Dead mice in my cabin air filter.

So yesterday I noticed a mild odor coming from the AC vents. It was super faint but enough to get me searching around the car for old food. Never found anything and kinda just forgot about it.


This morning I get in the car and it’s significatly worse. I didn’t have much time to investigate because I had a full schedule.


Later in the day I get in the car and it was again exponentially worse than it was in the morning. At this point I’m starting to panic because it straight up smells like a dead animal. The sun was bright and hot today so that definitely did not help the situation. I then glance over to the passenger side and see what I thought was a turd on the floor mat. I lean in closer and the smell gets worse so I assumed the turd is the culprit. I get out and walk around to shake the mat off and then I realize that what I thought was a turd was actually a fucking mouse fetus. I immediately chuck that fucker off the mat and leave the mat out so I can clean it later.


At that point I was thinking, okay awesome, I guess that was it! How it got there, who knows?! I drive off to continue my day and realize that the smell hasn’t gotten any better and that it’s still pumping out strong from my fuckin AC vent.


I then called my boy @pi3rr3son filled him in on the situation and cruised over to his place so we can investigate the situation.


We pop the hood and take a good look and there’s nothing really glaring. We then went for the cabin air filter through the glove compartment. The second we popped the panel to get to the filter the smell was fucking ungodly. We look inside to find 3-4 more of the fuckin alien mouse fetus’s. (Pictured bellow) It was fuckin rank.


I’m sure you can imagine what happens next, we immediately chucked the filter and had to dig one of the fuckers from the grooves in the panel were he had buroughed in and decayed. I then took out the motor and fan below the filter (not sure what this part is actually called) to make sure there was nothing in there which there wasn’t. It appears as if it was just contained to the filter or at least that’s what I’m hoping.


At this point I can kind of smell that rank odor wherever I go but I know for sure the smell in the car is way better. Like I said I’m hoping that it was just the cabin air filter but I really don’t know where else to search. If you have any suggestions feel free to let me know.


Went to autozone and bought the FRAM air filter (pictured below as well). It’s supposed to be an “odor eliminating” filter. Any one have any feedback on those?


I have no idea how those mice mother fuckers got in there. For a while I thought I was being pranked. I work for a fire department where this kinda stuff does happen sometimes haha I also do leave my car parked for several days at a time while at work so I’m thinking/hoping that has something to do with it.


Has anyone on here had anything remotely like this happen to them?

 

Woah mice are nasty

 

I can’t get the smell off

 

Bastards! This happens more than one would think. The fix is to put some screening on the fresh air intake under the cowling. While your at it do the engine intake as well. Which reminds me I need to get off my butt and complete this project.
Also, I you have mice around it would be a good idea to keep keen eye in your engine bay and the wiring. They can really destroy the wiring. Like insurance claim damage.

 

A couple of those would help as well!

 

You should get a cat for the station, it would be a nice companion for everyone who stays there overnight as well

 

Awesome suggestion! Gonna try to get it done tomorrow, this was traumatizing enough to make sure it never happens to me again I am glad to hear that this does happen to other people...

 

Dude those are baby rats not mice. You need to check your engine cabin out because mama had babies in there and was probably hungry. Happened to me but my engine light came on because of the damaged wires. 500 bucks later it was fixed. Good luck..

 

Sorry to be the harbinger of potentially bad news, but also check all your wires and harnesses, if mice are getting into your engine compartment , you are also at risk for some electrical problems due to chewed insulation.

Edit: really @offgasing2 ? You type too fast.

@YHanna : wet the engine compartment, sprinkle cayenne pepper all over and let dry. Your truck’s electrical systems are protected by incredible edible soy based wire insulation.

 

i had a full grown mouse die inside my skidplate once. It was about 3 days before i noticed.

Needless to say i was not happy.

 

My sister had a car that sat for a few months while she was in school that had a nice family of rodents move in into the blower area, not hard for them to do.

They just get under the cowl where there's a loose mesh half effective leaf guard and crawl under that then down into the box through the fresh air intake vent.

Saw a lot of that in various cars when I worked for a dealer, more common up north though where the lil buggers want a nice dry and warm hole to hide in.

Especially fun when you open the filter box up and the whole floor fills with acorns, nuts, and corn.

 

What's really bad is when you own snakes and you're bringing home feeders and get stuck in a traffic jam quadrupling your commute home and they chew through the box they're in and you have to pull over and round them up except you know you got seven but you can only find six and a week later you know one of those buggers climbed up behind the dash and got stuck and died and you have to rip the whole truck apart to get the smell out and even then it's only mostly gone.

 

Get your self the best hepa filter/fan money can buy and splice that beast right into the battery with a switch panel

 

I have had this happen to my 2017 and before to my car. Had someone suggest to use peppermint oil. I got a small bottle of the peppermint oil from the craft store. The "essential oils" stuff that people use in those diffusers and for candles and such. Opened the hood and were the mice get in i put a few drops around the engine bay and the air intakes. its kinda strong and comes in the vents at first but not bad, and no more mice. Not sure if its true but I was told that some of the plastics on the vehicle and wires use a type of plastic made from soy and that is why they like it. Whatever reason, its best not to provide a home for critters.

 

I can imagine what that smells like in a small truck. Had a mouse die on top of a wall plate ten feet up in the attic of the house.

I could smell it standing at the wall so I thought it was in the wall. Got down smelled the outlet and it was enough to make you wretch.

I climbed up in the attic to see about somehow attacking the problem from above before ripping out sheetrock. Pulled back the insulation and there was a tiny dead mouse in a pile of its own piss and shit. No bigger than a matchbox but his foul stank had permeated my wall all the way through the top plate and 10 feet down to my outlet. Stunk for days after removal.

Crazy how bad something so small can smell.

 

Here is another thread with helpful tips on keeping the rodents out.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/effing-mice.461226/

 

gross. put a dryer sheet in there to prevent it.

 

wow that's sick man