What do you guys/girls do to prevent animals from getting into your car?

This past Canada day long weekend I took my 8 up north and left my Jag sitting on the driveway for 4 days untouched. In that time an animal seemed to crawl under my hood to build a nest. The animal chewed through my hood insulation and all of the sound insulation along the firewall. I changed the supercharger oil on the Jag on last Thursday so I know there was nothing under the hood then, drove it last Friday and parked it for the weekend. Tuesday, I drove the car and noticed that I had a bit of a whistle and more engine noise from under the hood and this is what I found. Fortunately this is only 4 days of damage and it does not look like the critter had chewed through any wires or hoses.

 

Your cat needs a cat to protect it!

I keep the car in the shop and it has been rodent free. The neighbors outdoors cats keep the mice population down.

 

Two things that I've suggested to my customers in the past seem to work. A small bag of moth *****, OR a few well placed clothes dryer sheets. Obviously, watch where these items are placed in the engine compartment as you wouldn't want a bigger problem.

 

Update..... So I have added a few sheets of bounce under the hood and so far no more animals. I was told that Mint oil is a great way to keep the animals away as well. If the bounce sheets fail, I will try the oil

 

I had a similar incident with squirrels on my XKR while it was sitting outside for a few days. They damaged the same firewall insulation (but not my hood insulation).

I was able to quickly repair it in-situ so it is almost undetectable. Remove all the loose stuffing. Cut some fiberglass house insulation to fit the the remaining gap. Then use a scrap of thin black fabric to recover the entire insulation panel (at least all you can reach without disassembly) by adhering it with spray headliner adhesive, Trim with a sharp knife as needed.

 

Fox poo seems to be a reasonable deterrent against mice.

Just not sure that you would want to 'paint' your engine bay with it.

Works a treat in my log store, no sign or rats or mice.

 

I will pass on the poo, I do put my hands in there to work on the car.

 

On the bright side, it wasn't flooded in the storm!

 

I live on the 140 acre horse ranch. Backed up to the National Forest. In short,......animal GALORE. Skunks, squirrels, rodents, coyotes, deer, bobcats, bears,.......

Two cats on duty (bringing "throphies" to the porch DAILY!). Cars in one of the barns (along with motorcycles, and an airplane),.....plenty of oportunity for the rodents. Cats are doing what they can, but some vehicles (and a plane), are not used nearly enough, and the rodents could be a BIG problem.

One answer: TABASCO!

I spray all the wire harnesses with Tabasco, and there is NO damage, no nests, and no "poo evidence" of the "visitation". Works great. Learned this about 40 years ago in the Midwest.