Does anyone have problems with squirrels chewing on car or truck wiring? I've had at least a half dozen check engine problems with my car and truck that are parked outside caused by chewed wires. I sometimes catch them in the act but that only seems to be when I'm not armed. Somewhere I heard that GM (maybe others too) switched to soy based plastic on the wiring and critters like it.

Mothballs in a sock under the hood. It keeps the tree rats off my truck wiring

One of the reasons that I originally bought my .22lr suppressor; squirrel control. Those buggers can cause so much damage. After a couple of problems, I decided to reduce the population that was immediate to my property.

I lived in a neighborhood where we all had a couple of acres+, woods and stream in the back. The suppressor was my way of being a nice neighbor, and keeping the noise down.

Unfortunately, we had to move, and I’m currently in a neighborhood where shooting off the back deck wouldn’t go over so well... I need to find a new house!

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NRA Life Member

I had a very expensive problem with my 2012 Nissan Frontier when we lived in Florida….twice!😳 First time made a nest in the engine compartment back by the firewall drivers side.
That cost $3500 dollars to fix. They had to replace the entire wiring loom from the firewall forward. Luckily USAA fixed it. The adjuster said it was a fairly common occurrence.
The second time cost almost $1200. My truck went in the garage after that and my wife’s car went outside.
I went to war with the squirrels with permission of the local game warden. But they outnumbered me, but enjoyable to sit on the back porch with a cup of coffee and try to get even.😎

I have read that specifically Toyota was having problems with rodents and other critters chewing on the wiring of their vehicles because of the insulation they were using on some of their wiring was plant based.

Rodent's teeth are constantly growing and to keep them from getting too long or too sharp, rodents must constantly chew to wear down their teeth. For a long time, many people believed that vehicle wiring contained materials that rodents liked to chew but this has been debunked as just a myth.

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Live long and prosper

Big issue here, especially in winter months. I see 2-3 vehicles towed in every month due to mice/chipmunks/etc chewing on wiring and jamming nests where they should not be.Under hood you can use spray-on Fluid Film to keep the varmints off stuff (they hate getting it on their feet) and they also like the fuel tank area to nest,which also can be Fluid Filmed. Inside the vehicle, I use and reccomend Odoban spray. It has to be re-applied every 4-6 weeks but absolutely keeps them out of the interior.Spray the trunk area too. Do NOT leave any "food" in your vehicles..and that includes crumbs etc etc. Don't invite them in.

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Remain Viable

Thanks for the input, I'll try some spray. All my chewed wires have been under the engine/transmission and above the rear axle, nothing under the hood or inside so far. I have declared war on chipmunks and squirrels, I live where shooting is not a problem.

Wow. Those are some expensive repairs.
I'm lucky because myself and at least several other neighbors in my rural area trap.
Possums get released, rabbits get released at the state game area about a mile away, and coyotes and ground squirrels get capital punishment.

I have a 16 Toyota 4X4 and by far its the worst rodent collector I have seen. Makes no difference if I drive it daily or weekly, they come. During the winter its my plow truck so it only gets driven occasionally. A couple years ago they got into the glove compartment and shred every piece of paper in there!

Got so bad that I put mothballs in cups in the beverage holding areas also use Irish spring soap and drier sheets. Still get them inside. Finely resorted to using the glue traps, put a couple down in the back seat floor area. They get in they die! Also have made up a double stick tape and installed glue traps under the hood (on top of the air filter and battery works well).

The quality of moth balls is far from the stuff of long ago. Some dogooder type outfit must have made a complaint about the balls being too powerful.

Is their any place I can get real moth balls that have the power of the ones I remember decades ago? Everything I find is weak and does not last long.

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14 S&W Revs none with locks!

Martens are the big offenders in Switzerland.




Attention Required! | Cloudflare

No vehicle problems, but a squirrel got into my attack and also chewed up the eaves. I bought a Havahart trap and set it out every time I see one in the yard. Those caught get a free ride to an uninhabited, wooded area. So far over 100 have made the trip.

Maybe it's the same one who simply enjoys going for a ride.

Apparently, the insulation on a lot of vehicle wiring is made from soybeans. Good for the local farmers, but not the vehicle owners. I hear there is a spray product you can use to keep the rodents away.

A friend had a 65 Thunderbird that he was going to restore at some point. He had it parked beside his barn. Too a while to get to it and when he did the mice, squirrels, chipmunks and groud hogs had destroyed the wiring and the interior. Ended up sending it to the junkyard.

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USMC 69-93 Combat Pistol Inst.

I had the problem with a utility trailer and my old (1995) Toyota truck. I use live traps and the 16 I caught this year were properly disposed of. I don't take prisoners.

Have a blessed day,

Leon

I do that. I put them and rodent repel granules in baby socks and zip tie them around the engine compartment.

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S&W Accumulator

We have one of these that attach to the battery. So far no problems for us but pack rats are the culprit in our area. I would think it may help with squirrels.

Looks like it is available at WM under the Top Cat name, I will be going there soon and will look.

Thanks.

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14 S&W Revs none with locks!

Wife`s BMW has been in the shop for 3 months now with rat chewed wiring. My insurance people said it`s pretty common. Shop guy said they do 4-5 cars a year with chewed wiring. It`s the insulation they like. He said all German cars are the preferred wiring.

Isn’t there a pepper spray designed for this? Not the self defense type.

Around these parts, the problem is mice. For many years all the folks all had more than one time when they had to spend a small fortune repairing the damage.

Over time they discovered a couple of tricks. Mothballs on the garage floor under the engine compartment is good. But the most effective is to leave the hood up and the garage lights on.

The last time anyone up here had an issue was about 6 months before we moved up here and no one has had any problems since we have been here.

Also it doesn't hurt that we have 6 feral cats on the place and no one is feeding them. what they have to eat is what they can find and catch. I find it encouragin that they all look well fed and healthy. They also eat moles and voles, which are always a problem. We also have 5 dogs on the place. They are all inside/outside pets and at least two of them don't mind giving the cats a little help with the mice and moles and voles.

I'm knockin' on wood and hoping we can stay free of the problem.

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Real men love cats!

"Unfortunately, we had to move, and I’m currently in a neighborhood where shooting off the back deck wouldn’t go over so well... I need to find a new house!"

No need to relocate... Just find yourself one of the newer pellet guns. Mine
sends 177's out the barrel at about 1400 fps and is nuts on accurate out to about 30 yards. It hardly makes a sound beyond "pffft".

Option # 2 is go down to the local feed store and look for a product called "Sour/Bitter Apple". It comes in a small spray bottle. Just spray your exposed wiring a couple of times a year and no critter will touch it. A word of caution, DO NOT think you can get away with a small taste test. This stuff will make you cry like a little girl should you be so foolish {and no I do not know this from experience, just a serious warning from the guys at the feed store}.

Had similar problems with mice. $2,000 repair. Little buggers had a nest in the bottom of the big fuse box in the engine compartment. I now keep a box or two of decon under the hood.

A friend had raccoons take up house keeping in his combine a few years back. Belts, hoses, wiring.....anything that could chewed on or pooped on, they did it. Over $5000 of repairs to get it back up and running.

In the 70's Central Ohio had several savvier winters in a row. At my apartment complexes, people put out food for the "Poor and starving" tree rats! With aal that food the population skyrocketed and soon tree rats were in everything and chewing car, telephone and electric wiring, even causing a couple attic fires!

In town I couldn't shoot them, so I bought a few live traps. It is illegal to release pests on a different property. So for the forgiveness of their trespasses, I baptized them in a drum (trash can) of water. Most was 3 in trap and 2 in another in one day. I got 37 in all.

I did have a problem with one tenant's "Trap and release policy", I would trap them and she would release them! The baptizing is far mor humane that gopher bait!

Ivan

Neighbor spent $1,200 for a wiring harness that a pack of squirrels destroyed in their Honda van

Bullsnakes?

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and what his trumpet saith

Can’t discharge firearms in my area but no laws against pellet rifles.
You can get then with power equal to or greater than a 22 short or long
rifle cartridge. Put on a scope and your good to go.
I have used moth balls to discourage deer, moles, squirrels and other critters. Works great!

we leave the hood up on our vehicles in the car port plus large mouse traps including an electronic one. About a month ago one of the smoke detectors in the house started chirping every couple of minutes. I got so mad because it was located in the highest part of the family room ceiling and I had to get the 10' ladder to change it out; this cause me to throw it in a ditch next to the car port. Well, the damn thing continued to squak for 3 weeks! I then moved it directly under the hood of my wife's car. Thinking it might be useful for rodent deterrence I decided to re-connect to 110 volts and it just keeps on chirping. At least it now serves a useful purpose.

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NRA Endowment member