Got within 3 blocks to my office in Seattle yesterday and the rpms jumped up to 4k and it was not moving any faster. Started behaving like a bad clutch slip. Got it up to my parking space and called roadside assistance. THey sent a ramp truck and took it 38 miles south to Northwest MINI in Fife. I was fearing that the CVTs must be suspect in durability as this MINI only has 10100 miles. Today I got a prelim report from the service dept and they claim that mice crawled up into my engine bay and chewed thru the electrical wires. Boy, i do not think that warrenty will cover this one, but I will cross my fingers. Northwest MINI have been exceptional in the past.

Now, how do I keep mice out of my engine bay? The dealer tells me that if they liked nesting there before, they will keep comming back.

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MC Chili Red with everything Arrived Mar 9, 2003 - package #1, #2, #3, Sport plus, Chrome, Parking Alert, Auto Wipers, Xenon, NAV, CVT, Kleido Red Cloth, NAV, HK Cassette and CHA-s634. my Mini Cooper Page

 

There seems to be an awful lot of "mice munching things in my engine bay" posts this winter. Are the MINI's just that desirable even for mice? I don't remember hearing about this sort of thing on another non-MINI message board?

 

>mice crawled up into my engine bay and chewed thru the electrical wires

? Is this for real? ive yet to hear about animals eating wires in their
cars.

 

>Is this for real? ive yet to hear about animals eating wires in their cars.

Certainly is! They've never touched my MINI, but my work van used to be an '87 Chevy Astro which sat outside overnight, and over the four years that I owned it used to be a very convenient shelter for the furry little buggers.

Mice once ate through the wiring to one of the van's two fuel injectors. Yet another crawled inside the air cleaner housing - through the ductwork for the heat riser off the exhaust manifold, which was also chewed though - and promptly died. The most industrious of the little freeloaders started tearing the cloth tape wrap off the wiring looms and created a nest with it inside the fan shroud, which near as I can tell didn't last long after the engine started!

 

>>>mice crawled up into my engine bay and chewed thru the electrical wires
>>
>>? Is this for real? ive yet to hear about animals eating wires in their
>>cars.

I own a Chrysler product, by the way, which must be made of different stuff than the Mouse-Friendly MINI... (so far, no chewed wires on the Caravan... I HAVE had squirrels in my attic though, and that was an interesting "turf war" indeed)

I wonder if this is more an insurance issue than one related to warranty...
Guess I'll be scanning my 'comprehensive' policy for the 'mouse clause' it almost surely DOESN'T include...

I don't need a "better" mousetrap, I just need a couple of the expensive MINI OEM ones <chuckle>... Didn't someone recently post a link to the new Accessories Catalog??? Hmmm.... Maybe if i leave my ignition ON... ("I just LOVE the smell of fried mouse in the morning&quot ???

OK, back to work,
Tatt

 

>>
>>Now, how do I keep mice out of my engine bay? The dealer tells me that if they liked nesting there before, they will keep comming back.

Get a CAT :smile:
I have two cats that are able to patrol my garage- so far no mices- but I do get cat paws all over my shiny MINI.

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really... maybe I should check on my wife's car that's parked outside
on the driveway. ive heard of spiders living inside engine bays, headlight
assembly, side mirrors, etc...not mice. will keep my eyes open! :smile:

 

Mice, rats, squirrels, bees and even birds cause damage to automobiles. In cold weather many small animals seek refuge in cars that retain heat. Even larger ones. In days past with big cars and lots of underhood space, cats would crawl up inside engine compartments to keep warm. The problem was so bad where I once lived that people learned to honk their horns before starting up their cars in an effort to prevent rather gruesome events from occurring (I'll spare the rather obvious details). Mice and small critters like to chew on wires and hoses for some unknown reason (they arent eating the stuff, just chewing) and 'nests' made from chewed wiring and hood insulation as well as grass and leaves can start underhood fires if built neear hot engine parts and exhausts. Bees, particularly mud wasps will find small openings and block them with their nests, often this interferes with some function as well.

It's a good idea to check under your hood and under the car on occasions just for this. :smile:

 

You left out porcupines. :smile:

 

Prickly details!

 

Thanks for the comments,, I am alergic to cats. Perhaps I can buy a robot cat. My Spousal unit wants me to put rat poison in my engine bay over nite. I may try it.

 

>>>>Now, how do I keep mice out of my engine bay? The dealer tells me that if they liked nesting there before, they will keep comming back.
>>
>>Get a CAT :smile:

That's a good idea unless... Several years ago a friend of mine lived in the counrty and had one of the Nissan 'Z's. He started it up one morning and, as he was driving into town, started hearing this terrible wine from the engine compartment. It came and went, untill he stopped after a few miles to check it out. As soon as he opened the hood, his terrified cat jumped out. It had found a warm place for a nap, but didn't care much for the ride.

 

It could be that the mice are looking for a warm place to "park," and when they're real hungry they are known to chew on stuff like plastic insulation. I've seen a photo of a python that died inside the hood of a Honda Acura, probably because it wandered from it's enclosure and found the warmth of the car's engine. It really startled the Acura driver who heard a loud pop, causing him to pull up the the nearest service station.

 

yup! this happened on my neighbor's cadillac last winter. he drove it for about two blocks and the car went dead. he opened the hood and the entire engine bay was bloody. he had the car towed to the dealership and the mechanic found remain of a squirrel. apparently, he parked the car outside and the poor little squirrel thought it was a warm place to take a nap ...

 

my cat keeps the mice away and the MINI is always garage kept every second its not driving.

 

Better than a cat... A JACK RUSSELL TERRIER!

 

It's been cold and I have mice that would love to get inside my shed, so sitting on a shelf is a box of rat poison with it's little flap open. I keep it on a shelf so the dog doesn't get into it.

I think if you put a box of rat poison down on the ground under your car at night, keeping your pets inside, you should be able to kill off the mice. Hopefully your neighbors have fed their cat well enough that it wouldn't crawl under there and eat it! In the winter, mice are hungry and cold so you could try mouse traps with cheese or bread but the down side is having to throw away the dead bodies.

I personally like the poison better because they eat it and go off to the fields to die. Just be sure they can't get inside your home, because you WOULD NOT want a mouse to get in your attic or inside your walls and die! It is horrible!

 

I have a problem with chipmunks getting in my garage and nesting on top of my engine. I was told that there's a product to repel little critters. It's basically flakes that you sprinkle around your car that are made with fox urine. It scares them away. I haven't gotten around to ordering any yet.

I have the link at home. I'll post it here later this evening.

 

Found it:

Critter Repellent

 

Since I don't like when any fuzzy little critters die needlessly...

My dad and grandparents always had these little plug-in things in their basements and garages. They make a supersonic beeping noise that drives mice/rats (and some cats and dogs) a bit bonkers. They will go out of their way to avoid the noise, and they certainly won't try to sleep with it in the background.

Additionally, to save people rom wasting their money on rat poisoning... it usually doesn't work. If a rat lives in a pack, there will be one or two "testers" who nibble a very small amount of something to determine it's safety. If the taster rat won't eat it, aint nobody eating it. Solo ratties will also take very small nibbles--typically not enough to kill them. After a negative nibble, they will avoid the substance for ever and for always. So unless you've found the occasional dead rat body (a fluke, by all accounts) your poison isn't doing anything, the rats are just staying away of their own accord.

I don't know if that pertains to mice, though.

Oh, and, from an economic standpoint, the little plug-in things last almost indefinitely. You'll save money in the long run over traps and poison.

 

>>Since I don't like when any fuzzy little critters die needlessly...
>>
>>My dad and grandparents always had these little plug-in things in their basements and garages. They make a supersonic beeping noise that drives mice/rats (and some cats and dogs) a bit bonkers. They will go out of their way to avoid the noise, and they certainly won't try to sleep with it in the background.
>>
>>

Hey, I've seen these things in a yard catalogue I get ! This is a very good idea! and great to know that they actually work! You could get one for the garage and never worry about critters again!!

 

I put 3 of those electronic things in my garage and I still got mice that nested in my Del Sol. I think the chipmunks drove out the mice...

 

>>
>>I think if you put a box of rat poison down on the ground under your car at night, keeping your pets inside, you should be able to kill off the mice. Hopefully your neighbors have fed their cat well enough that it wouldn't crawl under there and eat it! In the winter, mice are hungry and cold so you could try mouse traps with cheese or bread but the down side is having to throw away the dead bodies.
>>
>>I personally like the poison better because they eat it and go off to the fields to die.

 

The little beeping things always worked for dad/grandpa. Perhaps your mice were deaf?

 

"I hate those meeses to pieces!"

There's got to be something to rub on the wires that keeps mice away. That would be so direct and nice to the nice mice.

God speed.