Filter this

[maddmaxx ★]

Auto service today.  I'm getting close to 30K so that was the service picked for today.  This is the first major service package for the Scion IM.  Up to now it's been oil and filter.  This one involved a cabin air filter.............yikes, mice in there.  Well, the blower has to come off the firewall, the cowl air box and all the tubing and vents need to be cleaned out (nuts and mouse shit and piss) and a disinfectant sprayed all over everything in there.  All of that plus the usual oil and filter and the 30K fuel injector service ran up a $700 bill.

Well, first major service in 5 years.

Livin in the woods is great eh?

[Longjohn ★]

Quit feeding them critters. You’re lucky they didn’t chew the wiring harness.

[Ralphie ★]

The civic’s cabin air filter couldn’t be easier. Right behind the glove box. 

[maddmaxx ★]

12 minutes ago, Longjohn said:

Quit feeding them critters. You’re lucky they didn’t chew the wiring harness.

We've always had mouse problems, The Scion IQ that I had before the IM had a terrible design where part of the dash had to be dropped to get to the fan and controller.  Naturally that was a problem with that car as nuts jammed the fan and blew out the controller resistors twice.  I was the third car serviced for mouse problems today at the dealership.

Livin in the woods is great eh?

[Further]

Guy at work had a woodchuck chew the wiring in a Silverado, replacing the wiring harness was close to a grand

GM was using some type of soy based plastic as insulation and critters loved it. Not sure if they still use it. 

[Bikeguy]

1 hour ago, maddmaxx said:

Auto service today.  I'm getting close to 30K so that was the service picked for today.  This is the first major service package for the Scion IM.  Up to now it's been oil and filter.  This one involved a cabin air filter.............yikes, mice in there.  Well, the blower has to come off the firewall, the cowl air box and all the tubing and vents need to be cleaned out (nuts and mouse shit and piss) and a disinfectant sprayed all over everything in there.  All of that plus the usual oil and filter and the 30K fuel injector service ran up a $700 bill.

Well, first major service in 5 years.

Livin in the woods is great eh?

Back in 2018 my 2016 Prius that was parked outside (also in a wooded area) also had mice in the cabin air filter.   

I inspect and change those myself.  One day.. OMG how did the heat/air/vent even work?   I went to the hardware store and purchased a hose small enough to get into the duct system, and large enough to work when duct taped to my shop vac.  I removed the blower motor, which was reactively easy, but I don't want to do that again any time soon.  The nest was above the cabin air filter, I was just afraid the stuff fell down into the blower, ducts, etc... when I removed the filter.   What a pain.....

Now the car is inside a garage.  That hopefully won't happen again.  We still live in a wooded area..   time will tell. 

73K on my Prius.   So far, oil changes, tire rotations, new wipers blades from time to time, one set of new tires, air filters, and cabin air filters.     At 100K the coolant in the inverter need to be changed, and probably the spark plugs.   Brakes will last 150+K miles.  Regenerative braking makes the real brakes last a long time.

[maddmaxx ★]

1 hour ago, Further said:

Guy at work had a woodchuck chew the wiring in a Silverado, replacing the wiring harness was close to a grand

GM was using some type of soy based plastic as insulation and critters loved it. Not sure if they still use it. 

This is what happened to my Ignition wire on my Deere lawn tractor.  Same reason, some food based oil product used in the insulation.  No problems with the wiring on the new tractor but the bastids are pulling the chopped up foam padding out of the drain hole in the seat.  There are some high score traps in the shed but still they come.

[Thaddeus Kosciuszko]

3 hours ago, maddmaxx said:

We've always had mouse problems,

Works with or without water.

[Razors Edge ★]

15 hours ago, Philander Seabury said:

The civic’s cabin air filter couldn’t be easier. Right behind the glove box. 

Yep - Accord and Civic are easy peasy to change the filter, but I think Maxx had to have all the ductwork leading up to it "de-moused".  Not sure how that would go in any vehicle, but probably a PITA for most.

We once got ants after parking the Civic front bumper over the curb, and following a series of bad rains, the ant's mound grew to the bumper and then into the bumper.  Took a bit of work to fix that, and even had to go with ant traps for a while under the floor mats.  Crazy.

And RV owners seem to have a lot of "tips and tricks" for preventing pest intrusion.  Might be worth it if you live where the wild animals roam.

[Bikeguy]

9 minutes ago, Razors Edge said:

And RV owners seem to have a lot of "tips and tricks" for preventing pest intrusion.  Might be worth it if you live where the wild animals roam.

One tip I read somewhere..   you should always close the outside air duct before you turn off the car, by selecting recirculating the inside cabin air.   That closes off at least most of the duct that is used to enter the car via the hv/ac system.

Do I remember to do that.... not very often.