I had a wood rat chew through the brake fluid and washer fluid reservoirs on my VW several years back
She left work. 10 miles later out of gas on the side of the highway. Damn varmints.
deductible to $0 for this reason. We’ve had this happen a number of times.
This was the cure suggested by the guy that did my low-voltage patio lights.
Rodents love to eat through the soy based insulation on the wires in Toyota and Lexus vehicles.
went out to start his Fiat. Turned the key and a horrific screeching noise came from the engine compartment. He got out and opened the hood. Poor kitty…!!!!!!
Those catch a lot of mice. Some brilliant individual thought it was a good idea to make the plat i coating on wiring, out of soybean and peanut oil which helps attract rodent damage.
I put the whole stupid metal cage in the sink, weighed it down and flooded it.
As a teenager I caught a mouse in a bucket and best option we came up with was to move it to a bag, place it under a car tire and run it over.
using the sticky feet traps. I slide a shovel underneath the pad and take it down to the field across from the driveway. Usually a hawk, owl or crow will find it. Circle of life.
Air conditioner wiring and low voltage light wiring (So do squirrels). And sometimes those bastards like to make a nest in my grill. It’s why I dispatch of any squirrel or mouse I see. And I disagree that the peppermint spray helps. Mice would regularly nest in my Door County grill. Poison is the way to go. I put it in those little black containers around my garage and outside the house. Nothing a mouse carries around is good for you.
This was a house rental about 20 years ago. I went in one day to start my car and heard a horrible racket when I started the fan. It turned out squirrels had been storing acorns in my car. Luckily, none of the wires in my car had been chewed. My mechanic told me he once found a squirrel nest with babies in the engine block of a pickup truck that hadn’t been driven in a while..
Unbeknownst to me, a squirrel had built a nest in the engine compartment of my 4Runner when I was a graduate student. I learned about that when smoke started coming out of my engine at 70 MPH on the highway. Also, my brakes were not working. I pulled over and popped the hood to find a raging fire in the engine. A kind trucker ran across the highway and put out the fire with his extinguisher. Damn squirrel!
See if they've nested in your engine block, or elsewhere. No doubt you'll find rat turds somewhere in or around the vehicle.
Look for available food sources that might keep them in the area, and eliminate them. We had pineapple guava trees in our backyard, for example. We also had our pest control company put in a bait box to control them.
but hmm....i read of moth balls/dryer sheats...some sort of mint spray too