Verdurous Posted November 24, 2013 Share Posted November 24, 2013 I left my car parked near a barn last weekend. When I went out and started it, everything was great till I cranked on the heat. Then it smelled LIKE MOUSE and nearly no fan power! made me want to barf. Apparently a mouse decided to build his winter home in my vents. Anyhow, what is the easiest way to get the blower motor out? I unbolted everything I could see and the thing won't budge. Will I have to take the dashboard out? This 1989 gl hatch has ac too, less room under there than my non AC 88. I hate mice. ~ Verdurous Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suprjohn Posted November 24, 2013 Share Posted November 24, 2013 I'm going thru this right now to. ('89 DL) The only way I could get the fan out was to remove the dash. This took most of the day. Of course I was highly motivated because I'm trying to track down why my heater doesn't work, and I need to replace some bulbs in the instrument cluster. I'll see if I can post a pic of my fan. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suprjohn Posted November 24, 2013 Share Posted November 24, 2013 Here is what my fan looked like: http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh115/suprjohn/2F690AAD-061D-4D33-AFAB-AD8B618032CE_zps5co0rtod.jpg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skishop69 Posted November 24, 2013 Share Posted November 24, 2013 Yep, mice love them HVAC housings! Can't tell you how many dead mice, rats and nests I've removed over the years. A few months back we had an 03 Duramax ext cab come in that wreaked of urine. Only 37K miles on it, so you can see the guy hardly ever drives it. Because of the strength of the stench and the fact it sits, the smell had permeated everything. I had to completely gut the inside. Carpet, trim, dash, steering column and HVAC box. Had to tear the box apart to clean it out and wipe everything else down with Clorox wipes and spray, put it back together and then run an ozone generator in it for 2 days. Best advice if you live in an area with mice issues.... A strategically placed box of Decon under the hood. Diagnostic fee for raunchy smell - $125 Repair bill for raunchy smell - $3500 Finding the mouse still there - Priceless Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Verdurous Posted November 24, 2013 Author Share Posted November 24, 2013 Damn that pic pic is crazy john! I was hoping not to have to take the whole dash out, but yeah looks like I'm going in. Bought a gallon of denatured alcohol and a sprayer, hopefully that does the trick. Decon sounds like a good idea for future issue prevention skishop69. Thanks for the advice guys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WoodsWagon Posted November 24, 2013 Share Posted November 24, 2013 On the EA82 body cars they didn't weld the wire mesh right across the openings between the cowl and the inner fender, so the mice sneak in there. I always put the HVAC on "recirc" or max AC setting before leaving them parked. I did a full pull of the dash and bleaching all the vents on my Loyale when I got it. Other cars I've vacuumed out all the nest I could get after pulling the fan out, then sprayed a mist of bleach in while running the blower. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted November 24, 2013 Share Posted November 24, 2013 snake all the junk outta there. ozone generators are great. i use them on vehicles that have been smoked in - neutralizes the odors you can't get too - in empty spaces, etc. seal the door up, open up as much as you can, leave the ozone generator running in it 24 hours. i'll even run the vehicle with the vents/HVAC on to circulate air while the generator is on as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomRhere Posted November 25, 2013 Share Posted November 25, 2013 To drop the blower housing out, you need to drop the tray under the glove box, then pull the glove box out. You can get to all of the bolts holding the unit in after that. Need to undo the strap around the connection to the A/C housing or A/C bypass tube also, along with the electrical connection to the blower unit. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
naru Posted November 25, 2013 Share Posted November 25, 2013 Here is what my fan looked like: http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh115/suprjohn/2F690AAD-061D-4D33-AFAB-AD8B618032CE_zps5co0rtod.jpg On mine squirrels/mice chewed the fan blades until it was unbalanced and wonky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scoobiedubie Posted November 25, 2013 Share Posted November 25, 2013 Here is what my fan looked like: http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh115/suprjohn/2F690AAD-061D-4D33-AFAB-AD8B618032CE_zps5co0rtod.jpg Must of been like a horizontal ferris wheel ride for them. When the babies die, things get really bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Verdurous Posted November 25, 2013 Author Share Posted November 25, 2013 To drop the blower housing out, you need to drop the tray under the glove box, then pull the glove box out. You can get to all of the bolts holding the unit in after that. Need to undo the strap around the connection to the A/C housing or A/C bypass tube also, along with the electrical connection to the blower unit. This sounds promissing! Will give it a go.. thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silverback Posted December 8, 2013 Share Posted December 8, 2013 Spearmint oil. Mice hate spearmint oil. They will leave and you will not worry about poisoned rodents in your vents/fan. Available as an 'essential oil', it is very concentrated. One drop goes a long ways. Your interior will smell nice. Too much spearmint oil and you will be driving around in Dec. and Jan. with the windows down. Periodically, I dislocate the boot around the shifter and place a few drops on the tranny. The odor will make its way into the interior. Mostly I try to persuade rodents from being under my vehicle, especially in wooded areas. There used to be an aromatic product to place in RVs and other vehicles to keep mice out during storage. Can't remember the name...........cab or cabo--something. Years ago before I found spearmint oil, I had a deer mouse get into my vents while camping at Mt. Baker. I think the Led Zeppelin caused the little furball to bail out. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spazomatic Posted December 9, 2013 Share Posted December 9, 2013 Where they get in is through an oblong hole in the front inner fenders. Use a piece of expanded metal to cover it. Simple green works pretty well to clean the coils in the heater Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ofeargall Posted December 11, 2013 Share Posted December 11, 2013 I had the same issue this last spring. I had to remove the whole dash assembly. I found "Awesome', a cleaner from the Dollar Store was by far the best for getting rid of the oily piss that the mice left for me in the entire HVAC system. Sad to say I'll be tearing it all apart again soon and our recent cold weather coaxed a couple of the vermin to find their way past my defenses. Anyway, try Awesome. It was super fast for cleaning and completely took the smell away. My brother-in-law is a funeral director and he uses the stuff when they have to pick up corpses that have been around a bit too long. The cleanser seems to be the best at picking up any, ahem, residual matter and gets rid of the smell better than anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SmashedGlass Posted December 12, 2013 Share Posted December 12, 2013 I have heard about using peppermint oil (real peppermint oil, not a 'flavor') to keep them out. Haven't done so myself yet, but as I found traces (read: spoob balls) today in my rear cargo area after the entire inside was stripped and cleaned last week, I'll be trying the oil as soon as I can find some. Will also be trying some in the engine bay, or maybe moth balls, as I keep finding evidence in both cars engines of rodent parties. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ofeargall Posted December 14, 2013 Share Posted December 14, 2013 I used bay leaves and that worked really well until I ran out. Eucalyptus also works really well too. Basically, any essential oil with some kind of turpentine tinge to it will work. Lavender, mint, geranium, etc... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
naru Posted December 14, 2013 Share Posted December 14, 2013 snake all the junk outta there. ozone generators are great. i use them on vehicles that have been smoked in - neutralizes the odors you can't get too - in empty spaces, etc. seal the door up, open up as much as you can, leave the ozone generator running in it 24 hours. i'll even run the vehicle with the vents/HVAC on to circulate air while the generator is on as well. Can you reccomend a model? Big? Small? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subaru Scott Posted December 25, 2013 Share Posted December 25, 2013 Aaaahhh yeeessss! Another thing I really DON'T miss about working in a dealer. Worst one was a dead mother + 5 babies... smell was so bad the passenger hurled in the floorboard on the way to the shop They stopped at a carwash and "cleaned" the floor before dropping it off... added an extra hour on that one Easiest fix for me was screen under the cowl. Had a mouse pop out of the wiper shaft hole when I was doing about 35, he ran around on the hood for a minute, freaking out, then popped back in. Pretty funny but had to stop and evict him! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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