Hi,

I've got an '01 S60, and though it's always been outside and I've had plenty of nesting material under the hood, I've never had a mouse inside the car until recently.

This seems to be a bad Winter for mice here in NY, as we've had a few in the house as well. We kinda asked for that, as our overhead garage door policy had been pretty lax, but we were lucky until this year. But I always thought that the Volvo was tight enough to be immune to rodents entering the cabin.

I caught one mouse in the car last night with a snap trap, and hopefully he was alone. But how did he get in, and is there a way to mouse-proof the car?

Thanks,
p.

 

volvo are some how addict to animals. by having rust proof or spray some wd-40 around your engine area could prevent animals of going in, they don't like that oilly.

 

Well, here's the thing. Rodents can do far more damage to your car without ever entering the cabin. Here in Texas, several times a year we see vehicles brought to the shop with sever damage to the underhood engine wiring. Squirrels, mice and rats all love to make nesting material out of the insulation. How do they get into the cabin? A rodent can enter any opening through which their head will fit. Take a look next time just how tiny a mouse's head is. They can eat their way through firewall grommets or floor pan frommets, then crawl under the carpet until they get to an opening. I highly recommend keeping the garage door closed, make certain the door seal well. Put out D-Con, traps, get a hungry cat...something to get the mice gone. They will also begin using your car as their personal litter box. At some point, most folks prefer that aroma to not be present.

 

I suspect fresh air ducts, but it seems the job of tracing their path of entry is near impossible, especially without a lift. I failed to make clear that my car is kept outside. The only defense I have is the neighbor's cat when she's let out. Not too formidable.

I just checked, and no signs of another one in the car, but we do have another in the house. It's critical to nail these things before they spawn another generation.

Thanks.

 

Oops...yeah, I read where you said it was always outside and then you mentioned the laxness on the garage door, referring to the house mouse. My tired brain seized on the latter without remembering the location of the car. The way air vents into the car is pretty limited for mice...very smal openings although certainly possible. Rodents are very determined and task oriented. I had a rat in my garage for a month or so. He managed to crawl into an empty 5 gallon platic Ozarka water bottle. Ate his way out! Undeterred (and rather stupid) he crawled into the other, identical water bottle and ruined it as well.

 

I thought that because I once had a Suzuki Sport in which a mouse got caught in the cabin blower cage. A real mess that was. But then I don't know how he got there. He could have chewed through internal ducting very easily after he was in.

BW,
p.