Behind front fender photo...firewall area

Found something when I changed my cabin filter yesterday.

Rat shit and the startings of a possible rat nest on the upper side of the cabin filter.

Took a run by Toyota for a quick look at the parts book to see if any possible pathways are left unblocked when these trucks were designed.

Nothing was conclusive, so tonight I'll pull the plastic cowl for a look.

Parts guys said that a few other Toyota models have been prone to rats in the cabin airbox, and some have had their airfilters gnawed threw and killed some rats when they ran their inside fan. But until mine, they never heard of a Tacoma having a rat problem.

Anyone have their front fenders off so they might be able to take a photo of what is behind the fenders near the firewall area.

I doubt the rat got past the plastic cowl grille, I'm suspecting Toyota has the ends of the windshield base open to the fenders to allow draining and added airflow, otherwise I'm not sure how the thing got in to the airbox.

PK

 

damn those rat bastards

 

Turn your HVAC system to "Recirc" before you shut your truck off at night. This shuts the fresh air door into the HVAC case which should close the only entry point.

 

im noticed this with my 05 tacoma and 00 land cruiser. Just yesterday i tore down the truck to re-seal valve cover and timing cover,and i found lots of seeds just under the intake manifold.

 

The only pic I have with the fender off. This is when I did the Cowl Seam TSB when I had the water leak into the cab.

 

I HATE RATS!!!

 

Tape a couple dryer sheets under the plastic engine cover or stick some under the hood somewhere. Vermin don't like the smell or taste.

 

I took a few minutes this morning and unclipped the plastic cowl from the firewall.

Using a mirror, a quick look towards the right side of the truck / towards right fender, away from the cabin air inlet showed no protection from rodents getting into the cowl area.

As someone suggested, you can shut the truck down with the cabin air selector positioned in the recirculate position.

While that will work if the cabin air inlet door remains shut / closed always. Even with the door closed, there is a nice spot that is well protected for them to build a nest. The downside is that when the cabin air inlet door is opened, like a dump truck, there will be the dumping of rats or rats nest right onto your cabin filter.

I have some simple ideas of what I plan to do to remedy this.

PK

 

really? thats interesting to know. i used to carry some dryer sheets to keep mosquitos from biting into me. thanks for the tip

 

As a follow-up...

The cowl area is basically wide open from the fender wells.

There is no protection at all, except ensuring you close the recirculation door each time you park the truck.

It is possible, even with the door closed to have rodents build a nest on top of the recirc door, and when fresh air is selected, the entire "bundle" will drop into your cabin air filter.

Oddly, Toyota designed the air inlet, just above the cabin fresh air inlet with a flange and mounting holes for a screen or something but it seems it never made it to production in the US, maybe never anywhere.

So using cardboard to design a template, I used wire lath for stucco on a home and fabricated a screen to prevent rodent entry into the cabin airbox. Some primer, paint, a couple of metric fasteners and done.

PK

 

What do you remove to get to this? Is it just that rubber seal thing that is between the edge of the windshield and hood?

 

Animal proofed mine last fall, also covered the holes at either end of the channel this sits in, keeps them out of that area all together.

 

I don't recall ever seeing a post about it. If I stole your thunder I apologize.

I did not go to the details of pulling fenders but will say that it seems our net results are similar.

PK

 

Open the hood. Remove the plastic clip with the phillips head. Gently unseat the black plastic cowl grille. I did not bother taking off wiper arms or anything beyond gaining access. Lifted and supported the plastic grille with a small cardboard box.

BTW, this is near the right side by the antenna, directly above your cabin air filter.

PK

 

It was a quick post in the thread "What have you done to your Tacoma Lately?" back in November, no need to apologize, no thunder stolen. Found rat/squirrel shit and chunks of acorns laying on top of my cabin air filter. Still get the occasional acorn piece in the engine air intake before the filter....

 

Cool, thanks. I started to do this the other day but stopped when I realized I didn't not have any mesh leftover like I thought I did. Have to take a trip to home depot and pick some up later.

 

Bump, just picked up a 2009 tacoma and found rat shit when swapping the cabin air filter. So happy to see its a simple fix and I will copy these designs. Seems like the guy parked under a tree for days at a time, hence the low mileage but dirty paint. Still a great deal and once I clean it up will look almost new.

 

I did that on my '06 Taco... Unknown to me, I think I trapped a mouse under the plastic flap and the filter..... As a result...I no longer have a flap... "the mouse bastard" ate it into tiny pieces... Can't block the air no more...!!

 

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