Mice!

[volpe30]

Anyone ever have mice in their truck? Went to change my cabin air filter the other day and found a nest on top of it. Set some sticky traps out where the cabin filter goes and in the air box and found four in the cabin air filter area and one more in the air box! I’ve got pics but will spare you the gory aftermath. My 5th gen was a mouse motel! Hopefully got them all. Laid out some moth balls in both spots and will let that sit for the day. It’ll stink, but I’ll take that over mice—they can do some serious damage!


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[Quantumkiwi]

I've had packrats several times in the airbox of my Avalon before. What I did was to bend some thick flat wire mesh (more or less the same stuff people buy from home depot for mesh grilles) around the air intake and then secured it with a bolt and washer. I can take some pics when I get home if ya want.

Been about 5 years and I haven't had a single issue, also didn't notice any difference in performance or air starvation.

For cleaning it your best bet is to pull both filters and the airbox, clean out all nests and spray them with bleach/simple green and soap.

 

[DesertCanyons]

Mouse behind the dashboard

Anyone ever have mice in their truck? Went to change my cabin air filter the other day and found a nest on top of it. Set some sticky traps out where the cabin filter goes and in the air box and found four in the cabin air filter area and one more in the air box! I’ve got pics but will spare you the gory aftermath. My 5th gen was a mouse motel! Hopefully got them all. Laid out some moth balls in both spots and will let that sit for the day. It’ll stink, but I’ll take that over mice—they can do some serious damage!

The only thing worse than a nest of live mice in your car is a dead mouse in your air intake or behind the dashboard. That smell would take weeks to go away. Once I saw a mechanic taking a dashboard completely apart to find a dead mouse. What a fiasco! Hopefully, nothing gets away from the sticky trap to die not far away.
:bat:

 

[03_4x4Runner]

Past post.

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/5th-gen-t4rs/260677-just-another-rodent-wiring-problem-2018-trdp.html

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/5th-gen-t4rs/252980-rats.html

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/5th-gen-t4rs/237195-cabin-air-filter-chewed-up.html

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/5th-gen-t4rs/233918-rodent-chewed-injector-wire.html

 

[JAXJeremy]

I've known plenty of folks with vehicles that sat who had mice issues..personally though, I've had plenty of lizards and even had a birds nest right next to the radiator in my off road rig...

 

[volpe30]

Past post.



http://www.toyota-4runner.org/5th-gen-t4rs/260677-just-another-rodent-wiring-problem-2018-trdp.html



http://www.toyota-4runner.org/5th-gen-t4rs/252980-rats.html



http://www.toyota-4runner.org/5th-gen-t4rs/237195-cabin-air-filter-chewed-up.html



http://www.toyota-4runner.org/5th-gen-t4rs/233918-rodent-chewed-injector-wire.html

Thanks!


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[Pathfinder!]

I've known plenty of folks with vehicles that sat who had mice issues..personally though, I've had plenty of lizards and even had a birds nest right next to the radiator in my off road rig...

When I was coming home from camping one day I turned on the AC and heard this weird clunking noise coming from it. I turned it off drove home and left the car in my driveway for a few days. My girlfriend then borrowed the truck to drive to work and she called me complaining of an unholy smell. I went down and picked up the truck and could barely make it back to the house with the windows down.

I could still hear something rattling in the blower motor, so I pulled it and found a complete horror show. It had "blended" a mouse. I just took the unit and tossed it straight in the garbage and bought a new one. Took several days and a bunch of vent cleaner spray and febreeze to get that smell out.

 

[volpe30]

When I was coming home from camping one day I turned on the AC and heard this weird clunking noise coming from it. I turned it off drove home and left the car in my driveway for a few days. My girlfriend then borrowed the truck to drive to work and she called me complaining of an unholy smell. I went down and picked up the truck and could barely make it back to the house with the windows down.



I could still hear something rattling in the blower motor, so I pulled it and found a complete horror show. It had "blended" a mouse. I just took the unit and tossed it straight in the garbage and bought a new one. Took several days and a bunch of vent cleaner spray and febreeze to get that smell out.

That’s a horror show! I got lucky so far. Their nest was part of the engine air filter and some insulation from who knows where in the car. Didn’t look like any wire material and I looked over all wires and wire harnesses that are visible and didn’t see any damage. I plan on laying traps out again tonight to make sure I got all of them. I’m also probably going to put some wire mesh over the main access areas as shown in some of the posts in the threads provided above. They can do some serious damage!


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[atchcraft]

That’s a horror show! I got lucky so far. Their nest was part of the engine air filter and some insulation from who knows where in the car. Didn’t look like any wire material and I looked over all wires and wire harnesses that are visible and didn’t see any damage. I plan on laying traps out again tonight to make sure I got all of them. I’m also probably going to put some wire mesh over the main access areas as shown in some of the posts in the threads provided above. They can do some serious damage!

I started one of the threads mentioned above, "Rats!". After my injection harness was eaten, I ran to Home Depot and got a can of spray that is specifically for that. I hit the inside of my engine compartment and everywhere leading into it. so far, so god. I guess they done like peppermint, so I spritz that every now and then. I had glue traps for a while too, but never got any takers.

 

[Richmond Dan]

I kept those ultrasonic rodent repellers under the engine in my garage. They stopped comng around.

 

[Paco Bill]

Rear quarter panel vents

Problem: Mouse droppings in floorboards of my wife’s 2007 SR5. She demanded a dead carcass.

Besides finding the standard dead rat in his nest above the cabin filter, I found another one in the right rear quarter panel well. Looks like he came in through the pressure equalization vent located there.

Having removed the seats and dismantling the center console and removing the center control panel, I shall begin reconstruction. Will add wire mesh covering to A/C inlet and to both pressure equalization vents.

I estimate that I can do all of that in about 45 minutes.

... NOT!!!!!

Thank you to everyone on the forum for all of the info that gave me direction and kept me sane during my search.

My wife thanks you, too.

 

[Mutant138]

Rats where a big problem back in NYC. Growing up we had a two vehicles that got the main harness chewed on. They would crawl under the hood during winter for warmth. Distributor leads. Wire harnesses. Vacuum tubes. Coolant lines. Nests in the dashboard. They will straight **** your car up. They will chew through metal. Older I got the more the city got on top of the rat issue but I had one living in my dash as recent as 2014.

I would mesh off your intake like it was suggested. I have a snorkel so it would be quite a bit more work for someone to make themselves at home in my intake.

I seem to remember there was something we could put on the wires that the rats wouldn't like to chew on. Can't for the life of me remember if that's a real memory or not :shrug:

 

[TEujunga]

When I was coming home from camping one day I turned on the AC and heard this weird clunking noise coming from it. I turned it off drove home and left the car in my driveway for a few days. My girlfriend then borrowed the truck to drive to work and she called me complaining of an unholy smell. I went down and picked up the truck and could barely make it back to the house with the windows down.

I could still hear something rattling in the blower motor, so I pulled it and found a complete horror show. It had "blended" a mouse. I just took the unit and tossed it straight in the garbage and bought a new one. Took several days and a bunch of vent cleaner spray and febreeze to get that smell out.

I posted this photo in 2017 when it happened to my 2-month-old 4Runner:

 

[Mutant138]

I posted this photo in 2017 when it happened to my 2-month-old 4Runner:

Did the mouse make it?

 

[Calimander]

Mice can’t be worse than squirrels

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[Calimander]

The stink was a following me around—-couldn’t figure it out


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[Clrems77]

I started one of the threads mentioned above, "Rats!". After my injection harness was eaten, I ran to Home Depot and got a can of spray that is specifically for that. I hit the inside of my engine compartment and everywhere leading into it. so far, so god. I guess they done like peppermint, so I spritz that every now and then. I had glue traps for a while too, but never got any takers.

Do you know the name of the spray? Been dealing with this same problem. Thanks in advance!

 

[TEujunga]

Did the mouse make it?

The blower fan was on “hi” when the mouse got sucked into it through the hole he’d chewed in the cabin air filter, so no, he didn’t make it, but I bet it was a helluva ride for the first few seconds.

 

[Arnezie]

Death by belt

 

[Mutant138]

Death by belt

Mice can’t be worse than squirrels

It's getting all medieval up in this *****.