Still have remains of "mouse smell"

[tguil]

A mouse built a nest in the heater/air conditioning blower of my wife's 2005 regular cab Tacoma. I had the truck serviced at the dealership. The blower motor was removed and cleaned and a complete air conditioner service was done including the installation of a new AC evaporator kit. I still have an unpleasant smell when the blower is on. I have gone completely through the truck looking for other mouse locations. There are none. I get the smell only when air is moving. Any suggestions? Is this something that simple takes a while to go away?

Tom

[OhioCarBuff]

Re: Still have remains of "mouse smell"

I'd use a high powered ozone generator, put it in the cabin and roll up all the windows, then put the blower on the recycle mode where it recycles air from the cabin through the blower system. You should be able to rent a high powered ozone machine at an equipment rental shop

[AeroCleanse]

Re: Still have remains of "mouse smell"

I'd use steam (real steam) aimed down the vents.

[KTruck]

Re: Still have remains of "mouse smell"

Hi:

I would give the extra strength Febreze fabric refresher a try. Spray it on a towel until it is damp and place the towel as close to the recycle air intake as you can get it. Run the system for a few minutes with the windows up. If that is not possible I would spray it in the vehicle and run the system with the windows up for a few minutes. Then air out the vehicle for a while.

The Febreze smell can be pretty strong, so I would make sure to allow for plenty of time to air out the vehicle.

Regards,

KTruck

[Larry A]

Re: Still have remains of "mouse smell"

Did you change the cabin filter if it has one.

[Sandstone]

Re: Still have remains of "mouse smell"

Meg's Odor Eliminator (G-23) puts Febreeze to shame because it's permament. Even extra strength Febreeze isn't. Odor eliminator kinda smells like beer or a different kind of new car smell. There's also an M23 version but I've never tried it. This will get the smell out of the fabric but I'd try the steam for the vents.

[RogueGypsy]

Re: Still have remains of "mouse smell"

The filter is a good call, they usually get over looked.

Another cheap and easy solution is Vinegar. Don't ask me how it works or why, I don't know, I just know it does. The two nastiest smells I've removed with it?

The first was a refrigerator that had food left in it to bake in the desert sun for 2 years. I'm not afraid to say, I really did puke from the smell when I opened the door for the first time. I emptied the fridge, cleaned it with a 10% bleach & water solution (which did nothing for the smell). Then left an 8oz, glass 50/50 water and vinegar in it over night. Next morning the smell was gone and never returned.

The second was a 4-Runner my cousin bought from a friend (some friend). It had an odor you could only truly appreciate on 90deg day after 12 hours of hanging siding. The 'friend' had 2 dogs the size of small horses that lived in the back of that truck. They went everywhere with him and when at home, they preferred it to the dog house. He also had a half dozen toddlers and this was the only vehicle they (him, his wife, 6 kids and 2 dogs) could all fit in when going somewhere.
Imagine if you will; the smell of 2 very large, dirty and often wet dogs, baby poo, 6 years of spilled baby formula, milk, ice cream, booze (how do think he ended up with 6 kids?) and various other odors associated with using a vehicle as a rolling garbage can. If you're beginning to wretch and your eye's are starting to water, that's what it smelled like on a cool dry day. You don't want to imagine a hot and humid day. Let's just say that not even the advanced 5/60 air system (5 windows down at 60 mph) could not defeat the odor.
This time, I was not about to strip and scrub the interior of an entire vehicle that was not mine. But I did ride in it daily and just couldn't take it any more. I left a 2 quart rubber maid container with 50/50 vinegar water mix sitting in the back over night. It cut the smell to almost nothing, until it got hot. So the next weekend I did it again, but left it parked in the sun with all of the windows rolled up. By Sunday afternoon, all of the odors were gone.

In the 4-Runner, not having removed the multiple sources, it made it so that as long as you weren't sitting in the sun with the windows rolled up. There was no detectable odor. But if left in the sun, with the windows rolled up and a little humidity. Whatever evil was still lurking in there would come back to life, but could be cleared by rolling the windows down for a few minutes.

It's cheap and effective.

HTH


Brock


...

[J. A. Michaels]

Re: Still have remains of "mouse smell"

Never heard about the vinegar trick. Thanks for sharing that one. I will have to remember that one. Thanks again.

[tguil]

Re: Still have remains of "mouse smell"

I ran across a procedure using Lysol spray. It seemed the simplest so I decided to give it a try first. I'll let you know how it works.

Tom

[Bunky]

Re: Still have remains of "mouse smell"

A mouse built a nest in the heater/air conditioning blower of my wife's 2005 regular cab Tacoma. I had the truck serviced at the dealership. The blower motor was removed and cleaned and a complete air conditioner service was done including the installation of a new AC evaporator kit. I still have an unpleasant smell when the blower is on. I have gone completely through the truck looking for other mouse locations. There are none. I get the smell only when air is moving. Any suggestions? Is this something that simple takes a while to go away?

Tom

We had nest in our blower as well. The stupid mouse built it twice. We had that smell for a while but then it was different. After some experiments with windows up and down, etc, I discovered the smell was coming from the back. I found the mouse dead underneath the rear seat. I think it ran to the rear when they were cleaning it out and then got crushed (my desire) or died of starvation. The smell did eventually go away.

[tguil]

Re: Still have remains of "mouse smell"

To remove the mouse smell in the AC/vent system after the mouse nest was removed from the blower and the AC system was serviced by my dealer’s shop, I followed the procedure below:
1. Roll down all the windows.
2. Open hood and start engine.
3. Turn AC on high, set vent to fresh air (non-recirculating).
4. Spray incoming air vents (outside bottom of windshield on most model vehicles.) with low odor spray disinfectant (Lysol).
5. Repeat Step 4, using alternate vent settings – heat and air only – blower on high.
I used almost a full can of Lysol for Steps 4 and 5
6. Turn off engine and let sit for at least 30 minutes.
7. Start engine, turn blower fan on high and run through each setting for about 10 minutes (30 minutes total) with no one in car.
Leave the windows down over night and as often as possible. It takes several days for the disinfectant smell to dissipate but it is bearable after completing Step 7.

Tom