Tips to Make your Car Rat-Free

Apr 04, 2018
Tips to Make your Car Rat-Free

They are cute, adorable (of course not for all), fluffy, hairy and have innocent eyes but don’t fall into the trap as they are not gullible. Yes, we are talking about none other than the small and mischievous rats (sometimes we do know them as rodents and mice) who can very smartly and hideously create mayhem in your car’s engine compartments. This may sound weird to you but this is a fact that might leave for you a heavy servicing bill to be paid at the car’s service center.

Think a rat destroying the engine of your premium car such as Audi RS, Ferrari 488 GTB or alike! Disastrous it would be!

Many mechanics have witnessed engines getting destroyed by these small creatures. They have found elaborate nests and even small tiny baby rats stuffed with bedding material inside the air cleaners.

First, let’s find out how they find their way to your car and how much they can cause damage to your prized possession:

Engine Bay

Rats like dark places to hide and what’s better than hiding under the hood of your car. They find places behind the battery, between the radiator and headlamps, under the engine cover, and between the engine block and firewall. Rats use either drive shafts or axle to make their way to the engine bay.

Engine Bay Source:https://www.cleanmachinelongview.com/

Air Conditioning System

The fresh-air vents of the car's air conditioning system or the firewall’s rubber grommets are the escape ways for the rat family. They can also enter inside your car’s working mechanism through the floor-mounted pedals. Once inside the system, the rat, and its peers can do this:

  • Urinate & defecate anywhere
  • Can succumb to their fate, leaving a bad smell in the air conditioning system
  • Leave their hair inside that again leads to foul smell in the system
  • Can chew up carpet and upholstery ruining the interior of the car

If a rat dies inside the air conditioning system of your vehicle, the only way to get rid of the foul odor is to get your car thoroughly washed and cleaned professionally.

Risk to Wires

Risk to Wires Source:https://www.jiskra-benesov.cz/

Rats are color-blind but they might find inclination towards a particular color to taste and that could be in the form of a wire. Apart from the wires, the other things in the car they would like to taste include belts, hoses, connectors and fasteners, rubber inserts and bulb holders. The worst it can do is disengaging the connection between your car and its ECU, which might costs you in thousands.

How to prevent a Rat occupying your car?

Also Read: Own a Luxury Car? Here’s How to Love It?

Here are few steps you can take to prevent the rat entering inside your car. Always remember that precaution is better than cure. So let’s check out what steps we can take to protect the beauty and functioning of our beloved car:

  • Naphthalene Balls or Raw Tobacco – Rats hate bad odor though they leave behind the same as a token of their existence. Keeping naphthalene balls or cheapest quality of tobacco in the car will keep the rats away. Simply sprinkle it thoroughly inside your engine bay.
  • You can also spray phenyl as a rat repellent
  • If you park your car in a parking lot, make sure to disinfect it once in a two week’s time
  • Wash your engine bay thoroughly if you find marks of a rat inside it to remove traces of its urine and defecate.
  • Leave the hood up of your car as rats like dark places, though it may not be practical every time
  • Do not leave your pets’ food inside as the rats like to party over it and can stuff it into air cleaners or other empty places
prevent a Rat occupying your car Source:https://www.cleanmachinelongview.com/
  • Try to seal off all the possible hiding places of the rat around your car
  • Try to block the small entrances to the engine bay by placing rat traps on wheels or other places that a rat uses to climb the car
  • Use electronic deterrent device to keep them away from your car as they can hear ultrasounds and hate to come in contact with the sounds
  • You can also leave your pets’ hair inside the car’s engine, or cat litter, pine-sol, peppermint oil, Irish spring soap, red pepper or laundry dryer sheets as “Rataway”

These tricks can help you in keeping your car rat-free! If you have some more secretive tricks that might be helpful in guarding your car from the rat family, be nice and share in the comments below:

 
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