Mice....... Small things can make BIG problems.

I'm sure most people here know what kinds of problems mice can do. I had my 66 Olds in storage for a winter out in the country in somebodys garage. Well I brought it home not to long after last winter and sure enough it got some mice into it, the only thing really noticable was the 3 holes in the headliner they put in it.

But what gets me is the smeel they can leave, what does everybody do to clean up after them? I took the back seat out and cleaned under it and found a nice nest there, but the front seat, I dunno kinda afraid to take it out and see if there was any damage under it.

This car has under 45,000 miles on it, so I thought I would start a thread about mice........

What can people do to prevent mice from getting into a car?

Mothballs didnt work for me as I had plenty in the car.

What do people use to clean up after them?

I hate to have to strip the seats apart and sandblast the frames of them as I know their urine can rust out seats. I dont think my problem was that bad anyways.

But what about smell? I used lots of Feebreeze on it tonight and will steam clean it after winter when I am ready to drive it again.

Anyways like I said just wanted to start a thread for tips for everyone, what people can do to avoid the problem and what people can do if they had the problem........

 

Put a bar of Irish spring soap under the seat, for some reason they don't like the smell of it.
Ed

 

I bought a Shelby GT-350 out of a barn many years ago that mice had gotten into the headliner....Had a new one put in but it seemed to be few years before the smell was gone, mostly in the summer

 

I had a friend that used to clean houses and he says spread some Folgers coffee right out of the can let it set a couple of days then vacuum it up. I never tried it but hell it's worth a try.

Dawg

 

Haven't heard the Irish Spring or coffee idea, interesting. Bounce dryer sheets is supposed to work to deter mice plus smells good.

 

I don't have any pets or children in my garage, so I leave a few bowls of antifreeze around my car. Might not be politicaly correct but it works for me. As for odors fresh coffee grounds work well as does bakeing soda . Carlg

 

Do a search and find the 5 gallon bucket & beer can "Wheel of Death" contraption. WORKS GREAT!

 

I always put some D-con in the garage and if I have a car that will be sittiing long time I will put some in the car as well.

Bill

 

I bet up in that headliner you have a small nest. I brought in my F1 truck and had mice nests all over it. Even in the exhaust manifolds and bellhousing. I found a hole in the burlap behind the seat and yep in there to and behind the steel header panel.
The only thing they didnt get into was the gas tank.

 

Check the frame out too. I got a mountain sizes pile of nest and other crap out of my frame. Found all of it when I cut it to install a subframe. Guessed if left it would have promoted rusting out from the inside.
Bob

 

you can try something like this:
http://www.bull-frog.com/products/#cocoons

 

Great tips everybody, glad there was some good info and maybe we can all benefit from this thread.

 

I used to hate cats. Then about 12 years ago we moved into a place with several old buildings. Great storage but the mice and rats thought it was great too. I found that keeping a couple of cats around was cheaper than anything else invented! They also keep the snakes away too. (Nothing will wake you up like finding a copperhead under your toolbox!) I love cats.

 

Anymore tips?

 

Bounce works!!

 

Old farmer trick, MOTH BALLS ! i do it every year, put them in a small pastic cup, put them inside the car, in side the hood ,on the engine, trunk, ect.ect.,car stinks like hell for a while but it beats the hell out the damange those little basterds can do. I even put them around the corners of the shop, Just becarefull the "Good" animals don't eat them.

 

If you buy a car with signs of mouse activity, don't immediately put it in a garage attached to your house. My dad did that with a couple of cars he got when he bought a whole collection of thirteen cars out of Nebraska. We ended up transporting at least one family of mice 500 miles to live in our house. It took months to get rid of all of them. They were brown mice, and the ones around here are gray, so we know they came with the cars. One other car my dad bought was a '36 Ford 5-window coupe- the proverbial barn find. It had been sitting for 23 years in a barn with absolutely no care given it, but it was an 8500 mile original. Mice had used it for an apartment building for years, so the whole interior had to go. Not only do you get the mouse urine smell, but also any babies that die stay in the car, so you get a nice cornucpia of stink. The mothball trick works and it keeps away moths- important if you have the original style mohair interior.

 

2nd the mothballs. 57 chevy stored in a barn for 10+ years, last 5 constant. Surounded/bathed in mothballs every winter and for last 5 years. My dad swears by it.
Decon also works. I've got a few "non-rent paying tennants" this fall. Tried traps..nada. Was afraid of smell of death in the house...those bastards would'nt eat peanutbutter but they ATE in to an UNOPENED box of Decon so they could torture me with the smell of their rotting corpses
I think I'll go buy a truckload of coffee, Irish Spring and mothballs this weekend

 

JUST ONE BITE, rat and mouse bait, DEADLY! Find it at tractor supply.

 

I got mice in my house after the other half of my semi detached was being rebuilt by my neighbors and they had it open for a while.

Lots of mouse traps = an entire family of mice in less than 2 hours. I borrowed a cat after that and haven't seen sign of a mouse yet.

 

Pet Stores have a variety of products specifically designed to eliminate urine odors.

After scrubbing as much as you can, follow up with a spray bottle filled with any of the enzyme removers.

**A word of caution, mouse droppings can be a seious health hazzard. Make sure you wear a particulate mask when you plan on cleaning up.

Sweeping or vacuming affected areas can launch viruses airborn and make you very sick.**

 

Storage and bad little things about great cars:
I've stored collector cars for winter for over 25 years and have tried many things, some even work!
BIGGEST PROBLEM ---- VERMIN!!
I've had mice, raccoons, birds, insects and even snakes try to take up residence in my cars or their storage area. Mice are definitely the most serious concern. They will get through anything not welded shut and will decimate an interior or ruin areas in your vehicle you just can't believe with nesting and excrement -. I left a radiator cap off and found a nest in there. Heater ducts seem to be a favorite spot - not fun to have to disassemble a heater core to pull out nesting, bones and excrement. Barns of course are the worst but even a suburban attached garage can surprise. BTW- That urban legend about mothballs (napthaballs-sp?) only makes for the WORST SMELLING rides at the carshows. I've tried them and indeed the mice won't eat the mothballs but they ignore them. Just today I rolled out my sons snomobile which was carefully prepared for storage and sure enough mice had chewed the foam in the engine compartment!. I've seen ads for "Baggies" to envelop a car but haven't tried yet. I always insist there be no food or drink in my vehicles not for fear of spills or stains but because I don't want any trace or smell of food while in storage. I have one vehicle with the drivers seat area chewed away - !!??.
USEFUL SUGGESTIONS:
> I put fuel stabilizer in tank - Fill tank if storage is subject to heating & cooling cycles to prevent condensation.
> lightly jack body up to remove total load from springs - I don't mean off ground just relieve weight partially
> remove or at least disconnect battery - charge periodically over winter
> I do try to roll out and start @ once a month, If not possible, I remove plugs and squirt @1oz oil/cyl BEFORE starting in spring.
> I don't like to cover them, I let them get real dusty because vermin prefer the dark and the dust leaves telltale claw (hoof) trails.
I was looking at a real fine 64 convertible recently and when the proud owner fired it up a bunch of mice bailed out of the engine compartment into the interior!. Hmmm… I wonder about those piezio sonic rodent things?.

Up to my axles in squashed apples in N.Y.'s Hudson Valley

 

check independant parts store for a product called "mouse-out"
lubricating product like wd-40 made years ago for aircraft landing gears to lube and keep mice out. lube door hinges and latch and keep mice away . really works we used to sell a lot of it

 

A couple plastic mop buckets with say an inch of motor oil in them make good mousetraps too. Our old place I'd left one hanging off the garage door frame and forgot about it, then went to dump it out and there was at least three of them dead in the oil.


The problem with cats is make sure especially with males to have them neutered, or they will piss on everything too and if you think the mouse pee will rust stuff and stink... I scrapped a couple chrome steel wheels with center caps after the cats had peed on them over a winter and the faces were all rust. And the females are liable to get knocked up and drop a load of kittens under the seat = not much better, so..


And it could be worse. I have a 235 in a car that runs that sat stored outdoors when I got the car and had sat with the oil cap off the valve cover. I took the cover off and wondered what the black fuzzy shit was all over the rockers.. when I started pulling it out I realized that's where the mice had nested. Made for a nice fun cleanup job.

 

mice dont like mint,a little mint oil in a few spots may help,but needsto be replaced periodicaly.worked in my trailer.they dont like any soap ever see a mouse take a shower

 

well IF it's tooo late & u already have had mice in ur car, go to ur local hardware store & look for some Concentrated Germicidal Cleaner. i had over a foot of Rat Shitt in my bus when i got it. i even left the bus outside for 2yrs b4 bringing it into my garage, i tried several products & nothing would get rid of the FUNK untill i used that stuff. with one good soaking of this stuff the smell was gone forever, best part is this stuff will kill all those bad bugs & viruses that can harm u .....joe

 

Good topic...... anymore thoughts?

 

Never Eat In Your Car
Never Leave Wrappers Of Any Kind In Car /garage
Dcon Will Leave Dead Mice Somewhere
All Mice Pee To Leave Trails To Find...
Home ... Family ... Sex Partners...food
Make Trails Harder To Use If Traps And Obsticles Are In The Way
The Critter Can Climb/ Jump Any Where They Can Stick Thier Head Thru ... Eliminate Obvious Entrances
Make Naybors Place More Attractive By Leaving Bedding And Food Source Near Thier House

Teach Your S.o. To Like The Fragrance

By The Way Snakes Eat Mice Too

 

I use dryer sheets, they seem to work well and leave your car smelling nice!! I change them once a month. Throw a few in the inside the car and trunk areas.

 

No need to use fresh coffee grounds. Go to your local coffee shoppe and ask them to set some used grounds aside for you. That's how I used to destink semi trailers. BTW, it does help to provide the coffee shoppe with a bucket to put the grounds in.