Quote:
Originally Posted by mcv135
I discovered no easy way to thread a replacement hose in from the right-rear wheel well into the area at the top of the right-side of the fuel tank, and I wasn't in the mood to drop the fuel tank (i.e., remove undertray, drop driveshaft, empty fuel tank, drop fuel tank, connect vent pipe, then reassemble everything), so I very simply REPAIRED the mouse damage to the vent pipe.
Repairing the vent pipe in the area above the top of the wheel liner was much simpler and has produced good results for me (repair was done 8 June 2019 and I haven't had the trouble return as of 17 August 2021).
The repair was done with layers of electrical and duct-tape, with the electrical tape first. I tightly wound the electrical tape around the chewed portions of the vent-hose, making sure that the electrical tape made its way into the corrugated folds of the vent pipe since we're trying to make an air-tight seal but being careful to not crush the pipe. I applied only one overlapping layer of electrical-tape, making sure to cover all the chewed sections of the pipe.
Since I've had electrical tape un-stick itself in jobs like this before, I put a larger layer of duct-tape over the electrical tape to keep the electrical tape in place. The duct-tape layer extends several inches beyond the electrical tape in both directions.
Since I didn't want the mice to return and chew through all my work, I filled the void above the wheel-well with mouse deterrent -- stretched out chore-boy stainless steel pot scrubbers. I wrapped these around the hose as well. See here:
https://choreboyscrubbers.com/chore-...eel-scrubbers/
I know I can't stop mice from chewing on stuff since that's in their nature, but if I can make it difficult for them to do their chewing, maybe they'll chew something that isn't part of my fuel system. They can chew on the nearby steel suspension links all they want for instance.
I've had lots of mouse trouble and I plan on making a post in the future about my attempts to exclude mice from my 135i as the car appears to be quite ... porous. Mice gain easy access via multiple paths into the car. The rear wheel wells are just one trouble-zone.
Hope this helps someone... |
You don't have to completely remove the tank. Just loosen the strap and lower it a couple inches and you can feed the hose through to the pump. Also easier if you do it with the tank nearly empty as it is much lighter.