Powder Post Infestation

[JayG]

The 31 96 coupe I recently picked up is showing signs of powder post beetle activity.  Most of the methods to remediate talk about applying treatments to the surface of the wood.  With a completely assembled car this is next to impossible.  How have you guys dealt with this?  I can't be the only one to encounter it.

 

Thanks for any advice..  Jay

[F&J]

I don't know the best cure, but they leave recent dust showing if they are still alive.  Vacuum every place possible and then wait for new dust showing up?

 

I suppose those home "flea and tick" cans that empty themselves when you set them off in a closed house....might be a thing to try?

 

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[JoelsBuicks]

Jay,

do you know if the car has been recently rewooded?  If so, ash may have been used and it is very susceptible to PPB infestation; as are a few other species.  You've got to do something.  Right now the only thing I can think of is to find a way to bring up the temperature of the car to exceed the bug's (larvae) life threshold, whatever that is.  Or, maybe they freeze? I wonder if encapsulation in pure nitrogen for a while would work?

 

This is about my biggest nightmare and it's why I don't use ash to rewood.  I have personally watched a stack of kiln dried ash turn into fine dust in two years.

 

I hope you can get this stopped before it's too late.

 

Joel

[trimacar]

I just lost two nice ash trees to the ash borer, mites though they are, they sure do some damage.

 

As far as raising temperature, there's a local pasta production facility.  The only way they can keep from having major bug infestation, once a week or so they close the factory, and it's made so that they can heat the entire facility up to about 130 degrees F.  At that point the bugs and their eggs dry out and, while not "gone", are dead.  I don't know how you'd get a car up to 130, and that may cause other damage.

[kgreen]

After a little web research, I found the following:  https://entomology.ca.uky.edu/ef616

 

I've had to deal with dry wood termites in the past so I wondered if there were any similarities.  The above article suggests that there are several species of insects that could be responsible for damage.  You should verify.  To me, the most notable treatment is a reduction in humidity level to kill the bugs.  That could be easily accomplished on a car and have little to no resulting damage afterwards.  

 

I've seen the bag-a-car things where you keep your car fully enclosed in a zippered bag after you drive it in.  You could place a dehumidifier in the car, plumb the water out and the electrical cord in and make the environment super dry for whatever period of tie would be necessary to kill the whatever.  

 

This is one idea (only) and depends on what has actually infested your car.

 

[JayG]

Thanks for the responses.  I'm hoping that someone that has dealt with the problem can tell me what they did.

 

The car is original and never been re-wooded.  There is evidence of current activity.  Fresh powder residue.   I read the internet suggestions and raising the temp to 130 might be doable but getting the inner areas of the wood to 130 would mean leaving the car in 130+ for a while making sure the inner parts reach temp.  Not keen on this approach as it may cause damage to other things.  I may look into getting an exterminator out to tell me if fumigating it will work.  Jay

[michaelod]

When I first bought my 1930 Buick model 68 it had a termite infestation.  I bought 5 or 6 bug bombs, strategically placing them in and around the car.  After setting them off and returning later in the day, I was surprised to find a large number of spiders and other bugs that had unknown to me been residing in the garage and were now covering the floor.  Absolutely took out every termite as well and never had another problem other than the fact that I had to replace about 1/3 of the wood in the car that they had been munching on.

[critterpainter]

Find a company that tents houses to treat for termites and see if you can park the car in the garage of a house being treated if they think their chemical will do the job.