I Hate Mice!!!! HELP!

[stephenw22]

How do I get rid of the stink that mice leave behind?

 

I went to get my Turbo Wagon running (after it was parked in a snowbank for the last 6 months), and found that it is full of mice! The stench is horrible! Is there any way to get the smell out of the seats, or am I screwed?

 

I already know that I'm going to have to take off every single piece of interior trim (including the dash and air ducts) and clean it all out. I have leather gloves and a 1/2 mask that I'll use when I do this, so I won't get Hantavirus from all that nastiness. That will take care of any more stink from happening, but what about the stuff that's worked its way into the seats already?

[Scrub2k]

Well first off yea your probably gonna have to tear everything out and clean it all, but some stuff like Febreeze(sp?) give it a good spray down and then open the car up and place a Big Fan to just blow through the whole car and air it out, i know there are some products like febreze that work better or what not, but thats the best that i can come up with.

 

-Matt-

[baccaruda]

i'd go new (junkyard) seats and carpet all the way. toss that old stuff and remember, when you clean the sheet metal, bleach is your friend. Use this as an excuse to put in soundproofing or thermal insulation if you choose, or to run wires for accessories or whatever. i hate mice too.

 

while we're talking pest cleanup, a neat way to deal with mold is aerosol foot fungal spray.. wear a filter so you don't breathe the air the shopvac will spit out.

[Martin]

you could rent a carpet cleaner and just wash everything. That will get rid of lots of the dirt and smell. Then see how things are looking from there.

[WoodsWagon]

I had the same thing happen to my loyale. I had to strip the whole dash down and clean each piece of ductwork out to kill the smell. Lots of bleach mixed with water helps. They may have also stomped your fan resistors, i know they did in mine. Take the fan out and put a couple of pine tree fresheners against the heater core, then reinstall the fan. It will reek for a while, but it does help mask the mice smell. Dont forget to remove the fresheners after about a week!

[nutt7]

take a peek under the dash and hood if you havent and make sure those little bastards didnt chew up your wiring...I work at a mazda dealer and bunnies and rodents always chew up the wires in the new cars

 

ps...go back to the scene of the crime with cheese, a bb gun and lots of ammo!

[WoodsWagon]

lol

I've used the bb gun aproach on squirrels in a house before.

[stephenw22]

hmm... I've been having some problems getting the car running - maybe chewed-up wires is something to look at.

 

So far, I've pulled out everything but the dash, front seats, and front carpet. That's for tomorrow. It was actually kinda fun ripping the car apart.

[subiemech85]

I still keep pulling the insulation fuzz out that they made for me from the vents

use OUST and JOHN DEERE MALODOR REMOVER, they work

you can also use new car or courage little trees

and don't forget the fresh shrubberies when they are in bloom, wow!

[TomRhere]

Murphy's Oil Soap is good to use for cleaning the interior pieces like the trim and dash, door panels, duct work. Leaves a nice scent in the vehicle for quite awhile afterwards. Not unlike the smell of a new car.

 

Some spray-on/vacuum-off, carpet cleaner will help for the seats and carpet. Especially if you get the kind that helps get rid of odors.

 

Placing some baking soda in some small containers under the seats will help asorb any odors, also. I've used the plastic containers that some of the electrical tape rolls come in. I just cut afew holes in the lid, pour in the soda, replace lid, and slid under seat. Change it out, like once a week, maybe sooner.

 

All 3 of my BRATs had mice nests in them, especially around the heater system. The '82 has finally aired out, the '84 still smells a little, but getting better. The '86 was the proverbial Mouse Condo. I found over 15 nests in it when I scrapped it out. All over the place, interior, frame rails, you name it, it had a nest.

[Subi81]

Check out the Fresh air ducting too. On the out side of the car right were the hood touchs the windshield, That whole space in there was filled with insilation, I guess the mice were getting cold so they renovated my entire heater system to there liking. I had a huge nest blocking up my Ac condensor Core absolutly no air flow. It was a total loss, had to throw it all out.

 

Good luck

[stephenw22]

Well, I have the entire interior stripped out, except for the main duct/heater core section. There were 3 nests in total (so far). nest #1 was in the open, on the passenger side, under the blower fan. #2 was in the fresh air intake ducting. #3 was in the rear compartment where the jack goes. I haven't dropped the blower fan yet, or opened up the heater core or a/c sections yet, so there may be more.

 

I'm getting +12v to all of my injector leads, which is normal. Where are the injector resistors? That's the next thing down the list to check.

[ByTheSea]

Fire insurance + Gasoline + Flame is the only fullproof answer. Cleaning out the nests and spraying Fabreze into the windshield cowl intakes will improve things in the short run but not for more than a few weeks.

[subiemech85]

also check out of sitght, out of mind areas, such as the rear wheelwels, and things "left" in the car, found one in one of my shoes!

[oddcomp]

my wagon still spits sunflower seeds out of the heater vents

thankfully no smell

[viceversa]

I had it worse, I had mice or some other critters chew on the wire of the fuel pump. It would randomly not start or stall, and I couldn't figure out why.

[WoodsWagon]

Where exactly do the mice get in? The intake by the hood is to small, the intakes under the quarter panes have mesh, but there is a small gap by the mesh. The only other place is the floor vents, but they'd have to get in the car first. Does andyone know where exactly they go in? I'd love to mesh it over.

[subiemech85]

rust holes!

crawled up tire, rust hole in rear, to duct under seat to chew a hole in a middle vent!

[Erik R]

Don't feel singled out........I had it happen to me also.........luckily though, not in my Sube!

 

Mice HATE the smell of Irish Spring bar.........I put one in all of the vehicles I have sitting.........just leave it in the box, with one end open..............

Put moth balls in a disposable pie tin on the floor.......they hate that too. I know, it smells bad, but will air out quickly after driving a few miles with the windows down.

Seal any holes (Check wiring grommets) over 1/2" in diameter..........or they will get in.

Get a box of D-con (the wedge shaped one). If they eat it, replace with more.

I keep one of those in my P/U also (it's in storage).

 

Good Luck

 

P.S. Febreze works OK, but wears off after awhile.......just keep putting more on.