Mice got into the hvac

[hogujak]

Went on a vacation for a month. Car was in the garage. Mice found a tiny opening and got into the garage and my 16 expedition.

I cleaned the cabin area and it wasn't too bad surprisingly. Luckly, mice didn't chew any wirings and all the buttons work.

At the end of the clean up I looked at the vent under the passenger seat(the one blows air to back passengers). I noticed some oily stuff started leaking out of it. It is oily and has some sweet smell to it like coolant. I suspect mice chew something around heater core and coolant started leaking? I don' know if that is possible. https://i.imgur.com/yogsPo0.jpg


So I stick the camera inside and noticed there is more oil pooling inside the vent and found mice droppings too.

https://i.imgur.com/nG0iLrS.jpg

I spoke to the service coordinator at ford dealership but he was clueless. I guess they don't deal with this kind of situations often.

I will check the blower motor and engine air filter since they are easy to check but am extremely worried it might have entered thr hvac system.

If mice got into the hvac system through that under seat vent, what could be the first nesting spot? Heatercore? My suv doesn't have the cabin filter.

Thank you.

 

[Ellison Brown III]

Interesting… most times I hear stories about mice in the air filter box. This is the first I’m hearing of them in the vents. As far as the liquid substance are you sure it isn’t urine? You said it was sweet smelling like coolant. Mouse urine definitely doesn’t smell sweet… let us know if you find/ found the nesting spot.

 

[Hamfisted]

Are you losing any coolant ? Keep an eye on it. Just looks like a heater core going bad really.

 

[Going_Going_Gone]

Animals are attracted to coolant and might have nibbled on a hose. If the sweet smell becomes putrid smelling, there might be a deteriorating/decomposing mouse in there.