Morris Minor Owners Club

For one reason or other, I hadn’t been out in the Traveller since Christmas. It was in the garage, with the battery connected to a saver. I had started it up every so often and moved it in and out to move the tyres/operate the brakes.

Yesterday I took it out. Before I fired it up, I went to get the tyre pressure gauge from the glove box. I was rather surprised to find a mouse’s nest in the glove box (No sign of the mouse). I had left the drivers window open so I’m guessing that’s how it got in (I was a bit surprised that it had got into the garage) and then it must have crawled in via the speedometer screw hole. It’s never happened before and there doesn’t appear to be any damage, apart from to my Highway Code book.

The car went well enough, though the ignition warning light is glowing faintly (Only noticed it after dark), so I will need to check the dynamo (I have spare reconditioned one) and control box. It actually goes out at 1000 – 1200 rpm but then gets brighter (Not fully bright) above 3000rpm.

Oh dear - I do worry about 'mice' as my cars lie all winter - and not sure whether to leave windows open or shut. Can they really get through a hole that small ? As for IGN light - it may be bad connections - or points in regulator needing cleaned - is it charging the battery ? If you have meter - should be ~ 13.5 volts when running at decent revs.

I went to a talk by an Environmental Health bod once, and he reckoned that they check with an ordinary biro - if you can push that through a gap, a mouse can get in. Rats don't need much a much bigger gap...

Kevin

Both my cars out in the sun today - and no sign of mice (or rats!) thank goodness, and yes - I did check in the glovebox!

Would you like to borrow my mobile mouse trap - you only need to feed him twice a day and he will supply all the mice (demised) you can handel

About two or three years ago, I found a squirrel nest in the back of my camper. It had munched up a blanket and corner of a seat squab to make a cosy nest and been through most of a packet of dried pasta in one of the cupboards. Not amused to say the least! Hadn't touched the bottle of Highland Park though
I'd left a window open a crack to let air circulate, so the little so and so must have got in through that. Keep expecting to find a mummified squirrel everytime I open a cupboard now.

billlobban wrote:Would you like to borrow my mobile mousetrap - you only need to feed him twice a day and he will supply all the mice (demised) you can handle

My parents had a cat called Meg and she would have sorted it….unless she wanted the mouse as a pet. One Mothers Day, Meg brought in a live mouse, which ran behind the sink unit. Meg used to sleep in the kitchen and despite spending two nights in there, she didn’t catch the mouse (Which she was perfectly capable of doing), which had clearly been running round the kitchen. We had tried to coax the mouse out with a large piece of cheese but Meg ate that (Despite its size; normally she wanted her food cut up the way she liked it). In the end, my parents had to get a mouse trap (We’d have preferred to let it go) and in half an hour the mouse was dead.

Meg is no longer with us but a black cat now calls to their house (Which adjoins the family business). Perhaps I should take him home with me.[frame][/frame]