I have a 2018 NX300. I also have a Toyota RAV4. The RAV4 had some issues and I took it to a garage. Rodents had chewed through some cable causing the engine problems. When the mechanic took off the air box cover and removed the filter there was a very alive rat that jumped out. It had chewed up some of the filter and made a nest in the manifold. Cost to repair around $800

Needles to say I took the air filter out of the Lexus and there is evidence that a rodent has been there. chewed acorns and some chewed black insulation pieces under the air filter. I am livid.

Where is the actual air intake? It looks like it is behind the left fender. I want to try and get to it the opening and pop some metal fabric cloth over it so they cannot find a cozy home.

If anyone has any info on keeping rodents away from the car I would love to hear some first hand experience. I am working on emptying the garage to get the Lexus in as a bare minimum. I have heard from some of my neighbors who have also had rat damage. I need Bill Murray from Caddyshack!

Stephen

 

Been there! But they were mice, not rats, that caused all the damage to my Jeeps, back in the day.

I now park the NX and Q5 in the same garage, but every early-November, when the outside food supply diminishes, I set mouse traps in the garage with Jif extra-crunchy peanut butter for bait.

Seems I catch quite a few mice at first, and then by late December, nary a one...and none have gotten in the car since the Jeep incidents in the late '90's.

 

Try to put some peppermint oil dipped cotton ***** everywhere in the engine bay. Mice hate that smell.

 

Some good suggestions. Also make sure you don't have a food source near the vehicle. Like don't keep dog food in your garage.

 

I can add a few suggestions to the good advice given by others.

Dryer fabric softener sheets can be a deterrent to rodents. You can put a few of them in the engine compartment. Fasten them with zip ties to locations away from engine heat.

Many animals, including rodents, can be deterred by the smell of Irish Spring or Coast deodorant soap. You can slice up the bars of soap, put them into some sort of mesh bag, and tie them to spots in the engine compartment that are, again, away from heat.

My last suggestion is one that I give with lots of caution. A very effective rodent poison is anti-freeze. The rodents are attracted to it by its sweet smell, and, when they drink it, it will be lethal to them. You can put a couple of shallow dishes with a small amount of anti-freeze in them at locations under the front of your vehicles. But this has to be done very, very carefully. Definitely, using the anti-freeze is something you don't want to do if there is any chance that pets or other animals might be able to get into the garage.

Two winters ago, I had mice that built nests in the HVAC vents of both of my vehicles. They built the nests on top of the cabin air filters. By the time I discovered one of the nests, it had gotten down into the HVAC fan, and the baby mice in the nest got chewed up by the fan. The result was horrible odor that spread through the cabin. Even after having the fan cleaned up, it took almost a year with using various disinfectants before all of the odor was gone. Doing anything you can to keep them out is definitely worth the effort.

 

Eww. And I thought I had it bad when my old Camry would smell of dog food whenever it rained. Turned out the mice discovered an open bag of dog food on a shelf in the garage and thought they’d better stash some in the inlet plenum of the HVAC. I had to just about tear the system apart to get it all out. Mouse mince...yuck!

 

Today I saw a dead baby mouse on the passenger side floor. After searching on internet, it seems manny people have experienced it. After opening the cabin vent filter, which is located in the back of the glovebox, I found three other live mice there! I had to pull them out by a vacuum cleaner! The air filter needs to be changed.

 

OMG, good luck.
Btw, I also heard that mothballs can help to get rid of these bastards.

 

This is a poor design by Lexus!

After spending over $1,000, I have installed Loraffe Under Hood Animal Repellent Car Rat Rodent Repellent Ultrasonic Mouse Deterrent. You get two units under $50. Money well spent.

 

Well, during this time I was looking for poisons and other methods, like baits for rats, but I found here the most uncommon ones http://www.bugszapper.com/choosing-t...rry-free-home/. The article there is very useful, you can check it. I decided to choose a special mousetrap bait. I decided to try bait block peanut butter flavor rodenticide. By the way, I didn't know that rats love peanut butter. I will definitely try, because I didn't even look at the poisons. I'm afraid for my dog, who loves to eat everything. Btw, my cat also likes eating something tasty, so this bait can help me.

 

Better to use a deterrent than poison. What you don't want to have happen is the rodent eats the poison then goes to its "den" in the car and dies somewhere in the ducts, etc. You may have a tough time finding the body as they will often go hide when poisoned. So keep them out of there in the first place using some of the methods described above.

Toyota was using soy as their insulation material on their wiring harnesses since it was environmentally friendly and was recyclable. It's also apparently delicious to mice, which is a real problem.

 

Sorry for the necro guys, I have no way of messaging OP.

OP did you find out what the black insulation pieces came from? I have the same situation going on and am hoping you can save me the hassle of disassembling the whole duct system to determine the part. I need to order it or find out what it is to replace it.

 

Good Morning,

So sorry about the damage you’ve experienced with your cars. I had 3 neighbors at my development where I lived for 25 years in Southern NJ that had the very same thing happen to them twice.

Two people had Honda accords and another guy had a Neison SUV. All of them suffered significant wire and manifold chewing damage from squirrels.

Our HOA director setup traps to catch the squirrels to relocate them in a wooded area but the very same thing happened the following year with more squirrels. We didn’t have a garage for the cars so they sat outside all the time.

I think maybe keeping the car in the garage might be an option but I am not certain that will help.

Best of luck.

Sandra



——————-
QUOTE=syale;10477416]I have a 2018 NX300. I also have a Toyota RAV4. The RAV4 had some issues and I took it to a garage. Rodents had chewed throughhT some cable causing the engine problems. When the mechanic took off the air box cover and removed the filter there was a very alive rat that jumped out. It had chewed up some of the filter and made a nest in the manifold. Cost to repair around $800

Needles to say I took the air filter out of the Lexus and there is evidence that a rodent has been there. chewed acorns and some chewed black insulation pieces under the air filter. I am livid.

Where is the actual air intake? It looks like it is behind the left fender. I want to try and get to it the opening and pop some metal fabric cloth over it so they cannot find a cozy home.

If anyone has any info on keeping rodents away from the car I would love to hear some first hand experience. I am working on emptying the garage to get the Lexus in as a bare minimum. I have heard from some of my neighbors who have also had rat damage. I need Bill Murray from Caddyshack!

Stephen[/QUOTE]

 

I have a 2015 RX350 and have a similar issue; nest above the air cabin filter (a ball of the sound insulation about 5" diameter). Also had them under the engine cover...they used the same sound insulation.
I put cayenne pepper under the engine cover...to good effect.
How on earth did the mice get to the top side of the cabin filter with all that material is my question. Would they have had to chew through some ductwork?
My research continues.

 

Ewww — that is crazy 😳 😬

I’m so glad I can keep my NX garaged and have had zero issues.

Please Update us when you find the source…