Big Cat Eaten By Little Mouse

[Mr.Ian]

A bit of a side step on the rebuild front for my XJS.

When returning to my 1978 XJS project after a 2 year lay off, I found my Big v12 Cat had had a small furry friend for company during the long cold nights.
The V in the middle of the engine was inches deep in nuts.


This is the remains after a clean up showing chewed injector wiring.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2483/403 ... ceda_b.jpg



He also had a thing for vacuum tubes for starters.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3555/405 ... 54d9_b.jpg


Then on to servo hoses for main course.
(look at all those toothy peg marks!!! )

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3510/405 ... a1bf_b.jpg


A bit of cotton loom braiding / wiring for roughage

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2481/405 ... c436_b.jpg


All pipes / hoses have been checked now, wiring all repaired and re loomed.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2740/405 ... e210_b.jpg


I've also removed all fuel hoses / rails and injectors, all fuel hoses are going to be replaced and i'm going to give the injectors a good clean.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3538/405 ... 025d_o.jpg

Notice in the picture above I don't trust the electric sender for oil pressure and also need to see it from under the bonnet at the moment, so have a mechanical guage fitted for me to monitor pressure.

The little furry friend appears to be no more as there's no sign of any mouse activity anywhere, he also got in the car (interior has been removed anyway) and nibbled away at the seam sealant here n there. He had a go at the aerial coax then trotted into the area between the petrol tank and the rear seat back support and had a nibble at the under tank pad.
I've traced the whole car loom fully now and it appears that the tags that connect to the handbrake switch and the aerial cable are all that remains of his electrical nibblings.


BUT OH HOW IT COULD'VE BEEN FAR FAR WORSE.


Who'd've thought it eh ????

Cat eaten by mouse.

[Mr.Ian]

The little bugger has returned, mouse droppings in the middle of the 'V' again, hope he doesn't have a nibble at the wiring or pipes as it's all been checked and re-loomed and all new petrol pipes fitted.
Time to get nasty me thinks !!!!!!

[Leon]

I too have suffered this year from attacks by mice,not on the XJs I might add.I can recommend a good trap Mr Ian,I ve used both humane and the not so humane.I bagged 12 all in the summerhouse!
Seems to be a good year for the mice judging by the lack of mousetraps available in the pet shops.
Im amazed by the damage they have caused you and hope you get it sorted soon,a good advert for checking underbonnet before every run I think.

[Mr.Ian]

Well a trap is set in the middle of the 'V' where the air con compressor should sit. Lets see if the little bugger falls for my cunning plan mwar ha ha ha haaaar (sinister laugh rubbing hands together)

[steveww]

Peanut butter - that's what you should bait the trap with. They just can't resist it and as it is sticky it is easy to put on the trap and does not fall off.

I get mice every autumn in the garage, they are looking for some where warm to spend the winter. My cats soon find them if one is stupid enough to come in to the house

[Mr.Ian]

Well trap was set with a bit of 'Turkish Delight' of all things, low and behold one fat fluffy blighter in trap on day 1, instant result. Lets see how we get on over the weekend.

[xjsaint]

Hi there,
incredible! I had a friend that had to trow away a Mercedes for a similar issue but in his case it was almost impossible to cure the problem...

BTW, I wanted to ask you how did you manage to attach the pictures?

I made a overhaul of rear brakes on my XJS and would like to share some interesting pictures but can't sort out how.

Thanks for reply, Valter (Italy Rome).

[Mr.Ian]

Hi Valter, to attatch pictures you need to upload them to an image hosting site like '''photobucket''' or '''flickr''' then copy the address of your picture into your post on here using the tab below the message box.
I think there's a thread on here somewhere explaining it.

[xjsaint]

Oh! OK,
thanks for reply, I suspected it was something like that because I could'nt find a way of doing it from the message page.

BTW, I kept my XJS laying for 3 months in my garage after I had a big issue with rear brakes, now the car is back to street but I think small animals like the taste of cars. I remember a Lancia Gamma Coupe I owned was completely eaten by small mouses, internally, it was a disaster, they definetly liked the signed "Ermenegildo Zegna" seats!

Ok, thanks for reply,

Valter

[dhdove]

Valter

Re posting pics, the facility to do so is already here in the Forum.
From the first (main) page, click thru to the Gallery, then take some time to read the FAQ's. from there follow the instructions.............

In the past I really struggled to get pics onto the Gallery and have come to the conclusion that the main problem was that the images were too large. If this is the case you will just sit and wait for something to happen.......indefinately........ and reach the conclusion that there is a problem with the site, but this is not so. You must re-size your image files (where neccessary) before you submit them to the Gallery. A really useful free download tool for this, which is also quick and simple is "VSO Image Resizer" just Google it........

Once you have your pics in the Gallery it is easy to transfer them into your chosen thread wherever you wish within the text.

Do take a look and don't be disheartened if you don't succeed at first, once you get the hang of it it's OK.

Best Wishes
Tony

[Mr.Ian]

Yet more nibblings found (hope they aren't fresh) no signs of any more activity on the mouse front so this might be just a missed area.

Main ECU wiring from ECU in the boot runs up and over the rear wheel arch through a large grommet then around another metal internal body panel into the car cabin area and follows the inner arch in the void under the rear side window. Right at the very top of the wheel arch is a 'blind' area and the loom can't be seen clearly.
So looking from inside the car it looked ok and also looking from in the boot it looked ok. My Epitest tester was saying there was a problem between the ECU and the injector amplifier under the bonnet.
Managed to just see a damaged wire by using a torch and a mirror.

This is what I pulled through into the boot after releasing the loom from the ties in the car.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4058/424 ... 5d5ae0.jpg

There are 4 wires bitten straight through and another 4 or 5 have had the insulation damaged and thus will need to be replaced anyway.
So it's out with the soldering iron once more.