Telkwa Posted March 16, 2013 Report Share Posted March 16, 2013 If mice have gotten into your truck, don't stop with cleaning out the cowling in front of the windshield. I found another spot this morning, behind the seat belt reel. Haven't gotten to the passenger side yet. To do it proper, I removed: The driver's seat The ECU The plastic strip that covers the sill. The door covers this plastic strip when it's closed. The "turn on the light when the door opens" switch, which will get in the way of the shop vac hose unless you remove it. The seat belt reel. The plastic cover around the seat belt reel that runs from the floor halfway up towards the roof. The steel plate that holds down the jack. I stuck a shop vac hose in through the opening created by moving the seat belt reel, then blew compressed air through all of the little holes that are uncovered by removing the plastic sill. Kept blowing the material towards the waiting vacuum hose. The truck oughta go faster now that it's so much lighter. I went into this area trying to chase down a voltage leak on the "TAIL LIGHT/CABIN LIGHT" fuse. Haven't fixed the voltage leak yet. The great thing about an old truck like this is there's almost always something to do no matter what you get into! EDIT: Oddly enough, there was little sign of mouse invasion on the passenger side. I think I found my voltage leak! The little relay under the passenger seat that says "TIMER UNIT ROOM LAMP" was pulling battery voltage until I unplugged it. The cabin light had been burned out forever, and I found the door switch on the driver's side had all the wires cut off of it. I don't know if the timer finally fried itself waiting for a signal from the door switch that never came, or if it was doing exactly what it's supposed to do. Maybe I'll repair the door switch and see what happens. Quote Link to comment
JoeCool Posted March 16, 2013 Report Share Posted March 16, 2013 Eww! Hope mice don't decide to make a home in my truck. It does sit around a lot. Quote Link to comment
datzenmike Posted March 16, 2013 Report Share Posted March 16, 2013 Wear a dust mask when dealing with mouse turds. They can (in dust form) carry hanta virus and worse. Quote Link to comment
schassisowner Posted March 19, 2013 Report Share Posted March 19, 2013 i had a mice nest in my bell housing when i installed my new flywheel :confused: Quote Link to comment
JoeCool Posted March 19, 2013 Report Share Posted March 19, 2013 I remember when I worked at a Lexus dealer a few years ago the tech beside me had an SUV with customer complaint of an awful smell with heat or AC. Come to find out mice had made a nest in the rear blower fan and gotten ground up... it was disgusting! Quote Link to comment
Telkwa Posted March 19, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 19, 2013 I was surprised to find very little sign of habitation in the cavity on the passenger side. On to the next project: I pulled the plastic fan housing out (above the passenger side foot well) and stuffed some stout hardware cloth into the metal passageway that connects the fan intake to the cowling area (or whatever you call it) ahead of the windshield. I'm gonna attach some hardware cloth to the back side of the cowling cover too. Quote Link to comment
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