Hey guys so I wanted to receive your opinion and input. I wanted to know if you believe this hose needs replacing. I wish to not have this hose fail on me and cause future potential damages to the engine of my car and I am not sure what this hose's function is.

For the past two weeks I have been having issues with a rodent chewing on my radiant coolers hose. It first chewed the one connecting to the engine, had to have it towed to Longo Lexus. Cost was around $300 for labor and parts. Tried to set up traps to prevent the rodent from attacking the car but it happened again. The rodent ended up chewing my hose connected to the radiator tank causing my car to overheat again and to be towed to Longo Lexus. That repair cost $220, decided not to go through insurance as my deductible is $500 anyways.

I assumed Longo would replace all hoses in my previous stop at their dealer but upon inspecting the engine earlier yesterday I found a hose that was chewed up by that bloody rodent from my most recent incident. Do you think this is a hose I should get replaced or not? I am just reluctant since the dealership charge so much on service to replace this one hose.

The chewed up hose



Location of the hose, if it helps(I wrapped in silicone tape originally thinking it might help?)

 

This might sound out of this world i heard someome say to use peppermint oil to keep rodents out of your engine bay. For the first few weeks you have to add few drops every night in the engine bay. I guess they dont like the smell. Worth a try.

 

you already know the answer. you need to replace the hose. you can get by with the damaged hose for a while, perhaps a year, maybe longer or shorter. but eventually it will fail.

 

You need to consider moth *****. Put them under the car at night. You may also want to consider putting them inside the hood when you get home at night. otherwise, mr. mouse is going to continue to use your car to help make his nest.

Also, your coolant lines are high pressure hoses, and I would not leave a hose that has a thin wall remain and "hope for the best". You need to replace it.

Honestly, for the money, go to the dealership, purchase a new length of hose. Drain the radiator, swap the hoses, and fill it back up. Should cost you somewhere around $50-60. Won't take you much longer than 20-30 mins of your time.

I would also consider spreading rat poison around the car.

 

The only bad thing about rat poison is it might die in the car. That would suck what if it died in the hvac system then you get the nasty decomposing smell. I say stick to mouse traps.

 

I would replace the hose. The best way to get the rodent is to put some peanut butter on the trap, you'll get him within an hour. Just put the trap somewhere near the car.

 

You'd just have to check under the hood every morning.

 

Hey guys went through some shops and got different quotes but I decided to just get it replaced by a local shop in my city. Found out it is a fuel vapor hose for the vacuum piping costing no more than $30 for the part. Paying an extra 25-30 for labor for swapping it as it appears to not be a labor-full job.

I appreciate all your input, dabbed a bunch of peppermint oil in the engine bay, setting up additional traps again and coating my tubes with foam and covering the hoses with Tabasco sauce.

 

peanut butter. rats LOVE peanut butter