Cabin odor source

Well, I have been struggling with an intermittent odor in my truck for the last few weeks. It was a rancid smell and we have been having lots of rain the last few weeks so I thought maybe some wet spots have soured or mildewed. I felt around the head liner worried my prinsu was leaking (it was not). The rain moves out, everything is dry, I replace my cabin air filter, vacuumed everything and used an odor fogger hoping this would clear things up. Nope smell comes back, but this time I notice it’s only when I have my defrost on/recycle turned off. So I go digging around in the engine bay and find that my wiper fluid smells absolutely terrible I didn’t have to open the cap. A quick google search and turns out the fluid can go sour. Well it’s been getting into the 20’s here so figured time to do a fresh swap and put winter fluid in. I siphon out what I can and remove the reservoir at which point grey fur begins pouring out of the pump grommet. Turns out I had two dead mice in the wiper fluid reservoir. Now is a good time to mention that the reservoir has a funnel built into it so you can’t just turn it upside down and shake out the deceased…

I called my dealership and they wanted $147 for a new reservoir! So I went upstairs and got a coat hanger to fish the poor guys out. After they were removed a few rinses with bleach and the reservoir was reinstalled with fresh fluid. I ran the mister for a while to make sure the lines were fully flushed. The order is gone now. Moral of the story don’t forget to check your wiper fluid for mice My cap was closed but doesn’t seem like a super tight fight, guess there were able to pop it up before falling in?

 

Dam, do you you use the orange rainx stuff? Must be something sweet in it

 

That’s wild and may be a first on here

 

Yeah it was the orange rainX. I didn’t try it myself so I can’t attest to the flavor or sweetness. Just glad they managed to find the wiper fluid and not my electronics.

May end up putting some gaffers tape over the cap in the future.

 

Don’t ask me how I primed the siphon... Made sure to swish with a couple shots of Tito’s.

 

The funnel design of the res is very similar to the fly traps I buy to put on the patio in the summer. Apparently (and unfortunately) it seems to work just as well. Nice bit of detective work.

 

Years ago I stopped using that special summer stuff. I had issues with it coagulating and getting lumpy making a mess of my reservoir bottle. Didn't know it could smell bad too. Jeeze.

 

Wow!

 

It was the rodents not the fluid. Wondering how they got past the cap though, it doesn’t just pop off on it’s own.

 

i was chasing down a rotten smell in mine, too. Turns out, it was an old sweaty pair of muck boots on the back floor

 

Wow, this is crazy. How else could they have gotten in if not past the cap?

 

I also get a weird intermittent rancid/exhaust smell in truck too! I'm sure it's not the same problem as dead mice in my reservoir but I will check it.

Besides the mice thing, I think we might have the same smell issue

 

it seems to have gone away since I’ve removed the mice and cleaned the reservoir.

 

back in college I once found a turkey dinner leftover from thanksgiving I brought back to school under my seat. I found it in April when it started to warm up outside.

 

I think if you're a tinkering man, it's very likely you've siphoned some weird stuff...

 

I can neither confirm nor deny this accusation.

 

I had checked under the seats before I found the rodents. I was hoping it would be that easy of a fix.

 

New fear unlocked

 

Yeah, a first!! How the hell did they get in there. You leave the top off?

 

How did they get into the resavoir if the cap was closed,they sure as heck didn't open it by themselves ,or did they ?