Got a Polo? Then get a Cat!

[dxg]

F*cking mice have been at my Polo. Can't f*cking believe it!!!

The little barstewards have been inside the engine compartment, standing on top of the suspension mounts and chewing their way through the sound deadening at the top of the bulkhead - both sides as well.

First thought was that the "fitters" at the dealer has wrenched the lining off (it's been in again recently), but then I noticed the little s**t of the little s**t all over the place.

God knows what else they've been chewing their way through...

Seem to remember a story about Sue Ryder, her Ferarri, some mice and a £7500 bill for new electrics...

Seriously not happy.

Can't think of any way of replacing this material - it would have to be an engine-out job, surely as it would travel all the way down the bulkhead??

Does anyone have any thoughts???

ATM, think of just covering it with black insulating tape - it's really noticable - lots of green fluffy stuff from the inner layers the material everywhere. And mice s**t. Did I mention the mice s**t?

Beginning to think my car is cursed...

Deek.

[dxg]

Hey, who put the language filters on??

[Nelson_Wilbury]

Now would be a perfect time for me to do a Pussy/Cat joke, but I shant

[mole]

mad dxg!!!! claim it under warranty

[dxg]

But on what grounds?

"'cuse me, mr service manager, i'd like you to fix this because vw have scrwd up the design of their sound deadening - by making it too tasty to mice!!!"

It might be worth it, though - just to see what he says.

I have photos of it - which I'll try to get up tomorrow at work - it looks bl**dy awful - the first thing you see when you open the bonnet. Spend a good twenty minutes pulling little bit of the green stuff from all around the compartment.

Don't understand how they got that high up in the engine, though - the must have climbed the wheels in some way?!?!

What makes it even worse is that neighbour's cat absoulely loves sitting on my bonnet (and scrapping it) - 'cause the car's black and gets the sun.

Now, if I could get the cat under the bonnet in some way, I could kill two birds with one stone ....

Deek.

[mole]

Just take it in there, say you don't know what's happened, see what they say!

Yeh, be interesting to see the photos when you get them up.

Are they nesting in there?

[polo2k]

you said:

Now, if I could get the cat under the bonnet in some way, I could kill two birds with one stone ....

Deek.

did you mean
"now if i could get the cat under the bonnet in some way, i could kill two fluffly and annoying creatures with one turn of the key?

as for the language filters i dont know and maybe josh will chip in
but see the good side of it all: youll be warmer
as for the cat on the bonnet try "spilling" a little amonia around your parking space of in some strategic points under the bonnet as cats cant stand the smell of amonia (mice too possibly?)

[dxg]

Hello chaps (and chapettes?),

Well, here are some photos of the damage as promised:

### edited by dxg to remove the red x's

Trust me, the green stuff is much more obvious in real life:

The passenger side:

The the driver's side (kind of close to those wires ):

Well, one trip to B&Q later, this arrived:

It still looks OK from the outside though, just wonder how I'll explain the
(^^^There's a subtle irony about the reflections in this picture - Tas might recognise the blue building and be able to comment on it...)

[tdisport]

Any news? Did you catch it??
Tried spraying chemicals to try and kill it or one of the electronic pest controllers??

i noticed you decided on keeping car then. Still having problems?? How much mileage you done now?? Has it settled down yet??

[dxg]

Well, it or them came back and ate all the bait off that trap without setting it off! So I now have the - let's say - non-humane versions dotted around the garage. Plus one h*ll of a lot of poison. Nothing's turned up yet, though.

Do the electric sound ones work?? Might get one, and leave sitting on the car itself.

The car continues to be a nightmare. Getting very fed up of visiting my dealer. The rattles are unbelievable.

I'm currently saving enough to clear the finance to get shot of it as soon as possible (probably easter time). Kind of feel sorry for whoever buys it, though Mind you, I've only been able to do 2500miles in seven months of ownership. Anyone with any clue should realise something's up with it...

I'm thinking maybe a second hand mk5 gti, or still like the idea of the lupo version. Whatever it is, it will be fast.

But then, I'll probably go for something else other than a vw...

[tdisport]

Look at page 12 on this Vw site



http://www.volkswagen-zubehoer.de/prospekte/golf.htm

Quite ironic!

[dxg]

So it's some sort of aluminimum grill that goes under the engine bay? That seems to be what babelfish is saying.

So does this mean it's a known defect - the attractiveness of their engines to vermin?? Hmmm. I haven't heard of another manufacturer selling such an accessory. I'll ask my dealer if it's out yet for the Polo...

It would be ironic if it wasn't so bl**dy annoying and potentially expensive.

The car's cursed I tell you! I will be very happy to see it go...

Deek

(And I haven't caught any yet, maybe they fell out half way down the M1 one morning - I can but dream....)

[tdisport]

Sorry about that link. I didn't realise that it was an actual guard for pests. Just saw picture and thought it was apt.

where do you live?? On a farm?? Countryside?? Was it in a garage or outside??

[dxg]

I'm just wondering how they got the mouse/rat to pose for the picture - it's got to be stuffed, surely!!

I live right on the edge of suburbia, backing onto a wood with fields behind. That's what I get for wanting to be "in the country".

We even have owls in the trees behind us (you can hear them at night). If only they'd get out there and start eating more...

Deek.

[Nelson_Wilbury]

Have you tried spraying it up with matt black spray paint yet? Obviously it wont look perfect and you'll need to do some triming, but it'll divert yours (and everybody elses) eyes from it. Remember, it only looks bad because you know its there

Reading this post it does look stupid, but its worth a try, lol