[bladeomatic]

I have a 2014 M235i and live in Southern California. Generally I park in the garage, but we're having work done on it so I've been on the driveway for the last 3 months, next to my wife's X3, which is *always* on the driveway.

We went away for the weekend and when I came back I drove my 235i with everything fine. The next day I got in the car and it wouldn't start. BMW came and got it and later told me some rodent had chewed through part of my wiring harness and the car was showing over a dozen faults. They said this happens relatively frequently and once they had to total a car because the harness cost more than the replacement value of the older car(!) The tech said that as the weather gets colder, this happens more frequently. Of course the repair isn't part of the covered maintenance, so this will be out of pocket. We live near many trees and some horse stables, so squirrels and rats have plenty of habitat nearby.

Questions:

-Does this happen frequently with others?

-Wondering why my wife's X3 has had no trouble like this for years when parked outside?

-I haven't checked yet, but does anyone know if car ins generally covers this kind of thing?

-I'm totally worried about this happening again a week later...is there anything that people use to prevent this from happening again.

Sure I could stake a cat to my car at night <cough!> but short of that does anyone have any suggestions?

TIA!

[Cyberdemon]

Yes, this is a frequent occurrence. The other problem is often they can get into the HVAC system. My friend had a mouse climb into the warm air ducts of his old 535 and the next day when he started the car the mouse got sucked into the compressor and proceeded to be strewn about the entire internal ducting system of the car. Everything attached to the firewall had to be taken apart to be cleaned and deodorized (it was horrible and he eventually got rid of the car).

It's totally coincidental, your car may have just had the more delicious wiring insulation. My cat loves chewing on all Apple USB wires (but not others) so there is obviously something in certain types of coatings that attracts them.

Your comprehensive insurance should cover this. If you have a high comprehensive deductible, now would be a good time to lower it. Comprehensive is usually the cheapest premium to reduce.

There's nothing you can do (the cat part while partially joking is not a bad idea - consider leaving a can of cat food out at night and seeing if you can get a feral cat to hang around your property. They'll probably leave paw prints on your roof but it might be the cheaper option).

Chalk it up to bad luck, it's hopefully not a common enough occurrence where you'll have to fear for it in the future.

[Sportstick]

Interesting problem, so I took a look online....

http://ratcontrolreviews.com/get-rid...-them-to-death

If you have power from your garage on an extension cord, a couple of these underneath the car might work. Not sure if they run continuously or on motion sensor, but there seems to be an industry for this. Try googling "rats afraid of light"....it will complete the phrase before you can and there are a bunch of listings.

[Spydeputy]

The Police would have a field day with that.
You in your BMW driving down the road with Strope Lights flashing under your BMW.

[Sportstick]

Originally Posted by Spydeputy

The Police would have a field day with that.
You in your BMW driving down the road with Strope Lights flashing under your BMW.

No, no! It's while parked overnight!

[Spydeputy]

Just A Joke my friend.

Originally Posted by Sportstick

No, no! It's while parked overnight!

[Sportstick]

Originally Posted by Spydeputy

Just A Joke my friend.

Ah...gotcha...sorry, wasn't sure.

[DMB228]

My mom had the same problem and now she uses dryers sheets in the engine bay to keep out the rodents. She will put them on her front wheels as well. Worth a shot I guess.

[overcoil]

This is my post from April

http://www.2addicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1248337

I purchased some high quality heat protection tape with a Velcro seam to wrap around wires, and I usually pull the engine cover off at each fuel fill-up to look for any signs of rodents being around.

My neighbor's new CR-V was incapacitated twice by rodents - believe Honda had used a soy based insulation that rodents found tasty.

[crbalch]

I had a rat climb into the engine bay and die when I had my 135i. Luckily it only smelled and did not do any damage. I did read that peppermint is a good rat deterrent...might want to google that and see if it has any merit.

[overcoil]

Originally Posted by crbalch

I had a rat climb into the engine bay and die when I had my 135i. Luckily it only smelled and did not do any damage. I did read that peppermint is a good rat deterrent...might want to google that and see if it has any merit.

Peppermint just makes the rodents horny.

[Tpeterson]

Originally Posted by ScottSinger

Peppermint just makes the rodents horny.

I don't know about that,but I've tried packets with peppermint scented granules in my storage shed and they don't seem to work. The mice ate through the packaging and used the granules for nest material! Maybe, if the peppermint was replaced very often so the scent stayed very strong they might work,but it hasn't worked for me.
I use dryer sheets when I store my 228i for the Winter,but I don't know if they really work because there are no mice to speak of in my garage.

[overcoil]

Originally Posted by Tpeterson

I don't know about that,but I've tried packets with peppermint scented granules in my storage shed and they don't seem to work. The mice ate through the packaging and used the granules for nest material! Maybe, if the peppermint was replaced very often so the scent stayed very strong they might work,but it hasn't worked for me.
I use dryer sheets when I store my 228i for the Winter,but I don't know if they really work because there are no mice to speak of in my garage.

Honda was using capsaicin flavored electrical tape. but I don't think that worked for my neighbor.

The 'horny' line was from a Chris Elliot exterminator character on 'king of queens' when Doug tried a insecticide to kill bed bugs. Bad attempt by me to be funny.

[harma24]

Never had any wiring issues, but I had to take the blower out of my Prelude on two occations to remove mouse nests after not driving for a few days. They get in there quickly...

[Tpeterson]

Originally Posted by ScottSinger

Honda was using capsaicin flavored electrical tape. but I don't think that worked for my neighbor.

The 'horny' line was from a Chris Elliot exterminator character on 'king of queens' when Doug tried a insecticide to kill bed bugs. Bad attempt by me to be funny.

The way mice reproduce they can't be any hornier.

[2msport]

I had it happen in Tahoe. Really inconvenient.. The rodent chewed through a wire and knocked out my steering lol. It was flatbed towed to BMW in Reno at no cost. The repair did cost me around $300 though. They said it's not covered by warranty because it's not a malfunction caused by BMW. Sucks but it makes sense. I even confirmed with BMW NA. I've since been told by a Tahoe resident that the trick is to pee on a block of wood and place it under the cars engine area. Apparently the urine keeps them away. I'll try anything after going through that fiasco!

[SteveAustin]

First off I'm glad you are not considering a rodenticide as they kill and harm animals throughout the food chain. I met an incredible woman who is working to get these things banned statewide in CA. https://poisonfreemalibu.org/

Check out this site for more information on how to safely control rodents http://saferodentcontrol.org/site/rodent-control/. If you are near stables it's quite possible you can promote a natural predator like barn owls by installing a nesting box.

[qnet]

This happened with my car on the dealer lot. When I bought it the window washing fliud tank was damaged. The dealer knew this ,leting me know, and reminded me to bring the car back at my earliest convenience. After they replaced the tank, I remember the invoice saying it was rodent damage. They gave me a car wash and another tank of gas for my troubles.

[savethemanuals]

Just had this happen in a family member's 2012 Mazda last week....HVAC system completely stopped working, I took it to the dealer and what do you know. $1300 for a new blower and they had to take the dash apart.

What I don't understand is, why aren't the ducts that bring air into the HVAC system protected from this kind of thing? The animal in this case had made a nest inside the blower motor. Wouldn't have thought anything could get that deep into there.

[wjones14]

I put mine away for the winter in my sister-in-law's garage 5 weeks ago. Before covering it, I hooked up the battery tender and put some dryer sheets under the hood and in each tailpipe.

I checked on the car today by uncovering it and looking under the hood. A few mouse droppings were on the engine cover... Aside from the dryer sheets in the engine bay, we put 2 mouse traps baited with peanut butter in the garage, and the bait is still in both traps.

Not sure what else I can do. The traps are at either end of the garage, so tomorrow I'm going to buy 2 more traps and put them right under the car. I'll also put more dryer sheets under the hood, but not sure that they really do anything now.

[overcoil]

Place some of those adhesive mouse traps in the engine compartment - where you think the little guy will have to traverse to get to top of engine. And sprinkle some engine oil around the oil filter housing in the recesses.
Finally get some metallic heat protective wiring wrap that closes with Velcro to wrap around wiring insulation, particularly under the pop off engine cover.

I did all those things and the mouse or whatever it was hadn't returned and one of the mouse traps is missing.

[Tpeterson]

Originally Posted by wjones14

I put mine away for the winter in my sister-in-law's garage 5 weeks ago. Before covering it, I hooked up the battery tender and put some dryer sheets under the hood and in each tailpipe.

I checked on the car today by uncovering it and looking under the hood. A few mouse droppings were on the engine cover... Aside from the dryer sheets in the engine bay, we put 2 mouse traps baited with peanut butter in the garage, and the bait is still in both traps.

Not sure what else I can do. The traps are at either end of the garage, so tomorrow I'm going to buy 2 more traps and put them right under the car. I'll also put more dryer sheets under the hood, but not sure that they really do anything now.

Mouse traps under the engine compartment are a good idea.That's where I caught the one mouse I've encountered.
The thing about drier sheets is that if you can't smell them anymore the mice can't either. A quit using them instead of replacing them often and rely on the trap under the car and trying to keep the mice out of the garage in the first place,mainly by keeping the door closed as much as possible and plugging holes around the foundation (an endless job).