Preventing critters in the engine compartment

brian619 · Jan 12, 2014

Just moved from the coast to the mountains and have caught a rabbit twice in the engine compartment...dining on spark plug wires and the windshield wiper tube.

A user from driveaccord.net pointed over to link on here about skid plates..but I'm thinking there must be an easier way....i.e., chikenwire.

Anybody on here have problems with critters and found a relatively simple fix????

TIA

SSMNVCG3 · Jan 13, 2014

A garage would be best but I would assume you don't have one to use since you're asking this question. But the skid plate would help some but its not going to cover the entire bottom so some critters can still find their way in.

SykVSyx · Jan 13, 2014

You could try getting some life-like(size)animal figures(hawk/fox) and place them near the car, usually works more for birds, but it might be worth a shot.

RedRyder · Jan 13, 2014

Maybe coat affected areas with bitters or some other taste/scent they don't like. That could become tedious/smelly though. If the car isn't lowered maybe you could stack some paving stones in an area about the footprint of the subframe, then park the front of the car over that every time you park so there isn't enough room for critters to get through and up into the underside of the car. There would have to be enough clearance so that there is minimal space between the underside of the car and the stones, but enough that they couldn't get in.

Sidenote, a squirrel was apparently attracted to the smell of coolant and chewed through one of the main coolant tubes on my sister's car (my old car) a couple years ago.