Glue traps work too but may torture the rat.

AutosBay:
You may have bats in your belfry, but how about rats in your manifold, or mice in your motor?

It is a myth that small autos are powered by hamsters running on exercise wheels, but it is an unfortunate fact that rodents can live and create mayhem in engine compartments.

In fact, the damage done to vehicles by mice, rats, and their many cousins can be considerable.

Gnawing wires, ripping out insulation for nesting materials, or squirreling away caches of nuts and trash in car and truck engines can destroy some of man's most sophisticated transportation technology and cause significant financial loss.

This is especially true if you live in a rural area. You need your car to get to your job or to go shopping, but wood rats and other critters want it for their homes.



Some Techniques Work: For Some People, Some of the Time

Rodents are everywhere, and some are likely to invade your vehicle and do damage. They can find your car, decide it is a safe place to make a nest and a handy site to store food. If you can discourage them, you may win the battle.

There are dozens of techniques used to prevent mayhem by the destructive critters. Here are some successful measures rat damage victims have tried, especially in combination. Multiple lines of defense seem to work best.

Steps to take:

Leave the hood up. Rodents are looking for a dark place to nest. This idea may help discourage nesting, but may not be practical in all situations.

Hide your dog food, cat food, and birdseed. Dog food is the gold standard of rat society. Rats will stuff pounds and pounds of it into the air cleaner, glove compartment, or other empty spaces in your car.

Remove or seal off rat hiding places near the car. Cut down nearby shrubbery and vines where they can hide. If you have a garage, block rat-sized entrances to the building, or spray them with substances or solutions that rats hate

Block small entrances to the engine compartment. Some car owners place traps around the vehicle or on top of the wheels, since rats climb wheels to get into the engine. Some block engine openings with wire screen.

Use electronic deterrent devices. Rodents can hear ultrasound, and it annoys them, at least for a while. Some learn to ignore it. Strobe lights like Mouse Blocker or Rid-a-Rat may work for longer periods, as they disrupt the darkness that rats prefer.

Make your engine and its entrances smell bad, at least to rats. Motorists have had success with peppermint oil, powdered fox urine, used cat litter, cat hair, dog hair, Pine-Sol, Irish Spring soap, red pepper, and laundry dryer sheets. The people who make "Rataway" tell you to spray it on all the wires in the engine.

Finally: use traps to remove the rats who get through. The old-fashioned snap traps still work. Glue traps work too but may torture the rat. Humane cage traps may work, but relocating the varmits can be a problem. Toxic baits do kill rats eventually, but are likely to also poison predators, including domestic animals.

Source: https://axleaddict.com/auto-repair/Mice-in-Your-Motor

ZIMDRILL:


rats rarely live in a daily driven car

if you find rats in your it means it has been parked for too long

mu2sa2:
Not necessarily so. I drive my car out every day but sometime ago I observed that a rat comes around at night to stay in the engine compartment overnight everyday. I only got to know when one morning I opened the bonnet and the rat jumped out and ran away. Later I found a way to get rid of it.

ednut1:
a cat has been living in my auntys SUV. how we wan take pursue am. d car

holamiday:
One day, i started the engine and two cats ran out from beneath the vehicle.

This thread is just making frontpage since June last year. Even the OP may have deactivated their account.

BlinkyBling:
Just put fresh charcoal inside the hood. Of your car and you"ll Neva see dem again!!

Rats are not the only problem for a car.

Pests like roaches, ants can also damage your vehicle.

Regular clean up of the vehicle (both engine and interior) helps.

Once in a while spray the interior of the car with aerosol to kill off pest that are lodging in your upholstery and dash boards.

The picture below tell you the importance of steam washing your engines, rats dont like clean environment.

If your car is dirty rats will live there.