97Dually

Oh my gosh! I started up the p/u after having it sit for a month. Cranked up the fan......Oh boy did I get a suprise! I heard running around in the fan motor area, no squeeling though, and then some wird noises like a door busting inside...then a hum. I looked up the schematic diagram through pdf's i've got. Then I took apart the three screws holding the motor up. Dropped the cage, and what did I find? I THINK remnants of a mice nest in the squirrel cage. The little devils used the greenish/blackish insulation as nesting material.
I can't figure how they came to that place. Heck, these trucks are like 12' off the ground. Must have climbed a tire.....

I'm scared to look inside.....heck, I feel like a little school girl! I figure that my blend door is out...

Tom

[Edited by moderator]

infidel

If you have a stock air filter box make sure to take a look inside it also, it's a favorite nesting place. I had to finally poprivet some hardware cloth over mine to keep them out.

The mice had to come into your vent system from inside the cab, there is no way for them to get in though the vent at the outside at the base of the windshield.
I'd be looking to find how they got in the cab.

97Dually

Infidel-

Are you sure?

I see no mice crap, no urine, no point of entry. He ( Ihope a he) must have come in through the vents outside. Or else why not nest in the carpeted floor or in a rag I left in there. By the way, I did figure out where the green insulation came from. My OTHER truck! Inside the engine campartment, you can see where "it" chewed some off.

Tom

infidel

Almost every truck I've worked on in mouse country has insulation taken off on the firewall right behind the turbo and off the hood where they can stand on the valve cover. For some reason they also like to chew on the rubber insulators that cover the nuts that hold the wires to the grid heaters. I find it interesting that they always go for the same places.

Like I said, the grillwork at the windshield base is the only entrance to the vent system from the outside. The space between bars is pretty tight, I assume the engineers were thinking of mice. Might want to check the rubber grommet where the clutch and wiring comes though the firewall driver's side an see if they chewed though.
Or it could be one snuck in when the door was open and was trapped inside. I would think there would be a big mess then.

97Dually

Well crap. I used a big shop-vac and sucked as much of the critter home I could see with a mirror. I got 5 pinkies. I didn't see a parent though. I moved the pick-up a hundred feet away from where the truck was parked. Hopefully the parent won't go looking for the babies. Man, this sucks. I just wish I knew for sure that I got them all out.

Their nest was inside the heater core to fan side and inside the fan wheel pointing up towards the door into the duct from the engine side. I see no evidence they ever came into the truck though....I want to make sure this doesn't happen again.

Are there any ways to keep them from comming back??????

I will look real hard tomorrow for their entrance into the firewall.


Thanks, Tom

mestdagh

If there's food crumbs in your truck, keep the doors shut. One of the reasons I sold my FJ60 Landcruiser is because the mice took all the insulation for nests. We camped in the back. We could hear them in the headliner, heat ducts everywhere. Mice can JUMP high. Once we were in BC sleeping w/ the tailgate down. We'd hear a scampering outside, then a second of silence, then a plop as it landed on our sleeping bags inside the truck. Pretty funny afterwards but not then. We pulled up the tailgate then we'd hear a scamper, silence then a ding as it hit the tailgate. Now that was funny.

jrs_dodge_diesel

I hear that moth ball in strategic loctations deter mice.

Mopar1973man

I got to admit that is funny!!!!

Mice are strange little animals they will invade anything that will give the shelter and place to store food. My snowmobiles have a tool pouch on the back of the seat that is always filled with cherry seeds by winter time!

1973 Charger they have stole every bit of the noise mat of the hood, door panels, trunk, Etc... I just clean it up with a shop vac. I have notice that as the smell of food disappears they are less likely to come back.

My Mom's old 1976 Dodge Magnum XE has a ultra sonic box pointed at it in the garage. The little buggers have never come back... I guess it works!

infidel

A couple of Bounce clothes dryer sheets in the cab and under the hood work excellent to keep the little buggers away. Work for about six months.

Haulin_in_Dixie

Now how do you keep sugar ants out. I can't spray any more with the bird in the truck.

apache

We have the same problem, Now there importing hay from 25 yards away to build in our trucks. The dryer sheet hasent worked, they actually ate them also. I now take a small coffe can and cut a hole in the plastic lid in the center and fill it some with mouse bait then strap it on its side somewhere under the hood. I have yot to get any dead stinky mice left in the truck so thats a bonus. Them guys can get thru the smallest of holes so look carefully.

tanderson2002us

My ex-girlfriend had to drop $900.00 when here Infinity A/C duct work got infested a few years back. There was even one living in the engine compartment after we got her car fixed that was hiding somewhere........took rat bait to kill him.

SoTexRattler

A co-worker has mega-problems with mice and rats doing serious damage to his tractors, combines and farm truck's wiring every year. He's found no good way to keep them out.
Another problem is SNAKES going after the mice!
He had one die in the cab A/C of his big Massey tractor.
It's funny how rodents like particular rubber compounds or plastic.

K.

SoTexRattler

My old GM pickup had a large air duct from near the back of the right front tire all the way up to the base of the windshield! Nothing covering the opening under the truck...
I suppose it was for water drain.
Them little buggers only had to hop a short distance to have a huge hole to get in.
I have always wondered if DC had something like that too... I hope not.

K.

wings

I had mice in my garage and they made a big mess. I tried all the tricks short of the poison. I really didn't want them dieing in the walls. I finally got one of those plug in electric things. I was convinced it only took up an electric outlet but danged if the mice didn't go away. a few other things like most spiders and ants also disappeared. I wouldn't normally buy one of these on a bet but I was getting desperate. I think there are 12v ones too. Maybe a person could hook up a cord to plug it in at night at least at home.

As for traps.. the most devious was the electric frier a guy posted on the net a while back. A grid with about 20k volts and the mouse literally danced untill it went up in a cloud of smoke.
And the most torturous.. a 5 gallon pail with a rod stuck thru just under the rim. on the rod in the middle was an empty Bud can that had peanut butter smeared on it. Then there was ramp up to the edge of the bucket. The mouse comes up the ramp and spots the peanut butter and takes a flying leap and guess what the can turns and the mouse drops into the bottom of the bucket...in the bottom of the bucket is 3 inches of fresh green antifreeze!!!! The picture showed about 6 dead ones. PETA would love these.