2017~2024 Possible rodent or mice under the hood....

[Hng66]

Hello fellow Mazda owners,

I have a disturbing feeling that I may have 'mice or rodents' under the hood of my brand new car. I only suspected this, when I got into my car and started driving for a few minutes and heard a 'squealing, chirping' sound coming from inside the cabin. I've never heard anything like before while driving a car. I must have heard this faint noise no more than three times before it stopped; this occurred in a duration of about 15 to 20 minutes. I should have looked under the hood, but did not. I didn't see anything that resembled a rodent inside my car; however, i will eventually pop open my hood to look as soon as I'm able to. I usually park my car inside my garage, but recently I've been parking outside. Does anyone have any effective solution to this problem? Thanks.

 

[Conrad 16.5]

I've had issues with mice in my garage and chewing on my vehicles for a while. I really dislike using poison but I use a combo of poisoned bate traps and good old mouse smashing traps. My motorcycle gets stored for the winter months and I place a circle of traps around it for protection (I tired a pentagram but it didn't make any difference). Some folks have had good luck using home made 5 gal bucket traps, google is your friends on these.

 

[DubbuD]

Have a buddy here at work that had a brand new Silverado LT2, only like 2 months old. A rat got in through the cabin air vent and chewed through his centre console to get at the food he smelled inside. Had to replace the whole centre arm stack; the plastic centre console, leather arm rest, the hub inside the stack, all of it. Insurance job cost over $2k to get it all done if I remember correctly. Def wanna find out if there are rodents and get rid of them, because they can wreak some serious havoc on a machine's interior and electrical.

 

[banjos-n-beer]

Pop your hood, then look under the plastic engine cover. We had mice under there in our 2005 6.

 

[GP 2004]

I had a possum try to make a nest in a Toyota under the hood. This took care of the problem.

 

[GoFrogs]

I've heard cayenne pepper works; just don't get it in your eyes.

From - https://axleaddict.com/auto-repair/Mice-in-Your-Motor

Use electronic deterrent devices. Rodents can hear ultrasound, and it annoys them, at least for a while. Some learn to ignore it. Strobe lights like Mouse Blocker or Rid-a-Rat may work for longer periods, as they disrupt the darkness that rats prefer.

Make your engine and its entrances smell bad, at least to rats. Motorists have had success with peppermint oil, powdered fox urine, used cat litter, cat hair, dog hair, Pine-Sol, Irish Spring soap, red pepper, and laundry dryer sheets. The people who make "Rataway" tell you to spray it on all the wires in the engine.

 

[Monterra]

Unless the 2017 I test drove had the exact same rodent issue I think your issue is more likely wind. Could be I was confusing what sounded like wind chirp for mice of course- whatever it was very annoying and would no doubt drive me fn nuts!!

 

[gova]

Have had this happen in both of my CX-5. Pop out the plastic engine cover. Check coil cables and under cover insulation.

 

[Anchorman]

Rodents find some plastic and rubber parts irresistible, especially that high density foam. You can buy automotive rodent repellent.

 

[Buzzman12]

I live in the suburbs in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, and we have mouse issues all over the neighbourhood.
Just when you think you've killed the last one, they come back.
In the summer, I trap them mostly outside. They especially love to scrounge around in the barbeque.
Last winter we went south for a while, and I parked my Pathfinder in the garage while we were away.
When I got back and checked under the hood, they had built a nest in the air box. It was pretty substantial.
I cleaned it out, set traps in the garage, and caught 4 mice in four days.
They are pretty stubborn.
I always keep snap traps in the garage as well as my basement crawl space, and always seem to catch one. It never ends.

 

[123373]

You probably would have a dead animal smell by now to determine if it was mechanical or not.

 

[Dredz]

I work for an auto dealership on Vancouver Island and there is a rodent repellent system that works on high frequency sound that we sell, which works really well. We install them all the time for clients who live outside of the city in rural areas. Have a look for these systems , they work well...

 

[shiner26]

Hello fellow Mazda owners,

I have a disturbing feeling that I may have 'mice or rodents' under the hood of my brand new car. I only suspected this, when I got into my car and started driving for a few minutes and heard a 'squealing, chirping' sound coming from inside the cabin. I've never heard anything like before while driving a car. I must have heard this faint noise no more than three times before it stopped; this occurred in a duration of about 15 to 20 minutes. I should have looked under the hood, but did not. I didn't see anything that resembled a rodent inside my car; however, i will eventually pop open my hood to look as soon as I'm able to. I usually park my car inside my garage, but recently I've been parking outside. Does anyone have any effective solution to this problem? Thanks.

My wife had that issue. We set a few traps inside the vehicle. Caught him ( but not before he s*** everywhere)

 

[DrElectron]

Our 2017 CX-5 was sitting outside in the cold for about a month while we were away. Opened the hood to find a rodent nest on top of the battery. Purchased and installed (easy) a Vensmiles electronic pest repellent and after three weeks, it looks like it's strobe lights and sounds are keeping the rodents away. Works for me but of course, YMMV.

 

[Busch]

Sometimes the roof rack crossbars make such noises from the wind. Especially after-market ones. If you have a rack and it’s quiet when you are stopped, check them or the orientation of the bars.

 

[Avoidin Deer]

I had a friend who owned a '64 XKE. He parked it for a few years, and I helped him get it back on the road. We could not get it to start until we dropped the exhaust at the header. We then shoved a garden hose down the exhaust and flushed out a rodent's nest.

I live in the country and have seen a couple of small field mice over the years. Fortunately, I got a stray cat and a healthy snake population on my side.

 

[Raprider]

Had a nest in the air filter box under the hood in my Forester, and it looks like they got to the sound insulation in one of the doors.
Snap traps baited with granola all around the perimeter of the garage...along with a 5-gallon bucket in the middle of the garage (and another in the attic)...catch an average of 1 a day.
Mothballs surround my motorcycles and their exhausts are covered with aluminum foil.
Problem minimized but not eliminated. Sigh.

 

[2001birdowner]

Pop your hood, then look under the plastic engine cover. We had mice under there in our 2005 6.

This.

I’ve removed 3 nests from this location on my wife’s 16 CX5 and a few from the 3s we had.

Last winter we had a real problem in 16. Damn things ate threw the cabin air filter and munched on a bunch of foam within the air vents. My wife called me freaking out one morning because when she turned on the defroster small pieces of black foam started spraying everywhere.

About a month of setting traps under the hood every night and 3-4 dead mice later, we were good.

They also ate some of the black foam block between the head and intake manifold. Over then summer we also noticed some staining on the head liner above the B a C pillars. Found mouse crap when I pulled the trim. They were definitely making themselves at home in there last winter.

 

[Maximum_Effort]

I hate rodents; nothing but trouble. At our previous house we used to keep the dogfood for the boys in the garage. Went to get the oil changed on our 350z one day at one of those Jiffy-Lube type places. The guy goes to check the air filter while they're draining the oil and starts laughing. He comes around and asks me to come see.

The Z had a fairly short intake into the airfilter box, and the filter slid-in vertically. When the guy pulled the filter out this little avalanche of dog food spilled down. Some little corksoaker mouse had been stealing dogfood and stashing it into the air intake of the car. We stopped keeping the food outside after that and set up some traps and caught a few of them.

At the cottage we have to put all our pots/pans/bowls upside down otherwise the mice just make a mess of everything. Don't even get me started on squirrels.

Anyhow, we've had some luck with an ultrasonic repellent at the cottage. This Victor one has cut down on obvious mouse activity. If you can park in a garage, this may do the trick.

Super PestChaser Electronic Rodent Repeller | Google Shopping

 

[RedBaron]

I hate rodents; nothing but trouble. At our previous house we used to keep the dogfood for the boys in the garage. Went to get the oil changed on our 350z one day at one of those Jiffy-Lube type places. The guy goes to check the air filter while they're draining the oil and starts laughing. He comes around and asks me to come see.
...

My daughter put a bag of dog food in the garage about 3 years ago. My other car is a Solstice with a trunk lid, hinged at the back, that closes over the roof when it's down. The suckers stashed kibble INside the trunk lid, between the outer and inner steel pressings. Every time I open and close the trunk there's a rattle of kibble falling down. I tried to get as much of it out as I could, but the holes are very small - too small to get a vacuum hose in or anything. Ugh.