Dead something in the vent

Richard Vyse

Richard Vyse

Ok, last week something got caught in the A/C blower fan in the Buick and has now crawled into the dash vent and died. I had to replace the blower fan due to damage even seeing some body parts, but what is unsettling is that horrible smell coming from the vents.

I have sprayed, stuck a vacuum hose into the vent, blocked off all vents but one trying to force this thing out. I really hate to remove the ENTIRE dash in order to get to the ventilation system but may come to that.

I suppose I could wait it out to see how long it takes a decaying critter's smell to disappear.

Thoughts of assistance?

PS: The dogs love it when I take them for a ride.
 
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It only takes 3 - 4 months to get the smell out. Then all you have to deal with is the bacteria and small pieces of decaying body matter that is going to be spewed out the vents.
 
You don't have anything at the FH to handle that?!?!?! Richard!

Garlic and math balls work good too to get an bad smell out of a car! Get about 4 of the big garlic bulbs and cut them into quarters and leave them in the car a couple weeks. The car will smell like the Olive Garden but it will work!
 
you are most likly working on the wrong side of the problem. you got to figure out weather its on the inisde or on the out. check to be sure there wasn't a way for the most likly mouse to have got down in to the vet from the cowl. remove the new blower moter and clean threw that hole. you probaly only killed mama with the fan and now all the babies have died. the nest is full of dead mice. once again I say remove the blower and clean thing out threw that hole.
 

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John ED Renstrom said:
you are most likly working on the wrong side of the problem. you got to figure out weather its on the inisde or on the out. check to be sure there wasn't a way for the most likly mouse to have got down in to the vet from the cowl. remove the new blower moter and clean threw that hole. you probaly only killed mama with the fan and now all the babies have died. the nest is full of dead mice. once again I say remove the blower and clean thing out threw that hole.
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Great idea Ed and did that. My blower fan is located under the dash inside the car facing upwards. I reached in as far as I could then using a coathanger with the end covered with a wash cloth, crammed that into the vents as far as it would go but come up with nothing.

Keep the ideas coming. Here is a diagram of the ductwork which it not bad except it is buried in the dash.
 

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now then your saying you got chunks out of the upper vents? follow the air flow. air comes in form the outside gos threw the fan then threw the heater or cooling core's then out threw the vet work the only exception on the inside is the door opening the recirculating air from inside shutting off the out side air. you get stuff blowing out the vets it is on the discharge side of the heater/ ac. just stink and no chunks it is most likly on the in take side. from the inside the mouse can only get into the system down the vents or up the recirculating flapper. the inside air vent is normally closed on most cars. take the top of the dash and run the vent tubes I'll bet it's in there and only the one the stuff came out of. or just below the tubes in the plenum. if it was in the blower housing there would be pieces of it left and the rest is stuck agents the heater core. if that's the case removing the unit to clean it is your only option. but you got to get the nest out of there that is what is stinking as air flowes threw it
 

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Save your self years of aggravation and disassemble the vents, clean and stick them back. I had kangaroo rats make a nest and died when we put the vehicle back in service and the smell didn't go away and when it gets humid it revives the odor. It was worth the six hours removing everything and cleaning them and putting it all back together. I even managed to not have any extra pieces laying in the floorboard when I got done. It also reduces embarrassing situations if you loan out the car, and the neighbor's kids don't puke up chocolate milk in to the a/c vents because of the smell when their mom turns on the blower. just my 2cents.
 
Jeremy, what was it you put in my Monte Carlo that time that you let the food rot in it when it was 120 degrees outside? It stinks too, but smelled better than the rotting food - and probably better than rotting animals! Poor Momma Mouse.........
 
Richard Vyse said:
I've been spraying OZIUM in the vents which helps at first. I went in to embalm at 3 a.m. today having to use the defroster for the first time. WOW, once that heated up it was time to get the window down!
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You live in Florida...why do you ever need to use the drfroster? :wussie:
 
Well much to my delight the odor of a rotting carcass seems to almost be gone. I used a leaf blower to blow out the vents and have been spraying OZIUM into the vents like crazy.

Each day the smell seems to dissipate more and more. Even Terri is willing to ride with me again.

:bonk:
 
If there was a rodent living in there (sounds like you did), then it pee'd everywhere. If you get rid of the smell, it will come back every time it gets humid.
Your going to have to take the system apart and scrub everything with soap, then bleach to get rid of the pee odor.

Besides the smell, there's the diseases you can pick up from rodent feces. There is no magic bullet, just hard work to fix this problem.
 
Paul Steinberg said:
It only takes 3 - 4 months to get the smell out. Then all you have to deal with is the bacteria and small pieces of decaying body matter that is going to be spewed out the vents.
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This subject was addressed on "Myth Busters" recently. They placed two fresh, dead pigs in a car, rolled up the windows and waited. After they were quite decomposed (they actually exploded), they cleaned the car in every way they could think (and what was suggested to them) and then tried to sell the car. Every potential "buyer" who opened the door made a comment on the odor and walked away. They could never get the "smell of death" out of the car. Myth NOT busted!
 
Richard- I feel sorry for ya! Theres nothing worse than driving down the road in your Roadmaster and you can't enjoy the drive because of the ''dead'' smell. Sounds like you got the problem taken care of,hopefully. I've never had animals get in my Roadmaster before, but I did have a mama cat give birth to kittens in the back seat of my Cutlass a few years back. How she got in there,I don't know.What a mess that was....:drama:
 
Jim Staruk said:
This subject was addressed on "Myth Busters" recently. They placed two fresh, dead pigs in a car, rolled up the windows and waited. After they were quite decomposed (they actually exploded), they cleaned the car in every way they could think (and what was suggested to them) and then tried to sell the car. Every potential "buyer" who opened the door made a comment on the odor and walked away. They could never get the "smell of death" out of the car. Myth NOT busted!
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There is a big differance between a single dead decaying mouse, and 2 dead pigs! :myopinion:
 
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