67 Peugeot 5008 - Mouse Attack!

[crabby2004]

Hi,

I recently purchased a 67 plate Peugeot 5008 - it's the lower powered Diesel and has around 30k on the clock. Sods law - tipped some rubbish and somehow got a mouse in the car that's nibbled some of the cabling somewhere... So going to start stripping down areas in the hope I find what's happened - the majority of the rodent "activity" is under the steering wheel as there's a substantial amount of chewed up foam there. I've started to pull the DTCs and the ones that I have identified as being associated to the evil mouse are:

B0020(1B) - Front left side airbag line
B1164(15) - Right hand brake lamp control fault
B1168(15) - Right hand rear direction indicator control fault

So, I guess there's one of two options:

1. The mouse chewed something towards the back that took out those two bulbs and then chewed something towards the front that took out the airbag
2. The mouse chewed something around the drivers side of the dashboard that killed off both the airbags and the lights

Unless you guys can educate me differently, I'm going to assume (because of all the foam in the drivers footwell and no visible activity anywhere else) that number 2 is more likely... So, next port of call will be to get my Haynes manual out and try and figure out the electrical diagrams and multimeter tests I need to do to start locating the damage. If you guys can provide any shortcuts (eg you know where all these cable originate and what panels to remove to check) I appreciate the guidance!

crabby

 

[Burnerman]

I’d go for two as well......can you strip back the plastic wrapping where the damage is and identify the issues from there?
Hopefully removing the column shrouds will help.
Where airbags are concerned ( yellow cable) disconnect the battery first!
John

 

[crabby2004]

can you strip back the plastic wrapping where the damage is and identify the issues from there?

That's the hope! Got to find the damage first... so far just trying to follow the foam like a trail of breadcrumbs. Great advice re the airbag - certainly don't need that blowing up! Amazed at how many of the panels are just "clicked" on, so hoping this isn't too hard to find... Now just need some decent weather!

 

[crabby2004]

First half hour today has identified the square root of F all... Found some more foam when I removed a few of the panels, but still haven't identified the source of the foam (pic attached). Anyone got an idea what this light grey foam could be? There was a pretty substantial amount in the footwell before I vacuumed it (maybe 30 or so of these size pieces).

Haynes manual has been pretty useless so far... I know I need to get to the airbag control unit and that's somewhere between the front seats - but it provided literally no information on how to get to it. Regarding the signalling lights, there's no electrical diagrams just a statement of what the DTC is which I already knew... so with only half the puzzle I'm no closer to knowing where the two sets of cables "meet"... Which means I'll just keep pulling until I spot something I guess.

 

[Old Salt]

A lot of systems in cars are linked via control modules and such like. Your best bet would be to ask on a Pug owners forum to see if anyone can give you a steer. Personally I think its up under the dash as they like to pick the hardest to reach areas. Plus almost all your wiring would pass through this area.

Good luck.

 

[Burnerman]

Have you checked all of the fuses? Maybe the visitor pierced the insulation but didn’t sever anything.
John

 

[carmanmemoranda]

First half hour today has identified the square root of F all... Found some more foam when I removed a few of the panels, but still haven't identified the source of the foam (pic attached). Anyone got an idea what this light grey foam could be? There was a pretty substantial amount in the footwell before I vacuumed it (maybe 30 or so of these size pieces).

Haynes manual has been pretty useless so far... I know I need to get to the airbag control unit and that's somewhere between the front seats - but it provided literally no information on how to get to it. Regarding the signalling lights, there's no electrical diagrams just a statement of what the DTC is which I already knew... so with only half the puzzle I'm no closer to knowing where the two sets of cables "meet"... Which means I'll just keep pulling until I spot something I guess.

I can't see any evidence of foam attacked by rodents in that picture.

Are you sure its not just an electrical issue? It is French. Do you have evidence of rodents?

 

[johnny2007]

Have you caught the mouse?

 

[crabby2004]

Hey All!

Thanks for the responses

So, got a few things to reply to...

Your best bet would be to ask on a Pug owners forum to see if anyone can give you a steer. Personally I think its up under the dash as they like to pick the hardest to reach areas.

Inclined to agree with the location - just dreading that because I've never removed a full dash. Peugeot forum is a total mess of spam so figured I'd come here as you guys have your heads screwed on and cars are pretty similar.

Have you checked all of the fuses? Maybe the visitor pierced the insulation but didn’t sever anything.
John

Good idea, I'll take a look but on first glance the issues seems too specific for fuses? There isn't a fuse dedicated to a single light for example. Makes sense to check though!

I can't see any evidence of foam attacked by rodents in that picture.

Are you sure its not just an electrical issue? It is French. Do you have evidence of rodents?

I've attached some zoomed in pics of that photo... You see the little grey foam spots? They're just bigger than a pea and these are the ones I've found behind the paneling but there were loads in the footwell before I cleaned up. I've also attached a picture of some nibbles on my boot protector.

Have you caught the mouse?

Nope...but I did leave all the doors open for the following day, followed by multiple mouse traps and a fully cleaned car... No more alarm issues and no errors on that system so no I eternal movement since and it's been a couple of weeks so if its still there it's probably dead - no bad smells, no further activity in the car. Of course if I end up pulling the dash and finding where this foam has come from I'll be pretty confident because it'll either be vacated or I'll find a body.

Next task then... Figuring out how to remove the vehicle wide panel from the dash

 

[johnny2007]

I'm not familiar with Peugeot, but on vag forums there are a lot of people who share repair instructions.
Probably there's something similar for Peugeot