Check your air box…

[Gil-galad]

From under my hood.

Anecdotal but I read somewhere that using Ford engine shampoo may repel rodents. Up until now I've been spraying peppermint oil. I lapsed.

Almost looks like chew marks on the fuse box cover.

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[gwhalin]

I put 1/4" hardware cloth in mine and have left it in. I haven't noticed any performance degradation, but guessing it would be hard for me to notice.

Also took care of the cabin air entry at same time as I had found mouse droppings in my glove box (luckily no other sign in weeks).

 

[gwhalin]

Do you have pics ?

 

[IdahoRanger]

Noticed I had a mouse in my 2020 cabin when I saw droppings on the dash a year or so ago. I got the mouse that day and didn’t think of it again.
Fast forward to today when I decided to change the air filter…welp, looks like I’ve been driving for 15,000 miles with this sucker in it. Looks like he made quite the home…Check your air box after signs of mice!

That's gross.

 

[tny]

I took it last Friday. They looked at it, vacuumed and cleaned up and had to replace the air filter that was chewed through. I guess minimum damage.

Since then, I noticed again bits of paper chewed from a tissue left on the passenger floor. I placed a trap with the tissue and got one. I repeated with tissue a couple of nuts and crunchy peanut butter and got two on the driver's floor.

Now, with the first snow coming, I moved the truck into the garage and placed four traps inside and three under the hood, which I have left unlatched. Wait and seen.

In the mean time, I have received some stainless steel mesh and whenever I have a chance I will build some screens.

Recently I installed stainless protectors on bottom end of the side weather stripping of two of the garage doors and pending install on third door.

 

[Gil-galad]

Just finished fabrication and installation of one screen for the engine intake out of 1/2" wire cloth (similar to prior examples in this thread) and two screens for the two cabin air intake holes out of 1/4" wire cloth. Given the possibility of food items being left in the cab, I wanted more thorough protection at the openings under the cowl. The little bastards would be much more motivated to enter there than the engine intake. Plus, I like the fact of the 1/2" cloth being less restrictive to air flow to the engine.

Good to be primed and ready to ward off packrats while snowbirding in the desert Southwest this winter.

 

[Gil-galad]

Pics and install tips for your cowl screen install ?

Sorry, no pics. My mod was pretty much the same as that done by jblc in a previous post in this thread so pics from me would not add value. I cut six small tabs in the overlapping material on each screen to bend over the lip of the opening to affix the screens. I supplemented the tabs with outdoor permanent Gorilla Tape around the edges just in case they decided to loosen up a bit over time and start to rattle. Yeah, the tape is not the most elegant solution but at least it's out of sight.

It's a pain accessing those holes on the firewall. On my first try my overlap was too big and it prevented me from getting the screens past the first set of openings. Had to trim the overlap down to ~ 1/2" to get them inserted. The sharp wires on the screen edges bloodied my fingers several times while trying to get them into position. A small price to pay for the added rodent insurance.

 

[Bluestem]

It's definitely no fun trying to get your hands and anything else back by the firewall. My wife seemed a little concerned with all the cussing while I was screening mine off but it's been about 2 months since I did this and I haven't had a mouse in the cab since.

 

[Shortstuff116]

Within a week of getting my new 21 Ranger Lariat I popped the hood and found that something made a nest right on top of my battery. I didn't think much of it but over the months since I was seeing what looked like wet spray marks all throughout the interior. A couple months ago I installed the factory trailer brake controller which wired all the way back into the 3rd brake light and noticed what looked like mouse poop as far back as the bottom of the C pillar. Last week I put a couple mouse traps on my back floorboard (see pics) and have already caught 3 of them. In the pics below you'll also see a clump of material I found in my air cleaner today so I covered the intake with wire mesh.

In other posts, I've read and seen pics about the air intake for the heating/cooling system down through the cabin filter, but no picture shows me clear enough exactly where the air intake(s) are for the interior. Is it underneath the plastic cowl by the wipers? Can anyone please tell me where and how to get to these intake(s) so I can also block them with wire mesh.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Dgc333]

Mice got into my Barracuda in the garage and ate a hole in the headliner and built a nest up there. I got one of those ultra sonic & strobing LED deterrent and haven't seen any signs since.

The unit I got senses battery voltage changes so it turns off when you start the vehicle and turns on when you shut it off. Also has a low battery monitor so it will shut off before the battery is dead. Wasn't expensive, as I recall it was about $40.

Looks like you may need two, one under the hood and one under the dash.

 

[NotBudule]

love these , caught 8 in one day ... that mesh you used is a little big though , mickey might squeeze in there if he wants it bad enough..

 

[P. A. Schilke]

Hi Steve,

Many threads on mice!

https://www.ranger5g.com/forum/google-search/?q=mice

Best ,
Phil

 

[Joeiconic]

love these , caught 8 in one day ... that mesh you used is a little big though , mickey might squeeze in there if he wants it bad enough..

Agreed, that mesh is too big to stop a mouse.

 

[Kyp317]

Every time I see these threads it makes me paranoid lol. I love on a farm so LOTS of field mice. Have not seen any indications they are messing with my Ranger. Would your auto insurance cover damage they do to peoples vehicles?

 

[Shortstuff116]

Well, I spent a good part of a day putting a (size 6) stainless steel mesh over the two air ports that allow air into the cabin air system. It was a fairly easy fix as you can see in the pics. I ended up molding the mesh so that as one piece it would cover both openings. I ended up using JB Weld Steel Stick. I cut and mixed a batch of it and stuck strips above and below each opening and then pressed the mesh into them. I then molded the putty tight into the mesh as you can see in the pic. Within an hour the putty was rock hard and provided a nice tight fit for the mesh.

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