Is Your Air Filter Box A Rodent Hotel???

[RJOL]

I was camping on the Oregon Coast when the neighbor next door told me that I should check my engine compartment, because a squirrel had been visiting it all day. I look under the hood but saw nothing.



When I got back home, and was checking my fluid levels, I noticed that the "air filter minder" gauge was over half closed. I've never seen this device move more than a fraction of an inch on my current Dodge or my last one, so I decided to change the filter.



When I pulled the box cover off, and took the filter out... this is what I found (see photo)...



If you camp in the woods, you might want to put some kind of wire mesh over the air filter intake hole. It just opens up to the area above the front wheel shield and is much too tempting for the average rodent...

 

[Paddy McMahon]

Beware... . the next victim will be the sound deadening insulation on your hood. I had to tear mine out and throw it away after a family of chipmunks moved in between the sheetmetal hood and the insulation. Heck I was parked in my driveway in Idaho for less than a day for that to happen! I am considering removing the same insulation on the firewall side of the engine compartment to avoid having this be a reoccurring problem. Rodents are also notorious for nibbling shorts in electrical wiring harneses, what to do...

 

[Regcabguy]

Bait 'em.

Beware... . the next victim will be the sound deadening insulation on your hood. I had to tear mine out and throw it away after a family of chipmunks moved in between the sheetmetal hood and the insulation. Heck I was parked in my driveway in Idaho for less than a day for that to happen! I am considering removing the same insulation on the firewall side of the engine compartment to avoid having this be a reoccurring problem. Rodents are also notorious for nibbling shorts in electrical wiring harneses, what to do...

My wife works for the schools here... she baits 'em. PETA nuts come out of the wall though. Look at the poor things,they're in agony! They don't have a problem with soil erosion or rabies though. Jeez!

 

[Radshooter]

We left the wife's Toyota truck at the farm in Kansas while we went on vacation in the Dodge a few years ago. When we came back, the heater fan ran very badly, like it was WAAAAY out of balance. Tore it apart and removed a pack-rat nest from it. Had to shave some fins on one side of the wheel opposite where he had chewed it to get it back into somewhat balanced state.

 

[Andersonville]

Chipmunks are bad for this stuff. JUST THINK OF EVERY WIRE U TOUCHED WITH YOUR SWEATY HANDS. They will come back for that this winter and chew the insulation off the wires! A solution maybe?: Spray the wires with Tabasco and or Raid but dont put it where it can be sucked into the cab air intake!

 

[WilsonF]

Changed the air filter on my wifes mini-van found about a gazillion M&Ms inside.



Floyd

 

[jelag]

Ft. Stevens State Park???

 

[JCasper]

Ft. Stevens State Park???

the racoons there are brave

 

[RHestand]

My wife's new V-6 Honda.

A rodent ate the wires under the intake manifold. $700+ at the dealer.

Yesterday, I was doing maint. work our friend's S-10.

A varment had pulled black insulation from somewhere, and built a nice nest in her air box, along with a winters supply of leaves, seeds, etc.

After cleaning, I installed wire mesh and a hose clamp on the opening, inside of the air box.

For the Honda ?

 

[Mr.Goat]

The air filter box is a prime prospective apartment for the little fellas. In my case it was red squirrels. We now have heavy 1/4" square mesh screen over the air intake opening. No problems since and I live in the country and we have alot of squirrels, chipmunks, and thousands of mice.

The mice are the wire eaters around these parts. After filling there little tummies with plastic they usually curl up and die in the heater. They always seem to get the last laugh. Doing there business all over the lava rocks/briqettes in the BBQ is another delight they enjoy inflicting on folks.

 

[AdamH]

I've had the same problem. Leaving the hood open seems to help. I have not had any more rodent problems since I started leaving the hood up when parked for extended periods.

 

[Sean Woodruff]

Not a hotel but a restaurant and a restroom...

Just yesterday I took the cover off the fuse box under the hood and found it loaded with pumpkin seed shells and some "pellets"...