Dead mouse on top of cabin air filter!

I just know mine will look like this. 28,015 miles as of today. Stealerships are useless, and do the bare minimum at service intervals. What's the part number for the filter? Also, has Toyota(or any other publisher) come out with a service manual for the 2011 Access Cab? Thanks.

 

Man im glad i read this thread. Went out to my truck, and sure enough, cabin air filter dirty as hell. Changing it today!

 

Poll:
What would you rather have dead mouse in your truck or dead rat in your attic?

 

Well, did you miss the intake air hole that is located just a few inches towards the fender? Nobody in this blog mentioned that hole! t's very hard to see, but you can put your hand in there and-- you will find it has a hole by feel, and considerably large. Check with a flashlight, stand on something to get your head in there and look towards the fender on the inside near the air intake. You can also make it out if you go to the driver side and look real low, you will see the opening. This is the opening that "intakes" outside "fresh" air from the fender cavity and is the "highway" where mice and rodents enter the windshield wiper well and subsequently the intake to the cabin ventilation system. A small mesh wire-cloth or similar over the intake to the cabin ventilation system would work, but to keep them completely OUT of that well, put a piece of wire-cloth over the hole that I just described. You can either epoxy in place, which is messy but permanent, or very strong magnets anchor the wire cloth or screening material to the steel body of the truck.

Another Note: The engine air intake box has an extruding "pipe" that juts into the fender well that also takes fresh air from the same source as the cabin. I'm not sure just how "clean" the air is in that cavity since rodents can get into that area and frolic but BOTH my engine air filter box AND the cabin air intake were clogged with pack-rat nests, mesquite tree seeds, excrement, small stones, cactus needles, etc. I'm tired of the little bastards.

Cut slightly larger 3.5 inch stiff screening and press into the part of the box where the pipe is. I put one on outside, one on inside. Just had so damned many problems with rodents getting into my Toyotas, 4 so far over past 25 years, and Toyota mechanics do not know how to fix much of anything like this. I do hold Toyota responsible as they should should have fixed this through engineering design many years ago, and they still can't get it right. Yes, they were TOLD.

Attached photos:

 

mouse in truck

 

The hole near the cabin filter intake, which I think should be called a "mouse hole" -- becaues it LOOKS like a "mouse hole" -- seems to have escaped notice on this forum. I just found out myself and feel that after so many years, 25 years of having to deal with rodent issues in the AC system should fall on Toyota and the Toyota dealers. Why? They are supposed to KNOW about these things, and the solution is SIMPLE. Just screen it off! I've lost tons of money on repairs by the dealers that do not work, and completely replacing trucks that are still barely broken in. Before my present truck, I was compelled to trade in my 2015 with only 30K miles on it off because of THIS very issue. The damages were too severe. I was tired of smelling mouse and pack-rat.

Please check out the photos of this "mouse hole." I do not want to see anyone compelled to go to the dealer to address this when they will only clean, foam, whatever and charge you thousands. The fix is easy, but if you have a new truck under warranty, the dealer I contacted declared that my truck warranty would no longer be honored because I fixed it myself. However they do not cover rodent damages under Toyota warranty anyway.

 

Thanks for the pics...and just in time, before the cold sets in, and the mice start looking for warmer spaces.

Will be doing this, this weekend.

 

Thanks for the pics, will be doing this before the cold hits, and the little chits start looking for warmer spaces to over-winter.

 

Not gonna lie, I wanted to see a picture of this mouse on the filter.

Looks like some good options above for you OP. Hopefully you can get all the smell out.

EDIT: haha, just realized how old this thread is. Oh man.

 

I've had a roll of 1/4" square galvanized screen/mesh for years that I've used for various things. Worked perfect for this. Fairly easy to cut and shape. I secured it with some stainless steel nuts and bolts in 2 existing holes

 

The 1st gen Tacomas had factory installed screens on these fresh air intakes. Go figure. The dealership charged me for cabin air filter changes. My 03 has NO CABIN AIR FILTER!!! Go figure.

 

BTDT, I once found a bunch of dead baby mice in my fan under the air intake filter. I also found a mouse nest in the intake tube in front of the air filter. Smelled like hell.

 

Might be time for a good interior cleaning to get the smell out.

 

thought that was french fries for a minute