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Mouse and nasty smell problem in 17 crewmax.

Discussion in '2.5 Gen TRD Pro (2014-2021)' started by Thumper426, Apr 6, 2019.

  1. Apr 6, 2019 at 8:23 AM
    #1
    Thumper426

    Thumper426 [OP] New Member

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    Hi everyone, my name is thumper426 and i am a tundra owner with a mouse problem.
    here is some background info:
    i bought my truck new in may of 17, around 8k miles in (about a year later) i had a nasty smell coming from HVAC system. I thought it was a cleaner the dealer used on my floor mats after a service. i took out the mats and the smell persisted. I did some research, some research led me to believe an ac evap. may have mold from not drying completley, this wasn't the case.
    One day after work, I went to my truck at lunch and found a bag of nuts with chew marks and mice poo poo in my center console. I drove to a nearby lowes, bought 4 mouse traps, set the traps in my truck cabin and hunted patiently at my work desk for the rest of the day. @ 5pm, nothing. drove home with the traps set, parked her in the driveway, sat for another round of hunting until 10:30pm. i checked and BAM, i got jingles. I replaced the cabin air filter, with a k&n. the smell kinda went away so i thought all was good. FF 5 months, it still kinda stank. Doing some PM, i found mouse Poo poo in my cabin air filter. yes maybe jingles reincarnated. I am looking for some intel on resources that may aid in the extraction of jingles offspring and nest, please help.

    1. In the HVAC inlet from the back of the engine compartment (underneath the wiper shroud), does anyone know of any compartments that are prone to mouse nests? IMG_1851.jpg

    Here is a pic of where i believe the mice are getting in. If you stick you fingers in the back you will feel a hole to the right easily for mouse to get in. Poor design to leave a gap this big. I can see that behind the small checkered entrance holes (on right) it appears the main inlet to the HVAC is there. Maybe there are compartments in there, anyone been down this path that could comment on their experience?

    2. Any recommendations on tools for removal... Vacuum, compressed. air. ???
    3. I pulled the cab filter out to inspect, i don't see how the mice could have got passed the filter. but i did notice the back of the box, on some foam, there were chew marks, i believe this is how the bastard entered my cab from the compartment. see photo 2
    it still stinks, i need to figure out where the nest could be.

    thanks

    IMG_1855.jpg
     
    Black Wolf likes this.
  2. Apr 6, 2019 at 8:30 AM
    #2
    Rex Kramer

    Rex Kramer Vinyl Spinner

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    Cabin filters often become rest areas for rodents... they follow a urine trail so that needs to be cleaned.
     
    Thumper426[OP] and Black Wolf like this.
  3. Apr 6, 2019 at 8:35 AM
    #3
    Ynot_tonY

    Ynot_tonY Merciful

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    It's totalled, get a new one. Or burn it with fire.
     
  4. Apr 6, 2019 at 8:36 AM
    #4
    Jrharvey02

    Jrharvey02 New Member

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    Gonna be somewhere warm, around a heat vent, they’re looking for food and warmth. Toyota makes their wire sheathing out of soy, and they love to eat that shit. I had mice eat thru foam above radiator and make a home on the top of my block, way deep in there after chewing thru more foam on top of engine (under plastic cover) fuckers got deep and brought their lunch with them. Had to suck, pull, all sorts of snail shells and shit outta there. Ate thru a wiring harness too. Get a mouse trap and some peanut butter and booby trap the shit outta your truck.

    Edit: use wire mesh (similar to wire scrubbing pads) to block their entrance exit points, they can’t chew thru that. If you can stick a pencil thru a hole in your truck, a mouse can get thru there
     
    Last edited: Apr 6, 2019
    Thumper426[OP] and Jmklly67 like this.
  5. Apr 6, 2019 at 10:02 AM
    #5
    wigsplitter

    wigsplitter New Member

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    Until you trap them I would put steel wool if possible around those entrance points where you think they are getting in. Its like razor wire to them and they wont mess with it.
     
    Thumper426[OP] likes this.
  6. Apr 6, 2019 at 10:41 AM
    #6
    DoubleJackOnTap

    DoubleJackOnTap New Member

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    We get mice in my wife's Sequioa when the weather gets cold. I dont have help on how to prevent them from entering - still working on that as well. We have had great luck trapping with the Victor electric mouse trap. We set them under the front seats and check every day. Regular mouse traps were often tripped and we had a few that made a nasty bloody mess. Mouse blood and gore is hard to get off carpets. The electric traps have made it easy for us to remove the little buggers.
     
    Thumper426[OP], Jmklly67 and Trooper2 like this.
  7. Apr 20, 2019 at 4:57 PM
    #7
    DoubleJackOnTap

    DoubleJackOnTap New Member

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    I did several hours of search on the web about the rodent problem and found that Toyota does not block off the A/C intake on many of their vehicles. I pulled off the cowling of our Sequoia and found that to be true. I used some gutter guard from HD to block off the large opening. I don't think this will end all my issues, but I'm sure it is a start. We had lots of evidence of mice entering through this area. I documented how I did our fix on this thread:

    https://www.tundras.com/threads/mouse-rodent-proofing-stage-one.44679/

    We also used peppermint oil on cotton balls and placed them under the seats and in the govebox, ect. I read that helps as well.
     

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