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These little buggers are chewing up something and making a nice nest in my heater vents. So here is the story and any suggestions are welcome.
A year ago I bought this truck, which was a farm truck at the time. I know the previous owner had rodent and snake problems in the truck, since the truck was always left in the field. When I originally got the truck and turned on the heater, it was like the fourth of July, as my vents were shooting out all kinds of stuff and I actually couldn't stay in the truck, the cab was so full of paper, string, cushion, and who knows what else was flying all around.
After setting up traps and catching a few critters, I ran the heater and air circulation full force and blew out whatever was in there. I also had to pick out anything clogging the vent openings on the dash and did a lot of vacuuming and cleaning. What a mess. Never seen anything like this and I've been driving for 49 years.
We recently had a few cold days here and when turning on the heater vents last week, the same thing happened. I had the fourth of July in October, as my cab filled with all kinds of garbage again pouring out the vents, Did another cleanup and ran the heater/air full force to make sure all came out. Cleaned up and back to normal.
But this morning, after a cold, damp night, BAM, all kinds of crap shooting out again. Big clumps of new looking cushion foam and yet another clean up is needed. I have traps set up in my cab again, but need to get these critters out of the truck permanently before they destroy my truck or cause a fire chewing threw wiring.
These little buggers are chewing up something and making a nice nest in my heater vents. So here is the story and any suggestions are welcome.
A year ago I bought this truck, which was a farm truck at the time. I know the previous owner had rodent and snake problems in the truck, since the truck was always left in the field. When I originally got the truck and turned on the heater, it was like the fourth of July, as my vents were shooting out all kinds of stuff and I actually couldn't stay in the truck, the cab was so full of paper, string, cushion, and who knows what else was flying all around.
After setting up traps and catching a few critters, I ran the heater and air circulation full force and blew out whatever was in there. I also had to pick out anything clogging the vent openings on the dash and did a lot of vacuuming and cleaning. What a mess. Never seen anything like this and I've been driving for 49 years.
We recently had a few cold days here and when turning on the heater vents last week, the same thing happened. I had the fourth of July in October, as my cab filled with all kinds of garbage again pouring out the vents, Did another cleanup and ran the heater/air full force to make sure all came out. Cleaned up and back to normal.
But this morning, after a cold, damp night, BAM, all kinds of crap shooting out again. Big clumps of new looking cushion foam and yet another clean up is needed. I have traps set up in my cab again, but need to get these critters out of the truck permanently before they destroy my truck or cause a fire chewing threw wiring.
Any suggestions are welcome ...
It's not much use under the hood, but in the cab, scatter some Bounce fabric softener sheets around. I made the mistake of laying a loaf of bread on a box once. I had to toss it. Under the hood, spread Cayenne pepper around. DO NOT put it in the vents for obvious reasons. If the truck is on pavement, spread some around under it too. Stuff steel wool in the air intake tube and exhaust pipe to keep the little cheese thieves out. Do not use poison unless you want the smell of dead rodents in the truck.
Once you get them pretty much gone, take the vent covers off and tape a long piece of 5/8 heater hose to a shop van hose and run it down the vents. Getting them completely clean will require taking them apart but you can get a lot out this way.
Gotta git rid of them, and figure out their access point and close it up. They probably chewed a hole somewhere to gain access. Best trap I've found is the victor M142S. Use a little peanut butter for bait, they tend to LOVE peanut butter around here.
If you ever took apart a hvac box out of a second gen you know it collects crap at the bottom. Not really accessible unless you take apart the box. It sounds like they got in from cab side so you may be able to get to it with a small vacuum hose. The opening in the cowl is just a hole with no screen or anything on it. Thats why all the crap gets in there in the first place. You could put a metal screen over it to keep them out. There are also air vents built into the cab floor but i don't see how they could get to them. Do you keep the truck in a garage or is it outside?
Here's some info and update ... The truck is kept outside and I live across from a corn field. So I guess these are problems one and two!
So far, I haven't found any entry points. I did try the dryer sheets, about a half dozen in the truck and I also stuffed some slightly into the floor vents to hopefully chase the critters out. All that did was make me sick and I can still taste the perfumy smell, yuck.
I do have two traps in the truck with peanut butter, which worked before, but they're not taking the bait this time. All kinds of stuff comes out the floor vents now even if I don't have the fan on. The other day I let two big clumps of white cushion particles on the floor that came out of the vents and the next morning they were gone. Now, even if I have only the floor vents working, I'm still getting a breeze coming out the top vents, which probably explains the grey foam I've been seeing too. They're probably chewing away at the foam around the vent doors in the dash.
I did try to vacuum the floor vents with a 5/8" hose as suggested, but not sure if that sucked anything out. I will look into the HVAC box next to see what I can find. It's just a real pain having all this junk fly all over the cab while I'm driving and not knowing if these little buggers are ruining my truck. I'll post an update as I go along, as I'm sure others are having a similar problem.
Here's some info and update ... The truck is kept outside and I live across from a corn field. So I guess these are problems one and two!
So far, I haven't found any entry points. I did try the dryer sheets, about a half dozen in the truck and I also stuffed some slightly into the floor vents to hopefully chase the critters out. All that did was make me sick and I can still taste the perfumy smell, yuck.
I do have two traps in the truck with peanut butter, which worked before, but they're not taking the bait this time. All kinds of stuff comes out the floor vents now even if I don't have the fan on. The other day I let two big clumps of white cushion particles on the floor that came out of the vents and the next morning they were gone. Now, even if I have only the floor vents working, I'm still getting a breeze coming out the top vents, which probably explains the grey foam I've been seeing too. They're probably chewing away at the foam around the vent doors in the dash.
I did try to vacuum the floor vents with a 5/8" hose as suggested, but not sure if that sucked anything out. I will look into the HVAC box next to see what I can find. It's just a real pain having all this junk fly all over the cab while I'm driving and not knowing if these little buggers are ruining my truck. I'll post an update as I go along, as I'm sure others are having a similar problem.
They probably can't smell the peanut butter for the dryer sheets. Remember that mice only have one bone in their body and that is the skull. If they can get their head in, they can get in. You don't need a whole bunch of sheets, 4 or 5 should do the trick. Mice have a more acute sense of smell than we do. If it's bad for you, think what they smell. The nice thing about the sheets is you take them out and open the windows and the smell dissipates in short order.
Best thing I can recommend is to gut the interior and pull the dash and HVAC box
I would absolutely love to gut the truck and take care of this problem, especially in looking forward to rebuilding the truck, but at this time in my life, I don't have any place to do this, that is, a garage, etc. And with winter coming, it gets really cold up here in NYS with some type of precipitation almost on a daily basis. But, if it comes down to seeing my truck getting ruined, it may still be an option I'll have to deal with.
They probably can't smell the peanut butter for the dryer sheets ...
Yup, that's exactly what I was thinking too. I've since taken the dryer sheets out and freshened up the traps. Gonna go there first and then if and when I catch the critters, decide whether to put the dryer sheets back in or use peppermint oil in strategic spots to keep them out.
Been looking at some vids on YouTube and now have a better idea as to how they could be getting in from under the hood and how to block that with welded wire. I also had a couple cams I'm not using I might want to setup in the truck to see if I can catch them moving around. Thing is, only once did I see a load of mouse turds on the back seat and glove compartment, which I have since cleaned up. Other than that, it's only been the junk shooting out of the heater vents.
I would absolutely love to gut the truck and take care of this problem, especially in looking forward to rebuilding the truck, but at this time in my life, I don't have any place to do this, that is, a garage, etc. And with winter coming, it gets really cold up here in NYS with some type of precipitation almost on a daily basis. But, if it comes down to seeing my truck getting ruined, it may still be an option I'll have to deal with.
Rodents
