Can Mice Get Into My 2016 RR Sport HSE SD V6 ?

[Spencer Chase]

We spend a lot of time in the mountains of Northern California. We have had many vehicles and many mouse problems. Some vehicles are good about keeping mice out others suck. I do not understand why car manufacturers allow mice to get in. Never had a problem with our old Mercedes nor with our Mercedes Sprinter nor our Lexus but have had horrors with other vehicles including a Honda an Acura and a Toyota.

We just left the RR for a couple of weeks and mice or other rodents left evidence in the engine compartment but did not get inside. Did Rover actually make it impossible to get inside or are we just lucky so far?

The usual points of entry in other vehicles have been the fresh air intake to the heater (should be called rodent intake instead) and also the vents that are supposedly to prevent windows from breaking when you close the door on an otherwise tightly sealed vehicle. At least 4 of our vehicles have had these vents covered with plastic grids that seemed to be specifically designed to let mice in. Why they could not make the grids smaller is a mystery. I have added stainless steel hardware cloth to these vents and never had a problem but it has been a real challenge to find the vents on some vehicles. It took months of pestering to get Honda to tell us where they were on our Ridgeline.

So the questions for the Range Rover are:

does the heater fresh air intake need to be mouse proofed or is it already?

are there other vents that are not mouse proof and where are they located?

it looks like the air intake for the engine is covered with a plastic grid that will not let mice through. is this true or do i need to find and fix something?

 

[RoverGhost]

Interesting, I have not seen the 2016 but my 2013 up here on the Northcoast I was ok last season for mice. I had two in the house and the usual suspects outside. I also use a bait bucket and left it in the garage then a 2nd one by the porch. Are you keeping it garaged or outside?

 

[Spencer Chase]

has to be outside, no garages here. we have serious rodent issues here, pack (wood) rats, deer mice, field mice, ground squirrels etc etc. Mercedes 300 TD, Mercedes Sprinter and Lexus all had no problems. It is a matter or whether the vehicle mfg bothered to consider rodents in the cabin. it is not rocket surgery, just very basic engineering and design.

so far the RR looks good. i have not figured out how to remove and check the cabin filter yet. this is a good place to see how the cabin and outside are connected. all online references do not match the way the glove box on the 2016 is removed.

 

[Spencer Chase]

i have searched a lot and can not figure out how to remove the cabin filter on a 2106 RR Sport. all the youtubes are for different vehicles and i do not have the same release clips that are on other vehicles. i have a button on the upper dash that releases the glove box door and there are curved rack and pinion gears that control the drop of the door. i do not see how to release it. anyone know how or the link for a video for this specific vehicle?

 

[Felixlatorre]

I hope this help you with cabin air filter.
https://www.roverparts.com/resources/videos/replace-pollen-filter-range-rover-sport-2014/
Is like LR3-4 behind the glove compartment.

 

[Taemian]

I cannot believe you are posting this, we are JUST getting rid of mice in our LR3. The tech said the pollen filter is most probable entry point. They got behind every panel, including up in the headiner. How did we find that out? Key fobs stopped working, tech traced it back to the antenna above the headliner, mouse crap and all kind of foreign debris up there. They chewed through the wires. After repairs, and full detail including removal of headliner and all interior panels, ozone machine ALL night, was $2000. Thankfully, all of it was covered by our $30 extra insurance premium that we pay every year.

We are missing the cover that covers the spot for the extra battery, I will be heading to a wreckers soon to get that, the tech said that may have been an entry point as well. We got the mice while up north visiting in-laws. We did have a chocolate bar in the glovebox, and emergency food (Cliff bars) in with the tire jack area. They nibbed on all of it.

So never keep anything edible in the vehicle. I have no idea how the mice can smell something in a vacuum sealed bag, but they do. At home, our truck lives in a garage. Where we were visiting, it was parked on grass by a field.

In total, we had 5 mice that were caught after about a 2 week time frame.

 

[commanderpj]

Without being flippant, this does remind me of the old joke about how they check for airtightness in a BMW. They release a mouse inside and if it is still alive after 3 days, it's not airtight. For a landrover they do a similar test, but they release a cat inside. If the cat is still inside the land rover after 3 days they consider it airtight!