Rodent ate my Turbo and destroyed my intercooler.

I had the CEL come on a few weeks ago. Truck drove fine but took it in regardless. Dealership cleared the errors and couldn't get it to come back. After the first appointment the light came back on and I made an appointment to get it serviced again. This time they found that a rodent had crawled up in the outlet of the turbo and ate the filter and the top of the turbo box. When I drove the debris apparently got sucked into the intercooler and that now needs to be replaced.


I haven't seen my truck in person but got these photos from the insurance adjuster. According to him there is no screen blocking entry to the turbo system and it daylights under the fender. Has anyone had this issue?
I'm also looking for ideas for a screen or something to prevent this from happening again, if anyone has suggestions.

 

The rodent didnt get into the turbo outlet...it got into your airbox. The debris then made it into/out of the turbo and into the intercooler and possibly into the engine. I dont think the paper and bits of plastic would ruin either the engine or intercooler but I cant imagine the plastic being good on the turbo...the paper will just shred apart.

The airbox intake is in fact a straight shot into the fender. I guess you could fab a metal screen to prevent them from getting in...something thin wont affect air intake but idk how effective it would be

 

You are correct it was the air box, apologies for the poor wording. Apparently the intercooler won't pressurize so that will be getting replaced. Won't know if the turbo needs replacement until they are able to test the whole system.

 

Here's my anti-rodent device. He's a stone cold killer. I actually feel sorry for any rodent that ventures into my garage....not really.

 

Might be time for some oiled air filters? I don't think I've ever seen rodent damage done to a K&N or similar filters

 

Going to the K&Ns was an initial thought but when I asked the guy at the dealership shit he said they were made out of cotton as well and might still be a target.

 

These are mine, the dog actually has gotten a few squirrels, chipmunks and rabbits. The cat won't go outside but does a good job on flies in the house.

 

Cotton yes, but soaked with oil.

 

>>Has anyone had this issue? I'm also looking for ideas for a screen or something to prevent this from happening again, if anyone has suggestions.<<

I live in rural Arizona and I've had packrats get into my 1st Gen and chew up the coil wires. They also got into my wife's car and chewed the fuel lines which caused a big mess. The fix was to put LED light strips on the ground under the cars and leave them on during the night. We haven't had any issues since.

 

I have multiple vehicles that I store in my barn. I stick one of these packets in the air cleaners. They are very effective and last a long time.

 

Thanks all for the suggestion. I appreciate the input.

 

Cotton soaked with oil in a steel wire mesh.

 

my solution -

 

Local dealer shared they had one in with rodent consuming the filters - turbos were junk.

 

So to keep rodents out of engine bay, air filter box and cabin air filter(they chew a whole in that too) take a multi prong attack. As I tell my customers that have rodent issues, it is like a holy war!! It never ends and you can't give up.

1. For your air filter, you can put screen over the inlet to the air box. We use very flexible mess screen and screws from the OUTSIDE!!!
2. Cabin air filter you can do the same thing. This is alot more difficult as you have to remove the package tray to get at the air inlet for the HVAC and fashioning a screen for this is much more difficult.

To keep rodents out, we recommend pure peppermint oil and applying it monthly to multiple place in the engine bay. The anti-rodent spray has very little peppermint oil and works just OK. We also recommend removing all the engine covers. They like to built nest under them and use the anti heat material to built nest.

The last thing we recommend installing 2-3 flashing LED lights from Rid-A-Rat. Rodents do not like flashing lights for some reason. Rid-A-Rat website also has some good blogs to help people with rodent issues. We use their RC-2 model, cut off the alligator clips, crimp on some eyelets and bolt them to the battery terminals. They are extremely low amperage draw and will not kill your battery! You can use their battery power model but will have to REMEMBER to change the batteries out every 6 months

Watch out for the sonic anti rodents devices, they do not work, if they do, it is because they have flashing lights. Think about it, they can't make a sonic device that only hurts rodent ears!!!

Once rodents get into your engine bay, there learn it is a safe place to take up residence. If this happens to you, do not take it lightly!!!

We have had 3 vehicles totaled out from the getting int the interior. Once Prius had over $8000 just to the climate control and dash area!!!

 

Best solution I’ve seen yet. Find you fresh air inlet into the cabin and screen that too. Metal galvanized mesh with nothing larger than 1/4” sq.
One way to also keep them outside the cabin is leave ‘RECIRC’ on when you park. It physically shuts a door to the outside. I replaced my entire heater assembly on my ‘07, and while in there I covered the entire inlet opening with 1/4” screen. Geez, any one of the cats in the above photos could have fit thrum that opening let alone a rodent!!
I used to have 5 Jack Russell Terriers. We killed a lot of rats together.

 

Wow, I guess I got lucky. When I got my truck as a 6000 mile demo the first thing I bought was TRD filters. Went to install and found the lower air boxes chewed like yours but they hadn't started on the filters yet. Dealer replaced the lower air boxes under warranty. Glad I caught it right away or they would have said it was my rats or mice not theirs. Had them check cabin filter also as I knew they love to nest on top of those...luckily they had not. My truck was in the showroom for awhile so could have been from inside, outside or the managers house that had been driving it...rodents are everywhere we are...

 

I had a customer come in for an engine noise once. I opened the hood and from the brake master cylinder area a squirrel jump out and ran toward me and jumped off the engine. Scared the shit out of me, I yelled(my techs said like a little girl) and dropped the hood. That squirrel ran next door to our over flow parking into another vehicle engine bay and took a ride into our shop. This time I heard my 3 techs yelling to get Pepper(our shop dog) out into the bays to chase it down.

 

We had the same thing happen. A squirrel did this right in front of me. He shredded the black fabric layer of the hood insulation but just left it on the ground. We ran to the local store and picked up some apple cider vinegar and sprayed that on the left over insulation. We will take some of that with us on our next trip. I am just hesitant to spray that on the plastics and paint. Not too sure what it will do and I am not too interested in dealing with a warranty claim or repair.

I will try the peppermint oil as well. I can spray that on the tires which is their step to get into the engine bay.

One thing to note: don't leave your wheels turned or you could find racoon prints all over the hood and roof! This would be mainly at campsites but could happen in the driveway as well.

 

I keep rags soaked with pure pine sol and bars of pink Dove soap wedged around in safe places around the engine bays. Reapply pine sol every 3-5 weeks. Seems to be effective.

 

Moth balls under the hood have worked for me for decades . . . bit of a "granny's bedroom" smell though.

 

They aren’t cotton and they have a metal mesh screen.

 

Bastages! I have not found peppermint oil to be an effective deterrent (nor cats, for that matter). What has worked (for me) is:

• Baited rat/mouse (size depends on which bastage you're after) traps set behind the front wheels
• Ultrasonic unit under the hood. This uses sound and flashing LEDs as a repellent.

The traps snagged me several squirrels which were removing firewall material. The ultrasonic unit has seemed to prevent further destruction/removal of the insulation on the intake manifold (that gray/green rubbery stuff) by, I believe, mice.

 

what happens if a piece of plastic gets sucked up over the mesh and restricts flow? does that throw CEL?

 

I'll take a CEL over paper in the turbos any day.

 

I sprinkle Orthene (nasty fire ant killer) all around each tire and under hood here and there - no more returning rodents to eat my crankshaft position sensor wiring. In my hunting trailer (empty many months each year) I use a plug in (there are auto 12V models too) of MouseBlocker Pro ($100 on Amazon) -

https://mouseblocker.com/product/plug-in-mouseblocker-pro-110v-model/

 

yes, they are

 

My issues with poisons are the HVAC fresh air is coming from near the engine bay and I need to work in there too. Just something to consider.