Ok Ive got me a problem with some mice that got into my vents and made a nest so everytime i turn the defrost on all i can smell is this disgusting smell and its kinda angering me... alot[:@][:@][:@]. im pretty sure the mice arent there anymore but i would like to get rid of the smell cause i just got my license and the car goes back on the road on monday. HOW THE HELL DO I GET THE CRAP OUTTA THERE! I know if i can get the vents out and clean em out itll be good but i really dont have the time or knowhow to do so, so some help would be awesome...

 

I had that happen twice. They nest in the air ventsand pee all over, and some even die in there.Outside of taking the car apart and washing out all the ductwork, you can try using some spray disinfectant such as Lysol. Spray it into the air intake vent while the heater/AC is running maxed out. Make sure the hose taking the AC condensation out of the car is not clogged, otherwise you will move the stench into the passenger compartment. About 10 cans should do it.

 

you know I had the same problem. My project car I am working on right now had been setting in a pasture for a few years and I had pack rats and field mice nests all over my car. I had to remove evrything to get rid of the smell. They tore up the padding underneath the carpet to make their nests,pissed and craped everywhere,and some of them died in there too.Its not as hard as one might think to take out the dash and heater/ac vents. I have done it so mant times on the third generation that I dont even need to use a repair manual. You will have to rinse and scrub on some of that stuff,and compressed air helps out tremendously.

 

You might want to at least remove the blower motor and clean out what you can in there. They may have been using it as an exercise wheel.

 

You have no idea how much all that helps... how do i know if theres any dead ones in there? it mainly just smells like **** n crap but i dont know if thers any dead ones... i hate mice so damn much. Also, do i need to clean the carpet or anything because from what i can see (and smell) they were only in the vents. I took off the dash pad not too long ago and saw all the crap i needed to take out so i dropped that idea (im in auto body, but i havent got too much experience with dashwork) If anyone could tell me how long it takes to take out all the vents and crap that would be cool. And exactly how difficult will it be? what kind of tools etc etc

 

Stuff a cat in there. He will get the mice out!
Its not so bad having to take the dash out. Its reall easy. The biggest pain is undoing the speedo cable. And it makes it easier if you undo it from the tranny first and it allows you to pull it though more. And you have to remove the center console. Just totaly unbolt the stuff and get it out of your way. Makes it much easier than working around it in the car. I figured that out when I was doing auto body.

 

maybe try a shop vac with the dash pad off. if it has a small enough around hose, you may be able to shave it down the vents a bit and suck some of it out. maybe all depending where it is. then some kind of disinfectant, if that dont work. sounds like your stuck takin your dash off all together.

 

damn... i get frustrated way too easy but it looks like im stuck with no choice. now i gotta take my damn cd player out and that was hell getting all the damn wires to fir in but i guess itll be worth not having the smell in the car... Last question... as a last resort, how much do you think it would cost to bring it to a shop and have THEm do it?

 

Well I could tell you right now that you wouldn't want to hear what a shop would charge you to take your dash apart and put it back together. I didn't even want to know so I learned how to do it myself. I know that you will need a 10 mm, 13mm, 7mm, socket and nut driver, a phillips head screw driver and a whole lot of patience. the repair manual will not tell you every little trick to it, but it will help. Also remembering where everything goes, or puting the screws bolts and nuts back where they go, or keeping them in a container can be helpful while you have everything apart. The most important thing to remember is that all of that old plastic is very brittle in most cases, if you do attempt to dissasemble your dash don't get into too much of a hurry or something might break.

 

oh yea and having a set of torx bit would be neccessary also