Civility

Hi All,

I picked up a used 2002 Honda Civic EX Sedan.

When changing the Engine Air Filter, I noticed a bunch of Acorns and stuff on the left side under the Air Filter...I cleaned it all out and changed the filter. All set, I think.

However, The Pollen and Dust Filter (Cabin Filter) was also *disgusting*. I changed it and also pulled the blower motor, which was *very clean*.

So..when I turn on the heat, with the air directed to the floor vents, I still get the remnants of a very bad animalish odor. It is NOT mold or A/C smells...it is very much an animal smell. Putrid, but not strong...Just sort of "there".

I'm pretty chemical sensitive and don't relish the idea of just spraying Air Freshener/Fabreze/Ozium into the ducts, etc....I'd like to clean it all out somehow if there is anything to clean!

Is there a way to clean the Fresh Air Intake all the way to the Dust and Pollen Filter? and beyond?

Since the Blower motor was clean....does this likely mean that nothing got past the Cabin Air Filter? How does one clean inside all of that?

It is a very nauseating smell from an old infestation, I assume, but I still can't stomach it. Definately animal smell...not mold or fungus smelling.

Any DIY on how to clean out the whole Fresh Air Intake and all the ducts? I'd like it to not smell at all, of course!

Thank you!

- Civility

ezone

The large black plastic chamber may be full of food too. If they made it all the way to the air filter, they had to go through the chamber to get to it.

I shook what felt like a half-bag of Kibbles&Bits out of one.....then I wrapped some hardware cloth (steel mesh) over the inlet tube so the rodents could not get back in.
(The little guys chewed through the engine air filter on that one and a chunk of the dog food had wedged the throttle open!!)

Did you replace one of those filters, or two?
There are a pair of filters in the housing.


The odor could come from anything stuck the area the blower draws its outside air from, the 'cowl' area below the base of the windshield....where the wiper linkages live. Dead anything, rotting vegetation, etc.


Correct (assuming you found both of the cabin filters), vermin would have to gnaw through a filter to end up in the blower fan....and might be stuck at the squirrel cage fan until they gnaw through it.


But that might not be the only spot they can get in the car. They can be crafty little devils. Trunk, doors, chew through rubber plugs in the firewall, floor or under the car...IDK how they get inside some of the cars, but they can and do.

Look for the evidence, obvious pooberries on top of the carpet and maybe take apart enough trim to lift the carpet up and peep in the voids between carpet and steel floor. There are usually plenty of places under the carpets for them to run.

Get a Blacklight and shine it around at night, look for more evidence?

Look up under the dash....I saw one CRV with an infestation where they were living in the padding and insulation that lined the firewall, almost totally hidden by the dashboard.

Getting rid of the smell is not my bag. Gonna be hard to carpet bomb the entire car. If you can pinpoint the source, it may be easier to concentrate efforts in one place..





Finally, be glad they haven't eaten wiring. Yet.
Or fuel lines or the fuel tank. Yet.

HTH

Civility

Hi!

Thank you so much for your reply....and the black light idea.

The good news, is that I bought the car in Connecticut and it is now a few States away...and I don't think there were any stowaways...!

The infestation seems "older", but hard to say.

I did change BOTH cabin filters when I changed them...I did notice the two side by side...THANK YOU.

The inside of the car seems pretty immaculate, but there may be a little bit of brown staining on the carpet.

The smell is worst when the heat is directed to the floor, so maybe it could be as simple as cleaning the carpets....maybe I'll try the blacklight trick.

I did remove the Center Console for other purposes and also changed on the radio, etc...and didn't see any evidence of anything. Wiring all looked immaculate, etc.....haven't seen any chewed up evidence either.

Seems mostly a lingering smell issue...but maybe I'm just being optimistic.

I've been driving around with the heat blasting, hoping it will go away, but I'm not too convinced of that working....very nauseating smell, though faint.

Thank you!!!

- Civility

Civility

Just ordered a black light and some UV Safety Glasses...
Will be an interesting investigation!

Thanks for the idea!

Civility

Hey All!

Problem SOLVED!

Smelly heat was caused by a MASSIVE disgusting / moldy / smelly mouse NEST located on the Passenger side UNDER THE WIPER COVER...ABOVE the internal Cabin Air Filter and Blower...(under the hood.)

If you open your hood and look at the *fresh* air intake (directly below windshield wipers which they had stopped to face straight up...and didn't have to remove them), you will see that there is a SEAM about 1/3 the way over from the far passenger side.

The dealer took this 1/3 off. (The other 2/3 was inspectable with a light once the other 1/3 was removed.)

Once off, you can actually see the cabin air filter and everything right inside the car.

A HUGE nest was sitting right inside the cowl, directly above the cabin air filter (that had already been changed).

The nest/debris/moldy goo was pulled out...cleaned and alcohol-ed....and then a can of A/C Fresh was run through just to make sure we killed everything.

Takeaways:

1) Don't run without a Cabin Air Filter...That is the ONLY thing blocking entry through the blower to the rest of the car. Had the critter gotten past the cabin fresh air filter, would have been a potential nightmare to clean!

2) If it stinks...don't just perfume it...clean it!

3) We didn't really have to inspect the lower ducting (which we did)...once we knew the blower was immaculate...there was likely nothing further downstream.

4) The left side (passenger side) fresh air intake does come off and allows easy inspection with a flashlight all around. (I can't say how...Honda did it) but it looks very easy.

5) Pulling the dash was not necessary, though could be in some instances if the critters get past the cabin air filter. My cabin air filter wasn't chewed (just filthy..) and the blower was CLEAN.

6) Don't mess around with this. The amount of mouldy, critter ick-soup that was pulled out, weight almost 5 pounds. This was a toxic nightmare and my lungs after just two days of driving the car were starting to hurt. 100 Gallons of perfume or air freshener would not have killed all the germs in that...It is best cleaned out. Remember, clean does not smell!

7) The dealer charged me $120 bucks total....they probably didn't need to pull the lower duct work and inspect it...the problem was on the intake side and accessible from under the hood / cabin fresh air intake, but they did. They did not pull the whole dash, though....they viewed the heater core as best they could with a mirror...it looked clean as far as they could tell and there was not debris anywhere near it.

8) Please don't mess with this. If the air stinks...please clean it or get it cleaned..it can make you extremely sick.

Hope this helps someone...

Ps. Truly, if one can remove that cowl on the top passenger side (stop windshield wipers so they stay straight up) then this is an easy job!!!

ezone

mac25

Nice! Ya I've had a few of those come through my shop... aint nobody got time fo that!

ps; you can put one of those nasty perfumed tree air "fresheners" in the engine bay to ward off rats/mice, as long as it's active they should stay away.