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Sulisuli



Member Since: 30 Oct 2016
Location: South west
Posts: 4795
United Kingdom 2015 Defender 90 Puma 2.2 HT Corris Grey
Where’s Kevin the gerbil? Rolling with laughter 2015 HT XS 90
2008 SVX 90
2000 XS TD5 90
Post #807526 25th Dec 2019 12:35am
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Supacat



Member Since: 16 Oct 2012
Location: West Yorkshire
Posts: 11018
United Kingdom 2013 Defender 110 Puma 2.2 XS DCPU Keswick Green
Just reading that Toyota are facing a revival of an old lawsuit over their use of soy-based insulation on wiring. I don't think they are alone in moving to these products either, lots of mention of many other brands but not JLR so far.

I wonder how many other new materials being introduced on grounds of sustainability will also suffer from this issue in time?


Click image to enlarge

"Every farmer knows that vermin nesting in a warm engine bay is yesterday’s news. It’s been a problem since the steam age. What is troubling is the growing volume of online stories about rodents chewing up expensive wiring looms that keep Audis, Hondas, Toyotas and Volvos running. Owners of some European makes have reportedly paid upwards of $8,000 for repairs.

Some are blaming the auto industry’s shift to wire insulation made from soy, as well as rice husks, wood, peanut oil, corn and other sugars. Critics charge that plant-based plastics give off a faint vanilla smell when warm, turning vehicles into a moveable feast for pests.

Automotive wiring used to be coated with less appetizing polymer-based plastic insulation. But over the past 20 years, manufacturers have adopted biodegradable materials to make recycling easier and to meet sustainability targets set by well-meaning government policy.

Sweet organic car parts garnered a headline in the Los Angeles Times in 2013 when rabbits chewed up cars parked at the international airport in Denver, Colorado.

“They come to the recently driven cars for warmth, and once they’re there, they find that many of the materials used for coating ignition cables are soy-based, and the rabbits find that quite tasty,” a mechanic at a nearby service centre told the Times. "

https://www.wheels.ca/news/rodent-damage/
Post #851366 22nd Aug 2020 5:41am
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Brucech



Member Since: 15 Oct 2018
Location: Perthshire
Posts: 10
United Kingdom 1998 Defender 90 V8 Petrol 50th Auto Chawton White
Rodent in car
No issue with vermin boxes nearby as the Barn Owls will not eat dead animals - we have had boxes in the stables for a couple of years now after the mice ate the seats in my new Mustang while stored for the winter. £4500 of damage as all seat covers had to be replaced. I also now have a Carcoon for further protection.
Post #851386 22nd Aug 2020 8:24am
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Tim in Scotland



Member Since: 23 May 2007
Location: The Land that time forgot
Posts: 3753
 
After 30 years living here out in the sticks I had only ever seen the occasional harvest mouse and they never came into the house but during lockdown I had a “group” of rats bold as brass on my patio and under my apple tree, feeding on peanuts dropped from the bird feeders. First thing was the bird feeders were removed and emptied into a steel bin and then I placed 4 of the “Big Cheese” poison traps from B&Q. The rats obviously liked the poison as it was consumed pretty quickly but also I haven’t had any signs of the rats from about 4 days after setting the poison traps. Unfortunately I also found a tiny ginger haired field mouse dead on the patio so assume it too had nibbled at the bait. I don’t know where the rats came from as we don’t have any fast food outlets that might provide food for them and the pub in the village has been closed for 9 months after changing hands and undergoing a make over during the lockdown so no food there either.
I once had a Volvo 480ES that the field mice developed a taste for the under bonnet insulation of and stripped it all off and then had a go at son]me of the wiring loom....... pest control came and found several tiny gaps in the brickwork of the garage up stand. The house builder was still on site and came and blocked up all the marked holes the pest control highlighted. I queried the airbricks but pest control said the vent holes were less than 5mm across so were too small for any mouse to get through! I’ve not had any mice in the garage since. Pangea Green D250 90 HSE with Air Suspension, Off-road Pack, Towing Pack, Black Contrast roof , rear recovery eyes, Front bash plate, Classic flaps all round, extended wheel arch kit and a few bits from PowerfulUK Expel Clear Gloss PPF to come
2020 D240 1st Edition in Pangea Green with Acorn interior. Now gone - old faithful, no mechanical issues whatsoever ever but the leaks and rattles all over the place won’t be missed!
Post #851388 22nd Aug 2020 8:31am
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