TheSamba.com :: View topic

Fri Jan 18, 2013 10:49 pm

So on my '81, I finally finish my custom exhaust, bleed the brakes, etc., get tires installed, pass emissions with flying colours, van drives great.....

Huh. Why isn't my dome light working?

Dig around, no + at light all other accessories on that circuit work. Power is at fuse, fuse ok......

Drop the fuse panel. Humpf? A severed wire? Strange. Did it melt? Uh.....

(this may also explain why my wiper washer doesn't spray. :roll: )

I'm so flippin pissed right now.

#20 Interior light wire

ya.

Home: remnants of hose, eye glass cleaner cloth, paper. Note the severed brown hose.

Fri Jan 18, 2013 10:57 pm

That sucks. My first thought was that I was glad to see it wasn't squirrels.

dang vermin.

Fri Jan 18, 2013 11:05 pm

Thanks. Ya. It sucks! My worst fear is that I've inhaled that fargin mouse disease via the defrost while driving today. (at least I hope it was mice. < shudders > )

I think the damage to the big and smaller vent hoses is pretty clear proof (as others have found) that the vermin got in through the gaps between the fresh air ram grill and ram. Ironically, I just recently sealed those gaps on my '88.

IMO.... Anyone who hasn't done this, do it! Seal those gaps! I got my inspiration from pics here in the gallery section.

Given my nature, this means I have to inspect every blinkin' wire up there. And very likely pull the dash, clean out the heater box. Sheesh. At least I know how to do the work.

Neil.

Fri Jan 18, 2013 11:26 pm

Bummer for sure. To me, going by the ridges on the ducts, it looks like the ducts were chewed from the outside, not the inside.

Sat Jan 19, 2013 8:06 am

Our shop cats make quick work of any vermin :!:

Sat Jan 19, 2013 8:43 am

I made the mistake of leaving a role of paper towels I was using in a van.......

Sat Jan 19, 2013 9:01 am

Quote: Our shop cats make quick work of any vermin

I have 5 cats.. hehe...

but the drawback is time to time they proudly bring in the house mice or rats to show to us... I rather see them in the house than in the vanagon...

:D

Sat Jan 19, 2013 9:46 am

Wear a mask, gloves, spray any droppings with bleach before removing, etc., etc.

Sat Jan 19, 2013 9:57 am

Gauche1968 wrote: Wear a mask, gloves, spray any droppings with bleach before removing, etc., etc.

x2...dirty, smelly, disease ridden filth :!:

Sat Jan 19, 2013 10:13 am

Thanks people.

edit: yes. I will be wearing mask, goggles, and will spray what I can first then remove dung and clean. I'll read up on HPS et al

The PO of my house left a jug of Ammonia in the basement. Maybe that with water? I'll google it.

I bet the buggers got into the heat exchange box too.

insyncro:

Heh. In hindsight.... when the van was parked (as usual) nose in and under cover, there would routinely be cat paw prints on the windshield. Like the cat would be in the luggage rack, then slide/run down. Maybe he was waiting for the mice? Ya cats might help. More cats please.

GreenMachineVW:

Ya I see what you mean. Those wretched souls chewed at the outside high ridges on big hose. I assumed they got in via the fresh air ram. Like since my Laurel hedge had grown up against the van, they climbed from there to grill. But maybe they got in via an open door during a road trip. Seems they might've gotten as far as the front seat as that eye glass cleaning cloth would have been somewhere around there.

Thankfully, I scavenged the heat box, some hoses, vents from my '85. When did VW go to the small OD paper hoses?

Neil.

Sat Jan 19, 2013 10:16 am

i used to try and keep the Kitters out of the vans at the shop and in my personal garage...now I keep the door open for them.
Com'on in and get those mousers.

Sat Jan 19, 2013 10:30 am

The neighbours cat is super friendly; like he HAS to come in and check out my house. But.... He doesn't seem like much of a mouser. Too laid back.

I used to almost chuckle when I heard of mice getting into peoples Westies. I chuckle no more!

They are a desperate beast. A while back, on the way home from the US, I camped at a small dispersed CG in WA. Cattle aside, next morning I found a dead mouse in my grey water bucket. He was that desperate!

Neil.

Sat Jan 19, 2013 11:11 am

I used to have a horse that would whack mice with his hoof when they were collecting grain in his stall.

There were many a morning when I found mouse pancakes :lol:

He would be so excited to show me what he had done.

Many treats were given for such good work :!:

Sat Jan 19, 2013 6:56 pm

insyncro wrote: I used to have a horse that would whack mice with his hoof when they were collecting grain in his stall.

I don't know horses but....

Good horse!

Little bugger rodents also severed the ground to the dome light. Real thorough.

Neil.

Sat Jan 19, 2013 8:21 pm

Chickens like to eat mice too.

Sat Jan 19, 2013 8:56 pm

^

ha ha.

Now I need chickens, a horse, and cats.

FWIW for anyone else with a similar situation....

Pulled the dash, split the heater box No *signs* of rodents in there. Thankfully. And up behind the dash, they really seemed to favour one side of my bus over the other; most damage done there. Seems like they wanted to migrate up the frame beside the windshield. Hence the + & - dome lights being chewed.

Can't speak highly enough of taking what you can from a given parts van. NEVER thought I'd need these hoses and even a plastic elbow! Wish I'd pulled both big hoses but I can repair the p-side hose. And ya I could've duct taped stuff up but since I had the parts.....

I didn't pull the wiper washer hose from the donor, but I'm sure that's an easy thing to find.

Neil.

Sun Jan 20, 2013 5:16 am

We've had the same problem with ground squirrels eating the wiring of work trucks. Looking into some trapping and maybe spraying the engines with some kinda of yucky deterrent made for pets? My first thought was pepper spray, but that probably would end badly for a driver or mechanic.

Sun Jan 20, 2013 9:16 am

Someone told me that rodents hate the smell of drier sheets. I am not sure if that is true or just an urban legend, but they are cheap so maybe it is worth leaving a few around your van. :)

Sun Jan 20, 2013 9:23 am

Gauche1968 wrote: Someone told me that rodents hate the smell of drier sheets. I am not sure if that is true or just an urban legend, but they are cheap so maybe it is worth leaving a few around your van. :)

My Mom the herbalist says lavender and pennyroyal essences can deter them from making a nest.

Some of those dryer sheet smells would keep me out of the van too :lol:

Sun Jan 20, 2013 10:41 am

would the OP show a photo of where the vermin got into his van? I am not so sure from the description of where they entered in the grill/ram air area??? I certainly will seal that up on my van, but i dont know where you are talking about.

thanks

PS cats can be vermin, scratched paint, torn interiors, cat piss in the interior if the window got left down, (worse than mouse pee in smell and volume) some cats love to pee on chrome hubcaps, and that pee corrodes the hudcap, right thru the chrome. car covers shredded, stained.

the cat dont come back no more