lesz

For a couple of weeks, I had been noticing small pieces of shredded paper that were appearing, for no explainable reason, on the floor in front of the front passenger seat. While I suspected the cause, I was willing to ignore it for the moment. Yesterday, while I was driving, there was a God-awful smell coming from the air coming from the climate control system.

So, this afternoon, I pulled out the cabin air filter and found what I was expecting to find. There was a huge mouse nest, including at least one baby mouse, on top of and behind the cabin air filter. I tried to vacuum it out, but I'm sure that there was more of the nest beyond the point that I could reach with the vacuum cleaner nozzle. And, after I put everything back together, I immediately noticed that the fan was operating in a very loud fashion. So, I suspect that, when I was taking things apart and vacuuming, some of the nest got pushed back into the fan.

Thus, I have an appointment for tomorrow at the local Toyota dealer to have them take things apart and clean out the rest of the nest.

What is of more serious concern to me is the possibility that the mice could gnaw on the wiring insulation that Lexus uses. It is made from re-cycled plant material, and I've read reports from people who needed thousands of dollars worth of electrical system repairs that resulted from damage caused by rodents chewing through the insulation.

For now, I've placed a few boxes of D Con and some traps around the garage, but I wish that I could find a more permanent solution.

Years ago, a co-worker said something that I think about when things like this happen. What she said was "if it's not your ***, it's your elbow".

john341

Did you find any reminiscent of electrical wiring sheath, when you cleaned out the cabin filter? Hope fully the mouse did not chew on anything critical best of luck.

lesz

No, I didn't find anything that looked like it might have been part of the electrical insulation. Everything that I found looked either like shredded paper or fiberglass insulation that might have been gathered from somewhere inside the garage.

bc6152

I had an issue with a visitor in my garage. Not in the car... I too used traps with peanut butter inside and had the miscreant in one day. I'd put one on the passenger side for a few days as well as around the garage. GOOD LUCK Les.

john341

Then I believe your car should be fine. I recommend covering your air intake for the HVAC with a wire mesh, in all your cars. I still don't know why Toyota and Lexus wont do that. Couple of years ago i had a mouse nest in the engine air box of our Camry, luckily I only had to change the air filter and a valve in the intake.

lesz

What I've done when I've stored cars, including the ES, for the winter is to put a couple of fabric softener sheets inside the engine bay, and doing that seems to have been effective in keeping the mice out. Once I took the car out of its winter storage, I would have thought that the fact that I'm driving it regularly would have kept them out, but it evidently didn't.

When I take it in tomorrow, I'll be interested to see what they find in and around the fan. As I originally said, there was a horrible smell being emitted yesterday, which makes me wonder whether one or more mice might have gotten caught in the fan, itself.

The experience also prompted me to make a call to my insurance agent to confirm that, should the mice do any damage, such as damage to the electrical system, the damage would be covered by the comprehensive insurance, and the answer that I got was that, yes, it would be covered.

lesz

Just an update after taking the ES to the Toyota dealer.

When the technician took things apart and got to the fan, he found more nesting material and 2 more dead mice in the fan, and I'm sure that those dead mice were what was causing the horrible smell.

After cleaning things out, they sprayed disinfectant to kill the odor. The smell of the disinfectant being pushed through the cabin isn't that great, but it is far less offensive than the smell of the dead mice, and it should go away in time.

When I got home, I thought that it would be wise to check the cabin air filter on my GX, and, to my dismay, there was a nest in that one, too. It wasn't as big as the nest in the ES, and, since the fan on the GX sits right below the air filter, I think I was able to get all of it out. So, now, I have D-Con and traps set up in various locations in the garage and dryer sheets in the engine bays of both vehicles.

Things like this are a part of the downside of living tucked into the woods.

Mike728

I found mouse remnants in my engine bay a couple years ago. Luckily, that was the extent of it. After that I too starting baiting my garage. So far so good!

I live in a city with over 140k residents. Mice don't seem to care where they live.

JDR76

I have been there, and I feel for you.

Mine was a visitor that would come every night. I tried every type of deterrent and trap available. I had some success using peppermint oil, but the issue didn't fully go away until I found where they were getting into my garage (small opening where the natural gas line comes in from the meter outside). That helped, though I did eventually catch and dispatch him with a peanut butter baited electrocution trap.

lesz

Garages are especially tough because mice can even squeeze into the space in between the overhead door and the weather seal around the door, and, if they aren't able to do that and really want to get in, they will gnaw away a bit of the weather seal to create an opening. That is one of reasons why I chose to have my garage detached because, once they are in the garage, it is even easier for them to move from an attached garage and into the house.

Besides traps, D-Con, and other deterrents, the dealer's service manager suggested placing a small dish filled with anti-freeze under the car. Supposedly, the "sweet" smell of the anti-freeze will attract them, and, when they drink it, they will become dehydrated and die. But, using this method requires being certain that no pets or other animals have any chance of getting into the garage.

Poppa

I hear you lesz... I live out in the country as well and for 25 years I've been fighting mice and squirrels getting into my attic every single fall and winter... and last year for the first time they caused a problem in my car.. my wifes car actually, Toyota 4 runner. I had it parked in the driveway one day while I was cutting grass... later that night I went out to put the 4 runner in the garage and when I started it - it sounded horrible. felt like it had jumped time.. idled really really rough... killed the motor and tried again, same result... Next day I drove it to my mechanic, couldn't get it over 40 miles an hour for fear it would fall apart because it was running so badly... I'm not familiar with all the technical terms, but my mechanic called me later in the day and said it looked like a rat or mouse had gotten in to where the spark plugs are and had apparently chewed off some type of wire.. I think he said he had to replace an injector pigtail... he took a picture of what appeared to be mouse crap down in the little cove on the engine block where the wiring was damaged...

TechNut