Ok so I bought a used 4Runner about two weeks ago. It smelled kinda funky, not like the first time when I saw the vehicle before deciding to buy. Saw some ants crawling around the day of purchase but assumed maybe the previous owner parked under a tree or something. About two days go by and my rig is covered in ants. I followed some ants along the sills of the driver side doors, up along the top of the rear gate, along the weather strip/roof rack on the top of the passenger side, down the top edge of the front passenger door and into the engine bay. There I discovers a bunch of ants rioting on the top of the painted wheel well. I searched for dead animals in the engine bay but nothing. Other than the ants, it's clean.
Used ant spray and it temporarily got rid of the ants. Two days later I see ants in a trail on top of the dash entering the vent area where the windshield defogger is. Killed those ants, now I'm assuming there is something dead in that area causing the smell. When I cleaned and shampooed the interior I did find what I think was the stain of melted chocolate in the crack between the bottom seat cushion and back rest of the passenger seat. You could only see that with the seat fully reclined back. No ants were in this area though. I thought that could have been adding to the smell so I cleaned that all up.
Before I get more off track, how can I open up the area near the bottom of the windshield behind the dash? There has to be something dead causing the smell (which has reduced and isn't as bad, but still...). The dealership checked it out and couldn't find anything anywhere else in the hvac system. They said it would cost a lot for the labor to rip it apart. Any suggestions?
I've already removed the seats to clean the carpet, around the bolt areas, the seats themselves, the cabin air filter and fan/motor behind the glove compartment, and also visually inspected the cowl at the base of the windshield on the outside. Please help!
Used ant spray and it temporarily got rid of the ants. Two days later I see ants in a trail on top of the dash entering the vent area where the windshield defogger is. Killed those ants, now I'm assuming there is something dead in that area causing the smell. When I cleaned and shampooed the interior I did find what I think was the stain of melted chocolate in the crack between the bottom seat cushion and back rest of the passenger seat. You could only see that with the seat fully reclined back. No ants were in this area though. I thought that could have been adding to the smell so I cleaned that all up.
Before I get more off track, how can I open up the area near the bottom of the windshield behind the dash? There has to be something dead causing the smell (which has reduced and isn't as bad, but still...). The dealership checked it out and couldn't find anything anywhere else in the hvac system. They said it would cost a lot for the labor to rip it apart. Any suggestions?
I've already removed the seats to clean the carpet, around the bolt areas, the seats themselves, the cabin air filter and fan/motor behind the glove compartment, and also visually inspected the cowl at the base of the windshield on the outside. Please help!
