[HiFlite]

At 2000 miles, the CEL came on. Code relates to the charge door. Took it to the dealer, expecting some little switch problem. Instead, they pulled out a rodent nest. It had chewed through the harness ($100) to the port door, and the door release cable ($65). They said it was recent and warranty would not cover. While I guess I agree with that, the car sat from November to May at another dealer before I bought it at the end of May.

Darn, double darn.

I've lived at my present address for 22 years and never had a rodent problem with any of my other cars parked outside. The Volt has been driven daily since I got it, unlike several of my other driveway cars which sat unused for weeks with no problems. Humm, could it be that more environmentally-friendly underhood materials are a greater attraction than the old toxic stuff? If so, the Law of Unintended Consequences comes into play.

Interestingly perhaps, I found an older thread describing the exact same problem: http://gm-volt.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-17583.html


Is there something attractive to rodents about that location?

 

[Sterling Silver]

At 2000 miles, the CEL came on. Code relates to the charge door. Took it to the dealer, expecting some little switch problem. Instead, they pulled out a rodent nest. It had chewed through the harness ($100) to the port door, and the door release cable ($65). They said it was recent and warranty would not cover. While I guess I agree with that, the car sat from November to May at another dealer before I bought it at the end of May.

Darn, double darn.

I've lived at my present address for 22 years and never had a rodent problem with any of my other cars parked outside. The Volt has been driven daily since I got it, unlike several of my other driveway cars which sat unused for weeks with no problems. Humm, could it be that more environmentally-friendly underhood materials are a greater attraction than the old toxic stuff? If so, the Law of Unintended Consequences comes into play.

Interestingly perhaps, I found an older thread describing the exact same problem: http://gm-volt.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-17583.html


Is there something attractive to rodents about that location?

Funny you mentioned this, but yesterday I started my own personal search and destroy mission with mice at "Farm B". Luckily for me, they haven't got inside my Volt (I think) but they found their way into my tightly seal 5th wheel trailer.

Darned critters!

I invested in sticky traps and got three of them last night. Sticky traps work very well without posing a toxic risk to dogs and cats.

 

[garyg]

"recent" kind of kills the previous dealer thing....

We once had a new Diesel Dasher towed back with 1100 miles on it, totally locked up. Turned out a mouse had crawled into the cam belt area (not sealed). Took the cam cover off and it was still hanging by its crushed tail. Fortunately because it avoided all that warranty talk while it was still hanging. Very expensive. Insurance didnt want to pay either. No friends were made that day.

At least yours doesnt appear to be real expensive.

 

[minorguy]

I had a similar thing with my Eclipse. I took it to the dealer for service once and they pointed out to me the droppings under the hood on the top of the engine; they said it's not unusual for rodents to get up there and sometimes they chew wires. Fortunately I had no damage. I assumed maybe the little guys like the heat.

 

[fishhawk]

Not just the Volt. We had a squirrel crawl up inside our Acadia. Of course it died there, and we only knew something was wrong when we started the car and the smell entered the cabin. Luckily, it didn't damage anything, so we just had to find where it was, and fish it out of there. Problem solved.

 

[ewiggins]

I had rodent problems also. A rodent crawled up into the engine area and took a few bits out of the orange coating surrounding the high voltage wires and a few nibbles of the black rubber part around the oil cap. FYI the big orange wires have a wire mesh below the orange coating.

 

[deekster_caddy]

I wonder if the lack of engine heat will allow rodents to find the Volt friendly to longer-term homes vs an ICE car.

 

[Upper5Percent]

At 2000 miles, the CEL came on. Code relates to the charge door. Took it to the dealer, expecting some little switch problem. Instead, they pulled out a rodent nest. It had chewed through the harness ($100) to the port door, and the door release cable ($65). They said it was recent and warranty would not cover. While I guess I agree with that, the car sat from November to May at another dealer before I bought it at the end of May.

Darn, double darn.

I've lived at my present address for 22 years and never had a rodent problem with any of my other cars parked outside. The Volt has been driven daily since I got it, unlike several of my other driveway cars which sat unused for weeks with no problems. Humm, could it be that more environmentally-friendly underhood materials are a greater attraction than the old toxic stuff? If so, the Law of Unintended Consequences comes into play.

Interestingly perhaps, I found an older thread describing the exact same problem: http://gm-volt.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-17583.html


Is there something attractive to rodents about that location?

Old news...
http://blogs.cars.com/kickingtires/2011/02/a-rat-ate-my-chevy-volt.html

 

[scottf200]

Not just the Volt. We had a squirrel crawl up inside our Acadia. Of course it died there, and we only knew something was wrong when we started the car and the smell entered the cabin. Luckily, it didn't damage anything, so we just had to find where it was, and fish it out of there. Problem solved.

I had this happen in my SUV. $1000 it was fixed. Actually not true. The A/C is not working and I'm taking it back in about hour hour by strange coincidence!

 

[ckk]

I had a Toyota 4Runner before the Volt. One time it sat at the airport for 2 weeks, and then after that, sometimes the air conditioner would intermittently work or not work. Seemingly random, it would blow cool air but then just blow warm air for a while, then back to cool air again, as if the thermostat was going wacky.

The repair shop found that some rats had nested under the hood (probably during the 2-week sojourn at the airport), had chewed up some insulation, and there were some partially chewed wires that were making flaky contact, most but not all the time, and that was the cause of the intermittent air conditioning.

 

[Miredian]

I have a chipmunk camping out in my garage, do they nibble on car cables as well? I just leave him alone, but if it's a threat to the car, i'll seal up the garage door to keep him out. We have cats around here and I feel he just wants the safety of my garage. He's used to me going in and out and only squeals at me when I go in/out of the condo/garage too often.

 

[Steverino]

Is there something attractive to rodents about that location?

I had a bird dump on the roof of my car. Is there something attractive about that location?

 

[HiFlite]

Darned critters!

I invested in sticky traps and got three of them last night. Sticky traps work very well without posing a toxic risk to dogs and cats.

I'm thinking more along the line of aluminum-foil strips and clip leads to the 350V battery.

 

[HiFlite]

Old news...
http://blogs.cars.com/kickingtires/2011/02/a-rat-ate-my-chevy-volt.html

<self forehead dope slap!>

Of course! The charger in the left fender makes that area comfy warm during overnight charging. Some recent nights got into the low 50's.

Crap! Gotta figure out how to get 2 cars into my garage now. Anyone need a 1978 GS1000c Suzuki?

 

[HiFlite]

I have a chipmunk camping out in my garage, do they nibble on car cables as well? I just leave him alone, but if it's a threat to the car, i'll seal up the garage door to keep him out. We have cats around here and I feel he just wants the safety of my garage. He's used to me going in and out and only squeals at me when I go in/out of the condo/garage too often.

Yup! As well as chewing up anything and everything in, and of, the garage. And peeing, and pooping. And eventually dying in the wall somewhere. >stink<

 

[Upper5Percent]

I have a chipmunk camping out in my garage, do they nibble on car cables as well? I just leave him alone, but if it's a threat to the car, i'll seal up the garage door to keep him out. We have cats around here and I feel he just wants the safety of my garage. He's used to me going in and out and only squeals at me when I go in/out of the condo/garage too often.

A chipmunk is a rodent that just had good PR...Disney's Chip & Dale...a rodent will nibble on car cables and will move in given the chance...

 

[Miredian]

Yup! As well as chewing up anything and everything in, and of, the garage. And peeing, and pooping. And eventually dying in the wall somewhere. >stink<

Thanks for the info, I suspected as much but didn't want to jump on it until I got backup. Spent today cleaning the garage and closing up the door weather strip. No more chip access. Didn't find any food storage and searched everywhere from corner to corner for signs of nesting, found nothing.

 

[ckk]

reminds me, how many city power outages are apparently caused by rodents inside circuit boxes, either nibbling on tasty electric wires or building nests or both, and accidentally shorting the circuit and getting zapped....

so it may be the nice cozy box as an attractive nesting location, but it also may be that they can "smell"/taste & are attracted to electric fields too.