Dash gauges...china stuff autozone

Used temp gauge from autozone...rats or
mice get in there an eat the plastic an
little red light wires..they want the
plastic....they do it to the solar panel
equipment on the job on any older systems
we run into always china stuff..the new
systems they dont eat them,they figured
that out...no installers would buy them
again.....the gauge makers, amp an oil
pressure..havent figured that out
yet...anyone had same problem...an what
are a good set of gauges the mice dont
eat...they dont eat any of the thhn wires
just the china plastic parts on guages an
tiny light wires for gauges......dewy

A possible cause is the fact that China (and others) put lead in the plastic vinyl used for the wires. it makes the wires easier to extrude and more pliable. Read {cheaper}. Lead is sweet to taste buds, that is one reason children ate/eat lead paint chips, and battery connections get eaten by rodents. Jim

Some manufacturers switched from a petroleum based insulation to a soy based one. Toyota and Honda both had lawsuits brought against them but they were dismissed.
Its been a problem for a long time now.

Soy based plastics!
Here you go

I'm a believer in feeding mice just one bite and antifreeze to drink.

I recently installed 2 cat doors in my house. One door allows cats in the garage, the other door lets the cat exit the garage to go outside.
One cat hunts mice during the day.
The other cat hunts the night shift.

So far this fall, my cats have caught 3 mice.
Bad news, the cats like to bring the dead mice inside to show us their catch.

If I had a big mouse problem in the pole barn, I would install another cat door.

(reply to post at 19:27:00 11/20/23)

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Honda sells electrical tape that is infused with spicy capsaicin!

I don't know for certain if spicy stuff is acidic
which might cause copper to oxidize.

Interesting note, Henry Ford tried plastic, (made from soybeans)seats for the N series tractors. Not very many left as rodents seemed to like them. joe

I bought my 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee from a dealer it was a couple years old. The salesman was showing me this access door where the oil filter is located. On tip of the engine. I saw the whole thing was packed with white packing. I thought it was some sort of sound proofing. Later when I changed my oil filter the white stuff was a rat nest, The stuff must have come from another car. I could see no damage to my car. Wasn't happy to find that. stan

(quoted from post at 19:06:33 11/20/23) I'm a believer in feeding mice just one bite and antifreeze to drink.

I recently installed 2 cat doors in my house. One door allows cats in the garage, the other door lets the cat exit the garage to go outside.
One cat hunts mice during the day.
The other cat hunts the night shift.

So far this fall, my cats have caught 3 mice.
Bad news, the cats like to bring the dead mice inside to show us their catch.

If I had a big mouse problem in the pole barn, I would install another cat door.

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eo, read the labels on current anti-freeze containers.....it has a "bitter" ingredient in it to make it unpalatable. ???

Your cats may be getting more mice than you think. Only bring one home after getting their belly full.

It is highly naive to blame China. Many, if not most, auto wire manufactureres use a soy based plastic insulation that smells like pet food to rats and mice. I can't understand why everyone hates on China - if it were not for them many of us could not afford so many new things.

I'm very happy they have a door to the outside. Catching mice is a bonus.
The pole barn cat now resides inside the house.
He refused to use a litter box. He does his business outside.
So a cat door is essential.

(quoted from post at 09:10:55 11/21/23) It is highly naive to blame China. Many, if not most, auto wire manufactureres use a soy based plastic insulation that smells like pet food to rats and mice. I can't understand why everyone hates on China - if it were not for them many of us could not afford so many new things.

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Agreed. It doesn't matter much where the gauges were made because of the soy based insulation.

Not only would we not be able to afford new stuff if not for overseas manufacturing, we would not be able to afford to fix most of this old equipment.

And to add to that, it is not China that is selling the China junk here.
It is the importer be it some little guy or worldwide conglomerate that is having junk made on purpose.
On purpose you ask?
Yes, because we all know that they get returns and thus complaints about the junk being sold.
Yet they continue to sell the junk at least until they sell all of it before the new, maybe improved stuff
gets to the shelves.

And many times, if it was made in USA and a company closes the last North American factory, the equipment
gets shipped overseas to be made and then imported.
So the same machinery can crank out quality if the company wants to sell quality.
So it comes down to better training and or better raw materials.

I have some in my tool box right now. I
used it on a car that had a lot of rodent
damage to the wiring. I had also packed a
bunch of fresh cab packets all over the
areas of rodent damage. The car came back
with more rodent damage about 7 months
later. The mice had chewed on the rodent
resistant tape and the mouse repellent
packets. The repellent properties
apparently wear off quickly.

I had my old Ford 860 apart for some other repairs. I had purchased an after market wiring harness about 15 years ago to replace the original. The insulation on the aftermarket harness was hard, cracked and falling off. I just rewired it using spools of primary wire I had from other left over from previous jobs for customers.

I used Dorman Braided Loom to cover the wires. I found it at O'Reilly's. It is looks similar to the original braided covering on the original harness, except it is black plastic. More expensive, but much nicer to work with that the corrigated plastic stuff. It is split do you do not have to feed the wire through it. You slip it over the wires, and it is easy to route a wire out the side if necessary.

I also covered the water temp and oil pressure lines with it. I had to get a new temp gauge that has plastic line to the probe.

Only thing I don't like about it, the ends fray when you cut it. I used a soldering gun to melt the ends after cutting.

Time will tell if mice like it, but I have not had any issues with mice and wires. I do have trouble with them building nests in air cooled engines. Search for rolling log mouse trap to help with mouse control. Menards has them on sale now.
Braided Wire Loom

(quoted from post at 20:20:16 11/20/23) I don't know for certain if spicy stuff is acidic
which might cause copper to oxidize.

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I bet those Honda engineers did some research into coming up with something that would not make things worse.