Rat smell in Hilux

Submitted: Sunday, Mar 27, 2011 at 20:02

ThreadID: 85254 Views:4367 Replies:5 FollowUps:5

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Craig W2

Hi everyone,
I had about 5 baby rats (dead) that were behind the intake/recirculate door in my 07 SR5 D4D. This was about 6 months ago. I have pulled out and sterilised the fan several times, have thrown out the Pollen filter, have pulled everything down to check there were no others anywhere, have used several big tins of Glen 20, nil odour, Bi Carb soda, Wynns car bomb, Wynns $100 treatment job. This has been over the past 6 months. I have spoken to Toyota and an Air Con mechanic.
The stale rat fur smell is now starting to return again. I know I have to keep at it and keep spraying the Glen 20 in the vents etc to kill the bacteria but how much longer?

Any advice would be helpful.
Regards
Craig

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Reply By: TerraFirma - Sunday, Mar 27, 2011 at 20:08

Sunday, Mar 27, 2011 at 20:08

Sounds like you still have one somewhere.?

AnswerID: 449390

Follow Up By: Craig W2 - Sunday, Mar 27, 2011 at 20:21

Sunday, Mar 27, 2011 at 20:21

Thats what I thought as well, which is why I have pulled everything down that I could. The smell is noticeably better now than it was, but every now and then the rat fur smell will hit you between the eyes. I thought that I would be able to eliminate this completely.

FollowupID: 721788

Reply By: Graham & Lynne - Sunday, Mar 27, 2011 at 20:19

Sunday, Mar 27, 2011 at 20:19

Craig W2
There is rat fur against the A/C evaporator on the fan side.
Need to remove the fan and the fan speed resistor to gain some access to blow this mess out, from against the evaporator.
Then you can treat this area directly with your weaponry of odour removers.
You may have to remove the LH guard to make sure no more rats are in the air intake tract there.Then put some steel mesh fly screen over the air inlet in the inner guard.
Thanks Graham

AnswerID: 449392

Follow Up By: Craig W2 - Sunday, Mar 27, 2011 at 20:27

Sunday, Mar 27, 2011 at 20:27

That sounds like some good advice Graham. I will give my mate a call who is a mechanic to give me a hand. I was surprised that the gap was only about the size of a 50 cent piece in the LH guard intake and that the rats wanted to nest in the ute instead of the shed.

I guess luckily the parent rats did not die in their as well as I keep ratsack out around the shed.

Appreciate the advice.

FollowupID: 721789

Follow Up By: Member - Toyocrusa (NSW) - Sunday, Mar 27, 2011 at 20:34

Sunday, Mar 27, 2011 at 20:34

Have to agree with Graham, Craig. I had a Nissan Skyline once in my workshop. The owner had passed away and left the car to a grandson. The owner had carried a small dog in the car that must have shed its fur over the years. It was all matted to the intake side of the evaporator and it stunk. You may have to end up removing the evaporator and suck the fur out with a vacuum cleaner which is what I had to do with this car. Cheers, Bob

FollowupID: 721791

Follow Up By: Craig W2 - Sunday, Mar 27, 2011 at 21:16

Sunday, Mar 27, 2011 at 21:16

Thanks for the advice everyone, it has given me something else to look at. I had previously put the air gun in and blew everything out that was possible, but I will get at the evaporator once and for all and give it a clean as well.
Regards
Craig

FollowupID: 721803

Reply By: Member - Joe n Mel n kids (FNQ - Sunday, Mar 27, 2011 at 20:33

Sunday, Mar 27, 2011 at 20:33

a real radicial fix but will work ...........
Get bucket of very hot water and sterilizer, something like floor cleaner, try to avoid bleach or acids, and find where your intake for the recirc air is and work out a system of getting it into it, i used a funnel and tube and spray bottle ..
start her up, turn fan on flat out and pour a little in, at that stage make certain it is draining out the a/c water drain .....
Then pour it in to it in volumes so that it really gets into all bits n peices, it does not hurt to over do the detergent so you have bubbles coming out the vents ....
Work your way to putting in clean warm water to flush out all the chemicals and you will clean it out as best is possible short of removing complete dash.
I ended up getting the garden hose and spraying it into the intake, removed the floor mats and rubber plug in the floor pan

Be warned it may shorten the life of the fan motor if the breather for it is part of the ducting and it may drip onto some electricial componentes, radios ect....
But if you really want it clean then it is the only option left...

Afterwards the a/c will work the best it ever has and all smells will be gone
And yes it works ...
Cheers
Joe

AnswerID: 449395

Reply By: olcoolone - Sunday, Mar 27, 2011 at 20:39

Sunday, Mar 27, 2011 at 20:39

Forget chemicals, you need someone with an OZONE machine to kill the bacteria.

Let it run in the vehicle for an hour and the smell will be gone for good.

This is something chemicals can't do.

AnswerID: 449398

Reply By: Big Woody - Sunday, Mar 27, 2011 at 21:30

Sunday, Mar 27, 2011 at 21:30

Hi Craig,

I have been through exactly your situation word for word with a Ford Courier I use for work.
It took at least 12 months for the smell to go and even 2 years later on a really hot day when the car was locked up you would get a tiny hint of the smell when the AC was turned on.
It has been about 3 years now and it has all gone.
I cant believe they still build cars that have open air intakes that dont have a grill over it preventing access by vermin.
I also used Chlorine a fair bit but got away with it because I had rubber floor covering and no carpet. A few drips did come out and I still have a few paris of jeans with white spots near the ankles. Chlorine probably had the best impact on reducing the swell.

BW

AnswerID: 449411