BATS!! in the cabin filter??

One warm day as I was leaving work I started my Taco an immediately caught a face full of death smell...w/t helllll. I drove home with the windows down and when I got home popped the hood and started my search for what I thought would be a dead rat in my engine compartment .. you see several months earlier I had a check engine light come on and noticed the truck running really rough so took to my local Toy store and they informed me that a rat had chewed up one of my main electrical harnesses in the V cavity of the engine??? $1200 later I incorporated a very proactive "search and destroy" all things critter-like near the truck including mothballs in the crevices of the engine compartment and even sprayed critter ridder in strategic areas on the vehicle itself including wheel wells and engine compartment. Needless to say my truck smelled horrible but didn't want another wire chewing trespasser near my truck again. Well a couple months later I got he face full of death smell and thought damn! a freakin rat got in and died in the engine compartment but after a fruitless search to find the source of the death I realized I only smelled it when the fan was on in the cabin sooooooo popped the glove box off and slowly pulled the cabin air filter out to find with the assorted acorns and droppings two unrecognizable carcasses decaying directly on the filter itself I studied the bodies but couldn't figure out what they were, my best guess was a couple of dried up toads maybe? It bothered me because I couldn't figure out how a toad would climb up in there I mean I don't think they can even climb Ok conclusion I now make it a habit to check the cabin filter every couple of weeks and what I found was a less decayed critter on the filter one of those times and it turns out it's a BAT! all curled up and dead. So how the hell these things are getting in there is a mystery to me. Anyone have any ideas how to critter-proof the cabin filter?? I didn't take a picture of the bats but did take one of the last filter change and you can clearly see acorns pieces, droppings from what I'm pretty sure are bats and bits of black foam from around the filter chewed. It's just getting weird

 

Where in the hell are you driving/flying?????

 

put a metal mesh grille under the cowl, over the opening for the air conditioner, I think some one posted a DIY a while back.

 

Where in the nine hells do you live?!

We have bats here (the real small ones that come out at dusk and are 'freakin invisible in the daytime) but I have NEVER heard of them crawling into a car before. Weird. Do me a favor - if you get any more take a picture of it before it's too decomposed, I'd like to know what kind it is.

 

Well it's not Transylvania I'm actually in Orlando. I thought of putting mesh in if I could figure out where. That whole vented section at the base of the windshield just doesn't seem to be open enough for them to get through. Does the A/C draw from anywhere else?

 

If I get anymore of them I will get a good picture for you

 

wow now that's one i never heard about before...bats in the cabin filter!

 

there is a big open hole in the passenger side wheel well that is about the size of a softball that goes straight into the intake

 

I do Wildlife Control for a living, and might be able to help, at least with identifying the critters responsible for the problem. You already know there are small rodents of some type bringing those acorns in, and their droppings are going to be nearly identical to a small bats, The difference is, if you want to try it, is a bat dropping is made up of skeletal material from the insects it eats, and will totally pulverize if you squeeze it,like dust. A rodent dropping will be much harder,and you will not be able to crush it as easy. I have heard of mice and small rodents doing this, and eating wiring,but have never seen a bat inside an air filter ever. Good luck with it.

 

here's the link http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2nd-gen-tacomas/89878-made-pre-cabin-air-filter.html

 

Bats don't eat acorns, and don't chew destructively, so I'm thinking you have mice. A photo would prove me wrong, of course...

 

Are you talking about on the firewall where the electrical harness goes through?

 

I know I know there seems to more to this than meets the eye

 

I actually have a really good microscope so maybe I'll do some CSI on the poop I'll let you know, thanks

 

Thanks John

 

Just think if you didnt have a filter. It would be like a blender in there

 

I think first thing tomorrow I am going to put my cabin air filter back in. Took it out over the summer to replace it, and the new one is still sitting in the tool box.......Looks like some nasty funk to be inhaling.

 

Can't tell you how many remains of mice etc. I have removed, heater fans are another nice home for them. Once a month I take the air filter out of the cars and vacuum out the trash. That's pretty common in the North country. Often wonder what would happen if I sucked up one of the damn things one morning when I started it.

 

think I'll do the steel mesh over the intake hole this weekend to keep the little fellas out