DEAD mouse in my vent system? ***UPDATED AGAIN ON PAGE 3 ***

[blackbombshell95]

A little over a year ago I had this death like smell in my car. It was absolutly unbearable. I couldn't drive the car. It stunk so bad I could puke if i were to stay in the car. The stinch was a 10 out of a 10.

 

So I stopped driving the car for a month and the smell started to go away. When I would turn the fan on the smell would increase 10 fold. So I knew that the smell was somewhere in the air vent system. I then removed the fan(squirrel cage) and it was empty. I kept the fan out so no air would flow through. Thus no smell anymore. Phew. But when I would take compressed air to the air vent that nasty smell would come out again. So that sucker is still in there dried up.

 

To this day I have not found that dead THING. I removed the dash last week. Today I removed the heater core and the EVAP and it isn't in the evap. Where could it of gone? I don't see anywhere It could of gone past the EVAP. It is nowhere to be found? Any suggestions?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here u can see the firewall where we had to remove the wiring harness and backing plate to allow the evap to fall out

 

 

 

 

Here is a picture of the evap. Clean as a whistle. Where could that SOB have gone? Dead mice can't move right?

 

 

 

 

Here is a pic of the old heater core.

 

 

 

No Dash FTMFL

[Crazy K]

try removing the wipers and the grill underneath them. Your dead mouse may be up there!

[Jcrow]

I have live mice in my car. There is a pile of seed shells in the trunk and just recently there is a pile on the dash board.

[Crazy K]

you did remove the evaoprator from the assembly and look behind it too, right?

[blackbombshell95]

you did remove the evaoprator from the assembly and look behind it too, right?

Yes. Very clean inside. Any other places that you suggest? Do you see a way for the mouse to get past the evap into the vent system? We originally pulled the wiper assembly and didn't find it(MONTHS ago). But we're going to check again next thursday. Thursdays are the only time we have a chance to work on it. I'll update you guys on my progress then. More suggestions are welcome and no comments please as I need solutions not bs. Thanks

 

 

[blackbombshell95]

try removing the wipers and the grill underneath them. Your dead mouse may be up there!

 

Last time I checked their wasn't a grill below the wipers. I've recently replaced my wiper assembly and saw nothing. I can see straight down and nothing is in sight.

 

I appreciate ur thoughts Crazy K.

[GP1138]

Could they possibly in the footwell vents? Do you smell it specifically in the upper vents or just everywhere in the car?

[blackbombshell95]

Could they possibly in the footwell vents? Do you smell it specifically in the upper vents or just everywhere in the car?

 

The smell blew out of the upper vents. I didn't check to see if the smell came out of the bottom. But anways i don't see how the mouse could of gotten past the evap. That is sealed.

[Nick1234]

so how bad does that smell.

[blackbombshell95]

so how bad does that smell.

 

how can I explain. Sorry I can't. Any ideas of where it might be or not?

[Nick1234]

negative.

[Crazy K]

Did you compeletly dismemeber the hvac plastic thing down everybit? try washing the plasitic out a bathtub with hot water and a cap of bleach. could it be mouse urine staining the assembly?

 

p.s. it is a good time to flush your heater core in the sink!

[terryk2003]

just wondering if you KNOW its a mouse, or if thats just a suspicion!?...

[blackbombshell95]

Did you compeletly dismemeber the hvac plastic thing down everybit? try washing the plasitic out a bathtub with hot water and a cap of bleach. could it be mouse urine staining the assembly?

 

p.s. it is a good time to flush your heater core in the sink!

 

I bought a new lifetime heater core last month ready to be installed next thursday

The mouse died, because of the radical smell i doubt it was just urine. If u sat in the car and you had did NOT have a strong gut u would throw up immediately. If you had a strong gut it would take you 2 minutes before you would puke all over the place. Bottom, it was totally unbearable. Once ppl would smell it they would jump 3 feet away from the car.

 

The smell was death. My brother confirmed the smell. He's had to find several dead mouses throughout his career as an auto technican.

[GP1138]

Could they possibly in the footwell vents? Do you smell it specifically in the upper vents or just everywhere in the car?

 

The smell blew out of the upper vents. I didn't check to see if the smell came out of the bottom. But anways i don't see how the mouse could of gotten past the evap. That is sealed.

 

Just curious, I don't know the exact layout of the HVAC vents.

[blackbombshell95]

Maybe someone who does might chim in. Still waiting.

[Crazy K]

I know, the layout I've ripped them to shreads. I do not know what to tell you.

 

I know air is drawn in through the cowl, the air intake is right above the fan motor. from there is heads towards the drivers side, then heits the evaporator. the filter is next, which is bolted to the evaporator. then through teh heater core and/or the heater core bypass then to the various vent stages.

 

 

may I suggest getting a piece of lhose and smelling though it? image a piece of water hose that you can stick into the verious nooks and smell?

 

if it is not in the box, and you have checked all the venting in the dash, then I think you need to rip the cowl apart.

 

the cowl area has large drains on either side enough for a golf ball to fall into behind the inner fender wells. Try sniffing around the inner fender well area too.

[blackbombshell95]

UPdate. I had about an hour to work on it yesterday. I installed the new heater core. Put the evap back on. And that was it. The last place to check is the actual dash unit that I had painted. It sucks that the only chance I have is on a thursday to work on the car and yesterday i had no time

 

I'm going to take an air chuck and blow compressed air in there next week and tell you guys what I find. If its not in the evap or in the fan, then it has to be in the vents. Cause the smell blew out of the upper vents. No doubt it came from the upper vents.

[blackbombshell95]

UPDATE!!!

 

I reinstalled everything back in the car. I couldn't find the bugger anywhere. But here's the strange thing. It's been 1 1/2 years since this first happened.

 

When I blow cold air at full blast i smell NOTHING! Then when I change the temp to WARM and I can smell the stinch. The smell is now a 5 out of a 10. It's not bad enough to make me puke like it did when it first happened. But the smell did make me cough! Where could it be!!!! or what could it be!!!!

[servoalt]

Find a vacuum with a small enough attachment to poke down the vent holes. I had a mouse crawl in from the front of a vent one time in my 87 Subaru GL. When I would hit the fan, the mouse would slam against the backside of the vent on the inside of the dash. I couldn't figure out what the fuck it was until i put my face 2 inches from the vent and I SAW WHISKERS!! ...NEVER jumped out of a car so quick in my life! Come to find out, that mouse was still alive because I could hear him in there.

 

If its a dead rodent, there will be fur and stuff that blows out with the vent. Mine would blow fur all over my face when I kicked it on.

[MonteCarloDude]

Find a vacuum with a small enough attachment to poke down the vent holes. I had a mouse crawl in from the front of a vent one time in my 87 Subaru GL. When I would hit the fan, the mouse would slam against the backside of the vent on the inside of the dash. I couldn't figure out what the fuck it was until i put my face 2 inches from the vent and I SAW WHISKERS!! ...NEVER jumped out of a car so quick in my life! Come to find out, that mouse was still alive because I could hear him in there.

 

If its a dead rodent, there will be fur and stuff that blows out with the vent. Mine would blow fur all over my face when I kicked it on.

oh man thats nasty.

[Andrew]

seems like you've torn it apart enough that you should have found something by now, and you should notice hair coming out of the vents like servo said.

maybe someone put tunafish juice or fishoil in your radiator. ive heard that can make a car stink really bad when the heat is turned on.....

[blackbombshell95]

seems like you've torn it apart enough that you should have found something by now, and you should notice hair coming out of the vents like servo said.

maybe someone put tunafish juice or fishoil in your radiator. ive heard that can make a car stink really bad when the heat is turned on.....

 

You got a good point there. I'll take that into consideration. I did however drain my radiator before winter started. But in the beginning the smell was throughout the car. Even when the fan wasn't on. And it did have a deafy smell. But there was a few jokers in my class, and I don't doubt anyone put some of that shit into my radiators system. But once again this was a year and a half ago . HELP.

 

Need more suggestions; Again there is NO smell when there is cold air. It smells TERRIBLE when i'm blowing warm air :dunno:

[1990lumina]

Do these car's have a heater box, or something of the nature?? When my car was in to get the HVAC serviced/told nothing was wrong with it last fall..the guy sat in my car and told me when the COLD setting is fully set air bypasses the "heater box"...but when you put it all the way to HOT it redirects the air through the "heater box" to warm it first and then blow though the system....so, maybe the fucker is caught up in the heater box..but fuck if i know what the term "heater box" means...

 

I was there because when I put my temp setting to HOT, I lose like half the air pressure....this guy told me it was normal and I believe him I guess lol...just have to keep the temp slider a few ticks off HOT and it's pretty good haha

[paulo57509]

Man, just reading this gives me the semi-heaves. Perhaps the dead rodent isn't in the HVAC system. Check around the car....everywhere.

 

My '92 Lumina had this really bad smell that I thought was mold coming from the HVAC system. It would smell terrible every time I would turn on the A/C or heater. I emptied a whole can of Lysol into the outside and inside A/C intakes followed by some of that stuff specifically made for HVAC units. It helped, but after a week or so, the smell would come back.

 

I happened to open the trunk one day and there was a gallon of sour milk in there that had puked all over the place. The GF went shopping and left the milk in the trunk......for three weeks. I would say the smell was about a 40 on the Hobo Power Meter.

 

Damn, I had to wear a respirator to clean up that mess.