Rats under the bonnet

[lauraxsynthesis]

A horrible smell started when I put the heater on in my car and when I looked under the bonnet there was rat shit everywhere, bits of chicken bone, fur and lots of chewed bits of cable. I might never stop shuddering. Only been a car owner since last May and nobody told me to expect this. Looking forward to seeing what Honda are going to charge me to put it right.

[Sebastian Cobb]

I've not had that problem with any car I've owned but I gave a mate a lift and they left a Calipo wrapper on my dash and I parked up in a sun trap for several days and found ants coming out the vents.

[idunnosomename]

[madhair60]

despite my angar
i am still just a rat in a car

[steve98]

You should always check under the bonnet for rats. You're clearly a delinquent flibbertigibbet, and you'll get no sympathy from me.

[Average Comedy Enjoyer]

The rat smell shouldn't kick in unless you have it activated on your user profile. Try going through the settings menu on the infotainment and deactivating "Vermin Gust"

[shoulders]

I bet the rats are in there going 'Right lads, time to CLLLEEEEEAAAAAAAN UP!!!!'

Just a prediction.

[idunnosomename]

THE RAT CONTROL THE CAR

[Poobum]

Get revenge, rat car is perfect size to shit in. Look at the stupid little bastard, keeps hitting the wall. Vivisected soon.

[Captain Z]

When did you last top up your rat poison reservoir?

[Dex Sawash]

Rodent damage repairs really ramped up for us in 2020 when cars suddenly were parked for weeks at a time. Had some towed back with same bits chewed off again within weeks.

Less damaging but there is a kind of

Spoiler alert

spider

[close]

that enjoys living in fuel tank vents and clogs them up so when you fill up with gas(petrol) the vapor can't escape the tank quickly enough so the pump keeps clicking off. Standard procedure is to pull off the pipes/hoses/whatever and give a nice hearty blow through (by mouth so you can gauge any resistance to flow and maybe dislodge a blockage). Shawn who works next to me was blowing through a pipe with a 180* bend in it and
DON'T OPEN THIS SPOILER UNTIL YOU LOOK AT THE FIRST SPOILER AND ARE SURE YOU CAN HANDLE THIS

Spoiler alert

cleared a horrific spider horde* nest of babies blockage right into his own face

[close]

*one for the copying other people thread as I have borrowed this one off a CaBber who did a hiya HSH post. (non capisco or one of the skull avatared crew maybe)

[Blinder Data]

sounds horrid. also, not to be overly parochial, but it sounds like a London problem

[Jasha]

There's a rat in me Citroen what am I gonna do?
There's a rat in me Citroen what am I gonna go?

No no hang on Ali it's a Honda

[BlodwynPig]

They must know it was the rats; the slithering, scurrying rats whose scampering will never let me drive; the daemon rats that race behind the padding in this vehicle and beckon me down to greater horrors than I have ever known; the rats they can never hear; the rats, the rats under the bonnet.

[madhair60]

THE RAT CONTROL THE CAR

this made me smile

[Gurke and Hare]

The King George V Recreation Ground in Stevenage is crawling with rats.

[Vodkafone]

If you get to the Honda dealership and it's staffed entirely by giant rodents, I wouldn't rule out foul play you know.

[Average Comedy Enjoyer]

The King George V Recreation Ground in Stevenage is crawling with rats.

I read this in Mark E Smith's voice.

[Attila]

I was thrilled to come back to my car after about 4 months to find that mice had completely infested it, tearing out a lot of the insulation, making nests in all of the fan ducts, &c.

Turns out that when my mother invited me to leave it on the drive while I was away on an overseas work contract = she'd pull it around into the field behind the barn and let it just sit in the tall grass. She brought it back up to the house maybe a day or so before I got back.

Took forever to clear all of that out and a fortune (that I didn't have) to get the car running properly again.

[gilbertharding]

A horrible smell started when I put the heater on in my car and when I looked under the bonnet there was rat shit everywhere, bits of chicken bone, fur and lots of chewed bits of cable. I might never stop shuddering. Only been a car owner since last May and nobody told me to expect this. Looking forward to seeing what Honda are going to charge me to put it right.

Oh no... where are you parking your car for this to have happened? The other people on the thread who've had this seem to have parked in barns or on farm land...

I've had mice in my garage before, and suppose I will do again, but they've never got into my car... I was worried when I had a convertible that I might find I had them - which was stupid I guess, because they'd have probably been happy enough living under the bonnet anyway, rather than in the cabin.

[Clatty McCutcheon]

How do the rats get into the engine bay? I presume they gain access via the undercarriage or the wheelarches rather than learning to circumvent the central-locking system and then pulling the bonnet catch from the inside?

[Endicott]

It's completely open underneath.

[madhair60]

how do they reach the pedals?!

[lauraxsynthesis]

Oh no... where are you parking your car for this to have happened? The other people on the thread who've had this seem to have parked in barns or on farm land...

I've had mice in my garage before, and suppose I will do again, but they've never got into my car... I was worried when I had a convertible that I might find I had them - which was stupid I guess, because they'd have probably been happy enough living under the bonnet anyway, rather than in the cabin.

Last year some building work started across the road and since then the whole neighbourhood has been overrun with the fuckers. It was my building's carpark :(

[Poobum]

Could be worse, or better. I love ratties, would and have forgiven the little bitelings anything. However...

Spiders!!

I do have stubborn spiders constantly building webs on my wing mirrors. I would also forgive spiders most things.

[dissolute ocelot]

Apparently squirrels also like to do this, and may use a car engine to store their nuts. Would definitely be much better to get the smell of toasting nuts rather than rat shit.

Animals like to nest in the engine's air box, and if I knew anything about cars, that information might be helpful to me.

One recommended organic way to deter rodents is with deer piss, which you can buy on Amazon. Can't warrant whether it smells better or worse than hot rat excrement.

[Average Comedy Enjoyer]

One recommended organic way to deter rodents is with deer piss, which you can buy on Amazon

I always wondered who it was buying second-hand milking machines

[gilbertharding]

Last year some building work started across the road and since then the whole neighbourhood has been overrun with the fuckers. It was my building's carpark :(

Oh yeah, that'll happen (as you now know, to be fair). Especially in that London.

I've started seeing more and more rats around here (the beautiful Kent Countryside) lately. There's a footpath next to a field near my house which gets very overgrown in the summer, and when we went for a walk at twilight last year, just after all the wheat had been harvested... well, lets just say I wish I'd been able to tuck my trousers into my socks. My wife thought it was hilarious that I refused to walk that way until they'd cut back the undergrowth.

[Mr_Simnock]

Last year some building work started across the road and since then the whole neighbourhood has been overrun with the fuckers. It was my building's carpark :(

get yourself some polecats, they will sort the rats out in minutes

[lauraxsynthesis]

There are lots of feral cats in the neighbourhood and I would totally corral some if there were a fenced off place I could park.