So my wife complained about a raunchy dead smell in her 8 .. that got worse when she turned on the fan.
I went out to investigate - yup .. that's a dead rat/mouse smell.
Opened the hood and there were rat droppings all over.

The car is parked outside, but driven everyday.

I did the search on here and found a couple of threads (with pics !) of rats in the cabin air filter box.
Sure enough, hers was loaded with droppings and the filters were all chewed up, but no carcass.

I'm guessing that it's in the vent system somewhere, but I can't see any easy way to get access to the area.
Any ideas on how to go about it ?

I'll post some photos of the cabin filters tomorrow !

 

That sucks man....also make sure the rat didnt chew on any wires

 

find a contractor with a flexible camera scope who's willing to let you borrow it. Scope from the filter area out and hope you dont find anything

 

reminds me the guy who dropped fries into the cabin air intake opening.

 

I can't see any damage ... but that doesn't mean much.

Actually, I want to find something .. I don't want it rotting away in there !

I pulled the fan out of the bottom of the filter box - nothing.
The other direction is straight up and then towards the steering wheel - impossible access (for a non-rat).

 

The droppings and urine smell..that is likely enough......if there was a dead rat in there it would be unbearable in the car at all

 

^................agree, clean it up, air it out, and you'll probably be okay.
Oh...find another place to park!


Yeah...it's happened before, glad you searched and found those other threads!

 

Yeah .. you're right. It's not a dead smell - just urine and droppings (how pleasant )

Check out the filter :

 

oh man, where's the actual dead rat? I was all excited!

 

Never one to disappoint !

 

The Dead Rat is one of my worst fears; I have anosmia (lack of smell) and can't smell stuff like that! (Hmm, maybe that's why I'm still single…)

 

So if you cant smell fish, how come your single ?

 

^............oh, I could see that one coming a mile away!

 

^^Oh God... lol

 

lol it was inevitable lol.

On a side note make sure your rat friend didn't eat anything else and that you check under the car and around it. The trunk, the rear of the vehicle. He had plenty of time for exploring while the wifey was a snoring

 

I had the same surprise around the holidays. Went on vacation for a week, and left the car in the garage. Took my car in to the dealership for an oil change, and was asked if I had kept rags stuffed in the corners of my engine. Ah, no. I then noticed rat/mouse droppings down there as well.

Anytime I use the air in the car it smells pretty bad. I don't think anything is dead, but probably the same as above. I best check out my cabin air filter now.

Wish me luck!

 

Good Luck !

I caught one (hopefully THE one) on the fourth night of setting traps out.
Our driveway is right beside our bedroom, and I woke up at 4 am to the sound of it thrashing around in the trap.
20 seconds of thrashing then silence for 5 minutes .. then repeat.
I wasn't going out there to look.
In the morning I found it dead in the trap .. it had dragged itself about 20 feet out onto the sidewalk.
No further action or evidence over the past week .. but I'll keep putting the traps out for awhile.
And I'll keep the poison bait out permanently.

 

I won't tell you what went into my vent in my 86 Corvette. But when I got the majority of it out and turned the blower on,,,, It looked something like this.

 

Alright, here is what I found. I also found 2 more microfiber towels and chewed up insulation just above these. To think that I've been breathing in this air that last couple weeks! Gross! Hopefully my dealership will have the cabin air filters in stock tomorrow morning!

 

Hello all! I just bought this car (used) a week ago, found this site & how to change the cabin air filter....it was nasty....piled as high as those pictures of the nest, but solid rat sh*t!!! Not mouse ( I googled the stuff!), but big RAT. Cleaned the filter best I could until I can get a new one......but how do I know if the rat is still there? I found no nest-type stuff, so where is it (them?) living? I am a female, 'tho not that squeamish, but the thought of a big rodent crawling out while I'm on the highway, or just the thought of breathing that stuff... It's enough to make me want to keep the air off , except I live in Texas and it's 103 out there.

 

Buy a weasel - ferret, and leave it in the car overnite, or lay traps , but I think the weasel idea is a winner.

 

yeah, mine smelled pretty bad aswell turned out to be a dead bird in my cabin filter

 

How do you deal with the weasel after its done its job? Is there some kind of liner that should be put in the car first to protect the fabrics? LOL :P