Howdy all you all MINI folks! Perhaps you guys can shed some light on my delima. I have a 2002 MINI Cooper (Not an S). It gets ran very little. 17K miles on it. Field mice got into it. They left a host of problems, or at least I am thinking they are the culperts.

1. I found a huge nest on the fresh air filter under the dash. There are signs of nibbling under the hood. The rubber where the fender attachs to the door post on the driver's side has some damage. All, and I mean ALL, of the screen filter from both air vents immediately below the windshield was devoured. Some was in the nest.

2. My tachometer and everything associated with it (information center), dash lights, traction control, remote door locks (locking feature only, unlocks OK), and instrument lights have stopped working. The speedo, warning lights, and all exterior lights work just fine.

3. And lastly, WATER! WATER! WATER! Only in the driver's foor well. I think maybe they had visions of a lake.

4. I have looked as much as I can and have found no visible chewing damage anywhere inside the car. I have removed most of the panels around the dash that simply snap on and off. I suppect pooling of water, or chewed wiring insulation, causing short(s). I have to keep the battery disconnected to keep it from running down. There is fairly strong sparking when connecting and disconnecting the cable from the battery. I beleive there may be some rubber seal or drain tube those little rascals have chewed up.

5. I have read some of you guys problems with drain tubes, door seals and the like. So far, none of those problems are apparent. Do any of you have any thoughts on the "Mice Invasion"?

 

Looks like you have some rewiring and rebuilding to look forward to.

One word: CAT!

 

Yes, looks that way. Thanks for the response. Dispite the problem, folks "hound" me all the time to sell them my MINI. Not going to happen. I will enjoy taking it apart. I have a huge service manual on it. Doesn't look too difficult. I surely wouldn't want to pay a dealer to do it.

 

The damage may may be covered under your vehicle's comprehensive insurance, if you carry comprehensive. I would give your insurance company a call and explain the situation.
.

 

I agree. A fried of mine is an State Farm agent, and they had an insured whose car was stored in a barn over the winter (not a Mini). The insulations on much of the wiring was gone! Seems that a lot of our plastics, rubber insulations on wires, etc are made from food products/by-products (I think they mentioned soy?), and very tasty for our little rodent friends!

 

I went on vacation for two weeks. Upon return, I drove my other vehicle, a M-B C280, and saw smoke billowing from the engine. WTF? Just had it serviced! Popped the hood, and a mouse jumps onto the windshield. The smoke originated from a nest of grass clippings the mouse had built. Was not able to catch the mouse, so drove the car to the school parking lot (Didn't want the mouse entering the home) and put moth ***** in the engine compartment. The mouse had chewed through a portion of the padded firewall (Closed the hole with aluminum tape [heat resistant tape]).

So far, with the moth ***** in the engine bay, no recurrence of the mice infestation. However, the car smells like moth *****. On the caymanclub.net site, others have recommended spraying a perimeter of bleach or ammonia, to disrupt the mice urine trail that leads to the vehicle. Parking the vehicle in different locations, and obviously, driving the car is important. However, pain in the a-- moving mothballs in and out of the engine bay each time I drive the car. Will be burdensome once winter arrives, or if it rains.

Some websites online offer very potent poisons, Contrac and Final Blox. HOwever, at least where I live, everytime I put out the poison blocks, they all disappear the next morning. Raccoons?

 

set it up on jacks......

 

also cat urine works well let a cat it there for a day now more mice