splitty

Ok guys my car sat for a long time before I got it from the previous owner and it has a mouse smell in it. I took the dash apart looking for the nest but to no avail. The mice are gone but the smell remains. any ideas will be greatly appreciated. Thanks Steve.

red rock

iTrader: (2)

Probably in the carpet. You may have to take the seats out and pull the carpet and clean the carpets. Then you can check the seats also. When you pulled the dash apart did you take out the heat air ducts and clean them? The little critters **** all over everything so a thorough cleaning is in order. I have used Mr.Clean in mice infested areas.

Wife'sCar

iTrader: (1)

Yes lots of scrubbing is your only course of action at this point.

splitty

Yeah I cleaned everything I could get a rag on. Its some potent stuff they ****. Its been over a year and the smell has not really faded at all lmao...

I cant stand the smell and a poor shifter hole relocation job by previous owner is going to force me to pull the seats carpet and counsel I guess. Thanks for the replys folks.

stealtht/a

iTrader: (1)

There might be more nests behind the interior trunk panels. Lots of room in there.
Did you look in the cowl air intake?
In my experience, there is no way to remove mouse smell from carpet and upholstery. Once they **** on it, it's ruined. Even metal can take some serious cleaning. If you can completely remove the hvac system you can scrub the plastic clean with some work, but usually have to replace the foam seals, they are usually toast anyway.
Good luck!

Wife'sCar

iTrader: (1)

what ever you do, do not dump cologne in the car. Buddy dumped a bottle of old spice in his fox body mustang and it was great for like a day. Then the old spice went funny and smelled like rotten eggs.

3rd gen Will

iTrader: (8)

I have heard these work well,

http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Dakota-Odor-Bomb-Car-Odor-Eliminator-Neutral-Air-Scent-5oz-/231094581166?hash=item35ce4f77ae&item=231094581166&pt=Motors_Automotive_Tools&vxp=mtr
I bought one for a truck I just picked up and the PO must have smoked a carton of cigarette's a day in that thing. I haven't received it yet, but I will post back here after I get it and use it.

Wife'sCar

iTrader: (1)

looks like a scented bug bomb

3rd gen Will

iTrader: (8)

From what I understand it is of a similar design. LOL

splitty

Please let me know if it works out for you 3g Will. I had a blower and vac in every nook and cranny I could get it in. That was after removing the dash pad, half the ducting and anything else I thought I could get apart without breaking anything. I am more a bfh guy than a finesse guy... lol I did not go through all the back plastics yet.

Hawkeye1980

iTrader: (3)

I would be interested too. I have the same issue every time i turn any air on, hot or cold. Little bums built a net in the blower housing. I ripped it all out and washed all the parts. The smell is slowly going away but it will take time.

Bob88GTA

iTrader: (2)

If you had/have mice in your car, I can't imagine what your wiring looks like!

stealtht/a

iTrader: (1)

I've stripped third gens that had entire mouse cities living in them. For some reason, none had any wiring damage. I have seen them damage wiring in other cars, but it seems the third gen wiring is not as attractive for some reason.
I think the previous owner is always the worst offender of chopped wires in third gens.

splitty

I know what you mean about the wiring. But I have yet to find any chewed up stuff yet. I do get some glitches in the instrument panel from time to time so a closer inspection may be in order.

Hawkeye1980

iTrader: (3)

Same here. In my cleaning I did not see any chewed wires. I like to refer to them as darn Mynocks are chewing on the power cables again....

3rd gen Will

iTrader: (8)

Set of the odor bomb this morning. Smells like a new car! Hopefully it stays that way.

burnout88

Remove the heater blower from engine bay. That tends to be where they build nests. They get in through the cowl panel. Also as suggest by others remove all the back plastics and remove the rear speakers and look down inside the hole. You will probably find a nest in that area.

Gumby

the carpet is a plastic fiber, its the jute padding under it holding the smell in.

and its the #1 cause of floor rust, as that padding with hold moisture like a spongue and rust the floor inside out.

wildjyoung

iTrader: (6)

Ozone generators work wonders. Some good detailing shops have them or some equipment companies rent them. Worst case scenario, you can buy them for about $150.

paulo57509

This is probably an extreme case of rodent-itis, but it illustrates just how deep you could end up trying to clean up the mess. The posters also raise some valid safety concerns.

http://www.chevytalk.org/fusionbb/sh...hp?tid/288711/

s10sbc350

This is correct... Trust me it's probably got a mixture of rat ****, poop, and moisture built up. BUT I wouldn't even bother cleaning it if removing the carpet help with the odor as that would be the cheap and trashy thing to do IMHO.

s10sbc350

He is also rite about the padding holding a MAJORITY of the smell, but it had to go threw the top layer of carpet to get to that padding which is directly underneath the carpet so don't think you can just remove your padding and be all clean linen smelling.

SolarGoldRaptor

When I pulled the padding in my T/A, they were soaked ! No wonder it stank, imprisoned moisture makes a mess.
I had to cleaned the carpet with a carpet cleaner and a Kärcher to have it clean with no smell.

The Project

iTrader: (6)

Have a look by the motor area by the heater core. had mice there over the
past winter. They never made it to the interior...lucky.

3rd gen Will

iTrader: (8)

So Far so good on the odor bomb. No more smoke smell. Although it sounds like it might not be that effective for your rodent issue.

jharrison5

Sounds like you have the same problem I do. Car sat in an out building on a farm for two years before I bought it and it was full of mice. I have had the entire interior pulled out of my camaro for the last year and it still smells. I have thrown out the carpet, all of the padding, carpeted interior panels were stripped, and washed the entire car with Pinesol. Currently the dash and all of the hvac ducting have been removed, and washed with pinesol. I also have covered the entire interior with sound mat.

Next step is to spray everything with the "urine be gone" stuff you get at pet stores. If that doesn't kill the smell I don't think anything will lol!

My case is probably pretty extreme since I have found six dead mice and seven nests throughout the car.

jharrison5

Rest of what I've found behind the dash.

FXmanDan

Hi
I know not everything works for everybody but I had a mousy smelling car where they got thru the firewall where a grommet was missing. They nested in the wiring under the dash but chewed no wires - couldnt believe it! Smelt bad, droppings on the floor and seats etc.
Also the t-tops used to leak and the carpets smelt damp etc so I got a sachet of this stuff called "Zeo Trap". Its on ebay or from Rockauto (very handy site)

I put it on the floor in the passenger side and left it. Its been in there now for a month or so and it has greatly improved. I cant smell mice anymore or the damp.
I just sort of shook the bag up a few times over that month to kinda refresh it.
In my opinion its really good stuff.
Up until then I was using about 3 or 4 of the jelly bean cherry air fresheners (which were quite powerful and made a difference). Once I put the Zeo Trap in, the cherry smell had gone in two days flat. Not that I wanted the air freshener to be killed off but thats how affective it seemed to be.
I reckon Zeo Trap is definately worth a go.
Hope this helps

Stauf

iTrader: (2)

This is something that I would not really recommend, but it did work for me on an old GXP I had. I pulled all of the plastic I could including the vents, and threw them in my pool with 2 gallons of shock for 3 days. Once I fished them out, dried them, there was not even a hint of mouse smell left. I dont think the chlorine is really good for the plastic, but the smell was gone.

FormulasOnly

I did Febreeze and a bottle brush on the end of a flex stick.

I've also heard "BG FRIGI-CLEAN A/C EVAPORATOR KIT" works wonders for smells trapped in the A/C system

splitty

Excellent info guys. Jharrison5 you definitely had a worse problem than me. How is it smelling now?

jharrison5

Still smells like mouse pee lol. Since my last post I found another nest behind the rear passenger side3 caliper! Been talking to my neighbor Jim, who restores old vettes on the side, and he is going to hook me up with a guy that does ozone treatments. Jim has had it done in a few of his cars and says it will help out a lot. I'll post when I have it done so everyone can hear how it went.

splitty

lmao.. Them little buggers can really their mark..

TheExaminer

You can also buy a small tire and put it somewhere in the interior. Covers a multitude of sins, esp in the summer when the sun gets that tire warm. I did it to cover the smell of a heater core failure after I had cleaned it up as much as I could, and was still smelling coolant. It worked great.