Dead mouse in cabin air filter

circling back around... that mesh in the engine compartment, just in front of the windshield wipers is indeed the cabin air intake?

 

In order to see the actual air intake the black plastic cover has to be removed. Under it on the passenger side there is the actual intake and it is not covered or have a mesh over it. Just a big old hole going straight into the cabin air filter area.

A rodent can get there via the fender well area with no issues. You could remove the black plastic cover and install a mesh cover over the intake which would prevent a recurrance. Someone on here did this before and has pictures. I'll see if I can find a link.

 

Jimmy, would you advise putting something over that hole in addition to replacing the cabin air filter once in a while? ANy idea what constricting that hole from the outside would do? Or is your guess as good as mine?

 

IMO if you are having an issue with mice getting in, a cover as shown in the picture I posted should be adequate to keep them out. I wouldn't consider that a constriction. I would install a good screen mesh as shown, using copper if it could be found as mice do not like copper. Stainless steel would also be a very good material.

 

Good to know, I might try it and if it works do a mini write up

 

I had a squirrel chew through part of my wiring harness and windshield wiper hose on my old 98 Tacoma. Dealer wanted $700 to replace, I found a small shop to splice things back together for $125.

The sad thing for the squirrel was, he didn't know I owned a pellet gun and had just mounted a nice scope on it about two weeks before. His last breath was taken sitting on top of the drivers side front tire.

 

Ah-Ha! I was fooled by the plastic cover. There is a grate in this cover, which looked fine. I'll need to get something over this wide open hole.

Thanks!

 

Just swapped mine last night and it looked disgusting. Anyone else have foam deposits from the inside part of the housing right above where the filter goes? It's a little concerning to me.

 

I had a huge nest in mine when I bought the truck after it had been sitting for a long time. The whole nest fell down into the blower...acorns and all... No dead mouse but it was fun to clean all that out so that I could turn the blower on without acorns knocking around.

 

Weird.

 

Guarantee those foam chips are from a mouse chewing the foam inside your engine bay on the firewall. Check it out. That's how I found out I had a mouse and discovered the little bastard had built a nest in the air intake that the OP discovered. They like the foam. Probably soy based or something. Toyota should have covered that intake better. I might make a screen this spring to prevent it from happening again.

 

Bingo!

 

I just moved out of a house with about a 70 year old garage in a 100 year old neighborhood. I'm sure that's when it happened. Anyways I'll take a look tonight to see if any more damage was done. Thanks All!

 

Found a rats nest in mine today , putting some wire mesh over the intake tomorrow

 

But it filters better that way

 

Fucking reeked

 

Rat piss scented air freshener!

 

Yeah it was gross

 

I had chipmunks