Q: Some rats have managed to chew away wiring below my automobiles. How can I forestall this from occurring once more?
Doris Hazle, San Ramon
A: Rats usually climb into engine compartments, particularly in colder months, once they discover the nice and cozy engine irresistible. They construct nests, which doesn’t normally trigger injury to the automotive. After they chew on wires and insulation, although, it will possibly trigger appreciable and really costly injury, generally costing a number of hundred dollars to restore.
A few decade in the past, automotive producers began utilizing soy-based coating on wires. It tastes like tofu. Rats adore it.
Listed here are some methods that zillions of readers have steered to stop the issue:
- The one advice that we use religiously is to boost the hood of the automotive when it's left standing, even in a single day. The rodents are searching for a darkish, cozy house to nest. By elevating the hood, the house is extra open and they aren't as more likely to need to be in an open house.
- Preserve a light-weight on below the open hood each night time so as to maintain rodents from chewing up the wires.
- For an answer to rats consuming electrical insulation in automobiles, spray with pepper spray each six months.
- A supplier steered after a hefty restore invoice that I put moth balls round below the hood. He stated that might deter the rats.
- My husband discovered a possum sleeping in a cardboard field on the ground of our storage in West San Jose. The subsequent time we drove the automotive, one thing was very unsuitable. The engine was misfiring and chugging, and the “examine engine” gentle was on. Our dependable Ford mechanics in Campbell discovered that the sensor was chewed up! That possum value us $250. Now we're cautious about protecting the storage door closed.
Q: The Bay Bridge is certainly stunning, no less than above water. What was concluded about its leaking, encased, rusting, submerged bolts? It was the highest information story for fairly a while, then was dropped like a lead balloon attributable to using inferior imported supplies reasonably than assured USA supplies.
Jim Hunt, San Jose
A: In 2015, Caltrans carried out each on-site and laboratory checks to guage the 424 anchor rods on the base of the brand new japanese span.
Solely two of the rods examined didn't meet seismic requirements. They had been changed when it was decided that each of the eliminated rods had threads that had been stripped on the backside and that one additionally had a fracture on the backside finish.
U.S. fabrication vegetation produced about three-quarters of all of the metal used within the japanese span. Main parts had been manufactured in 11 U.S. states and 7 nations.
Search for Gary Richards at Fb.com/mr.roadshow, or contact him at mrroadshow@bayareanewsgroup.com.