Rats in the cabin air filter.

Few weeks ago I noticed a smell from the AC and investigated. Long story short some rats had a nest on top of the cabin air filter and there were dead baby rats in there.

That'll learn em...

 

Need a new filter

 

Dont think I can just blow it off with the air compressor?

 

I was taking a girlfriend at the time on a day trip. I was driving the tundra, it was summer and hot as hell. Just as we started to pull into a parking lot my cabin fan started making a hell of a racket and was vibrating so hard you could feel it. Fearing I wouldn’t have AC I pulled the cabin filter to get to the fan and behold there was a hole in it, I reach down into the fan and pulled out freshly ground up mouse parts lol. Removed what I could and thank goodness the fan survived so I got the AC back on. Now I have several feral cats and the problem of mice and pack rats is solved!

 

I found cactus fruit on my cabin filter. Blower rattled and it was out of balance. Cost me $200 to get it fixed. I ran an LED rope light around my vehicles and set up traps. Caught squirrels mice etc. Knock on wood, I haven’t had any issues since.

 

Have you figured out how their getting in? I had a huge problem with mice on my last truck and think they were getting in under the cowl below the windshield. I noticed my Tundra has a huge gap in the back of the cowl, so i made up some caged wire and glued it down with some silicone. Not sure if this is the only place they can get in though.

 

No I havent. But to be honest I'm not really sure how the air flows for the AC. So I dont know where to start looking.

But a rat can slip through such a small hole that I dont know if you can stop them without blocking the air flow.

We live way out in the woods and got a yard full of cats. They better start earning their keep.

 

I have never had a problem, but I have dealt with the problem with my parents cars... they usually enter via the wheel well inner liner, and they follow a urine trail up under the windshield where they enter the air handler box. You need to park elsewhere for a while and clean / disinfect as much of the underside & front suspension that you can reach. They climb up on the front suspension behind the front wheels.

I pulled this filter out of my mom's Tacoma.

 

Whoa. I have never seen a filter on any part of a car in my life that was that bad

 

On my 1st gen I had the check engine light come on after noticing a little stumble after letting off the gas.
Mechanic found wires on top of the engine were chewed through by friggin pack rats. $400 fix.
One week later, same damn thing!
Mechanic cut me a break of $50 off and installed conduit around the wires.

It was then jihad was declared and I destroyed every nest I could find within 100 yds and poisoned the landscape with rat killer. Pack rats are the spawn of satan!

 

A buddy of mine keeps moth balls though the engine bay and says it worked for his squirrel problem

 

Spray some PB Blaster Penetrating Oil on your chassis parts. The stank and oil layer works wonders.

 

Generally speaking, you’re on the right track. The fresh air inlet is there on the passenger side under the cowl. After that is the blower fan then the ac cooler.
The blower fan assembly is normally cylindrical in shape and once the fan is turned off they will nest under it or move towards the ac cooler.