this will provide a nice mouse habitat and it will probably be easy for them to find their way from the clutter along the outside to the inside the garage. Keep the area around the garage as clutter free as possible. If you really want to reduce the risk of mouse visits park your car out on the middle of a concrete driveway where they have to make a 2 m dash across an exposed concrete surface to get to the car.

We had an urban fox hanging around our laneway a month or so ago and it seemed to do a pretty good job of cleaning up the mice for a while.