This is taking the Micky!

[marshman]

Went to get the Stag out today - hasn't moved for a while but

a) the MoT is due soon
& b) It's Drive it Day.

Anyway popped the bonnet to top up the BW35 (leave it for more than a couple of weeks and a lot of its contents end up on the floor!) Well the bonnet insulation pad (new only a couple of years back flopped down) I looked more closely and it had been chewed to bits with bits of paper, straw etc mixed in - obviously the local mice having finally been eradicated from the house had literally had a field day. It was too badly mangled to save so I removed it and then got the vacuum cleaner out to clean all the bits form the top of the engine. Whilst cleaning off the lower chassis rails I noticed a small diameter plastic pipe "broken" off - I looked closer and it was the pipe to the oil pressure gauge chewed clean through.

Good job the insulation pad was so bad otherwise I might not have noticed until it was too late. Any way I removed the instrument cluster and there was enough spare tube to reach the block so I removed the connector and chewed pipe and refitted the intact piece to the gauge. I had a good look at all the wiring behind the instruments and all around the engine bay (mice love pvc insulation on cables as the cables in my loft can testify) but they don't seem to have touched anything else - not even a nest in the airfilter their usual favourite).

Anyway BW35 topped up, oil pressure gauge reconnected and fired it up only to hear my intermittent knocking/tapping noise is back with a vengeance - really loud when the engine is cold so I think I am going to do a "forensic" strip down to find it. It is definitely worse now as even with the engine hot it can still be faintly heard at certain revs. So at worst I have an engine rebuild to do before Brands Hatch. Still I went out for a quick blast across the marsh to blow the cobwebs out - waved to a white Triumph Spitfire on the A259 but didn't see anyone else.

Pics of the mouse damage:

oil pipe mouse.jpgbonnet pad 1.jpgbonnet pad 2.jpg

Roger

[Stagdad]

Good job its not bats roger,you would have to let them stay (yeh right)

Cheers Steve

[Rubce]

Yikes! Buy a cat!

[marshman]

Good job its not bats roger,you would have to let them stay (yeh right)

Cheers Steve

You shouldnt' joke! we do have a lot of bats around as well!

[marshman]

Yikes! Buy a cat!

Hi Bruce,

there are quite a few cats around - strangely they all look very well fed - there are plenty of field mice for them to feed on without going to the "hassle" of looking inside cars for them.

Its just one of the many joys of living "out in the sticks"

Roger

[andy p]

259 one of my fav roads from camber,rye even better when I took the bike on it, I would also say get a garage cat soon sort that problem out

[davidf]

If you got a little wheel for them to run round in, you could have an external water pump without having to change the drive belt arrangements

[Bandit1200]

I can, from experience, recommend a solution to your problem.
In 2003, I bought myself a new Bandit 1200 motor bike and parked it in my garage following a very pleasant Summer ride.
After a few days, I noticed that some of the wiring had been chewed together with parts of the plastic components beneath the saddle.
Naturally I was livid and purchased 1cwt of poison and several mouse traps which I arranged around my new but chewed pride and joy.
The following morning I looked forward to finding some horrible grey vermin with either broken necks in the traps or legs in the air after eating the poison around my bike.
To my horror, there was a mouse trapped in one of the devices. But it wasn't of the scrawny grey variety but a cute cuddly, but now deceased, white and brown field mouse. The kind your daughter keeps in a cage and calls Bernard.
I eventually found a solution to both my satisfaction and that of the cute but hungry local rodent population.
Simply let the vehicle cool down before you put it in the garage because somehow, a warm vehicle in a garage will attract them but a cold one doesn't.
Steve

[RNF]

forget the cats, get yourself a good rat hunting dog.
IMG_0819.jpg

[1959terry]

forget the cats, get yourself a good rat hunting dog.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]28291[/ATTACH]

Is it an Australian breed?

[RNF]

Is it an Australian breed?

She works both right side up and upside down...she's very talented at rat eradication

[scraggs]

stag rats.jpg This is what rats do if you leave the car in a barn for 23 years.Half a bin liner of nest material. The pee had gone straight through the cam covers. They devoured all the ht leads, breather pipes, fuel pipes. Had started on the dist cap and coil.Because the car was in the barn with the bonnet down it caused a micro climate of ammonia which caused everything over a certain height to rust yes, including the bonnet release cable and yes I had to drill a hole in the inner wing to get the bonnet up. ay ho.

[ChrisLD364]

We used to have problems with the Ford Pop which is still stored away from home. Mother in law solved it with the ultra sonic sounders in the garage. Cheap to buy and run. Not had them back since.

[1959terry]

We used to have problems with the Ford Pop which is still stored away from home. Mother in law solved it with the ultra sonic sounders in the garage. Cheap to buy and run. Not had them back since.

Will if affect pets as we'll?

Might keep the wife out of the garage as well

[richardthestag]

Dont bother with humane traps. Get poison down and go all snappy on the spiteful little *******s.

The piss was being taken when i opened the boot lid and there were three of them staring at me!

Damn things consumed the foams out of my seats, snappy traps were getting through them as fast as i could reset the traps. Got a big metal bait box with springy doors, put poison, peanut butter and chocolate inside it and that did a dozen in 3 days. Over that summer i must have got rid of nearly a hundred of the things.

We have a cat now.

Cat footprints all over the body work can be washed off :-)