cat in engine bay
 

How they hell do i keep them out? top of my engine is covered in hairs and footprints, and what worried me more is they may cause damage especially if i start up and is sleeping in the engine bay

Um, the only damage that will happen is a mangled cat. This happened to my Dad when I was growing up. Stray cat crawled up on the engine on a cold night. Dad never knew it was there. Unfortunately for the cat, we think it's tail was in/on the belts when he cranked up. Royal mess, but no damage to the car. The cat on the other hand....:dunno:

Maybe throw some moth balls in there? Once they figure out it's warm in there, it's pretty hard to keep them out.

thanks for the reply totally forgot about the mothball trick for cats....it is unreal never had this issue ever and I have lived the uk where it is much colder, but out here problem is usually the heat! thanks anyway gonna go get some mothballs and my wifes tights and fill it, and tie it somewhere out of the range of any belts or hot components....hmmm may get a moth ball smell when the heaters are on.....on the subject of heater, does the cabin heater use an electric element to heat up, or does it use some exchange unit with the radiator coolant latent heat being blown into the cabin with a blower behind the dash?

I can feel your pain... my cats used to do this when they were little... now they sit on the hood from the outside :)
The heater uses the engine heat (radiator) to heat the air.

I hope you don't make a catburger soon...

got no cats of my own, these are all strays, and as well as sitting on the bonnet hood and making it filthy and smelly, they have discovered the engine bay, before starting up will have check I guess .....or as you say things may turn messy...will also try the mothball tactic

Got any claw marks on the paint?

At least the cats shouldn't cause major mechanical damage. Last spring I had to have the engine wiring harness completely replaced because a squirrel had gotten up into the engine compartment and chewed it up.

no claw marks on paint cos I throw an old sheet over the front, oh man squirrel story sounds bad, we got no squirrels here, but we have our share of rats....

I used to have cats in the warehouse. If you think they don't eat wires, they do. Mostly because they are insane and try playing with everything.

Yup I know they will check other stuff too, so gonna try the mothball tactic or keep my engine bay open as car is parked under a sheltered cover, that way it will cool down much faster and not attracts the one looking for warmth