This may help someone else... When I purchased my truck I knew it had a powerful mouse smell coming from the hvac system and had very little airflow. I started disassembling the system looking for a cabin filter (it does not have one) and found that the inlet side of the a/c coil was packed full of mouse nest, poop, dirt, etc (this truck had lived in a very dusty environment). I removed the housing around the coil and cleaned coil w/ brush, vacuum, and air. Scrubbed down the housing w/ cleaner also. Now I have proper airflow and 1/10th the smell. In hindsight, I should have put metal screen across the rectangular air intake hole coming from behind the headlight (next time I'm in there). Reassembly pics...I forgot to take pics of the mouse mess.
Bob, did I tell you you're my new best friend? Up until this winter, I had never turned on the fan on my HVAC. Soon as I did...well you could tell that my truck has been used by the local rodent population as a habitrail. They don't seem to have gotten into the cabin proper but definitely up in the ventilation system. This gives me a lot of info as to how to proceed. Thanks for the great post. Hey you other viewers, give DYNOBOB some rep power! Click on the little scales thingie up in the right corner of his post and give him an attaboy!
great post! Excellent pics too! My truck doesn't have AC and therefore doesn't have the black plastic box screwed to the firewall of the passenger side floorboard. It just has a blank plate there. I always wondered what that was for!
Great post.and photos....I'm sure there's more than a few unwanted guests in some trucks out there...this should help evicting them
I'm up for this little project also Bob. Horrible smell from the vents and when I dropped the glove box and moved the fresh air / recirculate door, I could see the housing full of nest material and worse. Oddly enough, this winter my two Jack Russell terriers were hitting on the front of my truck, dead center behind where it says "Hijet". They are serious mousers so I usually investigate whatever has them tore up. I pulled both headlights out and discovered a narrow passage between the headlights just behind the sheet metal in the front of the truck. Sure enough, there was a huge nest. Took my shop vac and cleaned it out. As you mentioned, I may pull the passenger headlight out and put some screen over the fresh air inlet.
Hey Jamie, I never did do the screen and luckily the problem has not returned (my dog sleeps on a old stinky mattress next to the truck ). Within a few months of doing this I had no mouse smell at all. I need to do better getting by this forum. We are just back from a two week/six state off-road motorcycle trip out West, saw a lot of minis out there... .
The stink had died down after I posted up above. Then it came back seriously this summer so I'm finally looking at doing this "mod" real soon! I usually don't use the blower at all during the summer but come plowing season (any time now) I need the defrost. It's smelling pretty rank right now. Whenever I turn on the blower, I can't help but think of the "mother goose" nursery rhyme: Pretty John Watts, We are troubled with rats, Will you drive them out of the house? We have mice too in plenty, That feast in the pantry, But let them stay and nibble away, What harm in a little brown mouse? Ah, country living! At least it's better than woodchucks.
Put a open box, or two, of moth-balls in your truck and that will help keep the mice out...I remove them when I drive mine
