8lugnuts

I'm needing some help guys. I turned on my blower this AM, heard this weird sound like something was rubbing against the fan blades, so I turned it off, back on again, same thing. So on a hunch I reached down underneath behind the glove box and wrapped my hand around the blower motor housing and then flipped the switch to full-speed-ahead! It shook like crazy, I was certain something was going to break, then suddenly broke free and was blowing fine. Then I smelled something funky....like roadkill! So it seems like some little critter crawled up in there somewhere.

#1. Where do you think I should start looking for the "dead thing"? I have no idea what I should start taking apart 1st?

#2. Do you know if the T100 has a cabin filter? I checked the local Advance auto store and none is listed in the FRAM catalog. I can see a mesh wire fence like cover over another plastic cover and a piece of foam behind that but it doesn't look like a genuine cabin filter.

PismoJoe

You blended a critter in your blower? Lol never heard of that one before

I think that the screen is really the only filter, but don't quote me on that.

8lugnuts

You wouldn't be LingOL if you smelled what I am Joe. Well, I couldn't stand the stench anymore so when I got home this evening I grabbed my tools and started tearing things apart. Here's what I found so far:[br]

Finally got that big ol' thang out, didn't take as long as I thought:




Mouseburger anyone?!

8lugnuts

Gotta have the right tools for the job!





hum-mouse anyone?! or is that "minced mouse"?

craneguy001

LAMO, that is frigin awsome. well not for you and the leftover smell thatll take weeks to get out but ya, that is a filter and yes it is just foam but with critter guts all in it id replace it and use lots of dissinfecting spray. Good Luck

Elton

haha thats great

8lugnuts

Ended up taking the whole thing apart and thoroughly scrubbing every sq.in. of it.




I've got it all back together now but don't want to reinstall it just yet for two reasons:

1 - it still smells - I think when I turned the the warp engines to maximum throttle I blew the little critter's dilithium crystals into the inner chambers of the air system. So I will have to venture further in to do more cleaning.

2 - I want to fabricate a cabin filter and rig it up somewhere in the top-side opening that the blower assembly snugs up to. Anyone have any suggestions about what kind of cabin filter I should use and how I might fasten it in? I think if I can get one in place I think it will prevent future illegal mouse-grations. Unless of course they just eat through it....

8lugnuts

Crane, beautious rig man! Drat! since you mentioned it I'm gonna pull it apart again and see what I can do about replacing this foam filter. It's all dried up anyway and literally crumbles up when you touch it. I think I have some high density stuff at work I can use to replace it, just gotta figure out how to keep it in place, something that won't dissolve it, maybe double sided foam tape?.

BamZipPow

That's not a filter...it's just some foam on the damper door to keep the noise level down and help seal the exterior air out.

You could just put in some screen like some extruded metal...gutter guard comes to mind. You'll have to cut it to size and fasten it in place. You'll want to use some sort of sealant so water won't git into the interior from there.

The rest of the mouse is probably on yer AC evaporator. My AC thread over at ToyotaNation has piccies of what my evaporator used to look like before I started spraying it with some degreaser and rinsing it with water. Make sure yer drain is clear from the engine bay side before you start trying to rinse it out. You might fair better with some disinfectant vs a degreaser...you'll have to try it and see. Good luck!

8lugnuts

BAM, I went over to T-Nation and scrolled through your thread, I cannot see any pics though....

PismoJoe

Haha nice work man! Hopefully that smell goes away soon, maybe keep a can of febreze in there in case you have a lady friend riding with you

BamZipPow

This is where the rest of the mouse would've ended up at...it's right after the blower.

BamZipPow

First rinse...


Final rinse...

PismoJoe

Mouse. It's What's for Dinner.

8lugnuts

PJ, ur2 funny dude, you ought to copyright that slogan and go online and get some bumper stickers made, I'll bet you sell a couple a ten thousand or so!

BZP - what in the world happened to your evaporator that it got so crudded up like that plus the mashed up fins? BTW when I checked my Toyota factory service manual it shows that you must completely dis-charge the A/C system before pulling the cooling unit out(which includes the evaporator), so I decided not to do that. How did you rinse your evaporator?


I found the rest of the little bugger, at least I think I got all of him.

basically gut-splattered the furry dude all across the evaporator just as BZP pointed out. I used a little vaccum cleaner that the copier techs use and sucked up all the stuff I could not get out with my fingers. Pretty tight quarters in here, not much room to even see what ur doing.





The smell seems to be gone, thanks to the Lysol and a couple of leather scented Christmas tree air fresheners.

8lugnuts

I'm still looking for ideas for fabricating a real, genuine cabin filter in this system if you have any.

DeathCougar

iTrader: (23)

Working in a wrecking yard, you wouldn't believe the things I have found in heater systems of vehicles.

I think the worst I ever found was a mouse, just like yours spread all over the place. Poor creature!

BamZipPow

I'm the 2nd owner of my T-100....it was a commercial work truck in it's previous life. It was one of those added features when gitting a used truck.

I decided to clean the evaporator before my BG Frigi-Clean kit came in. Basically...I had the water pressure from the water hose on too high and I rinse it from the blower side. I should've back flushed it from the driver's side with low water pressure. Or I should've used compressed air from the driver's side. Oh well...it was a lesson learned. It didn't affect the airflow that much...


The only real place to put a cabin filter is either before the blower (green scotch brite pad comes to mind) or after it. If you do one before, you should put in a grill to keep the critters out. The metal gutter guard would work really well or some expanded metal...aluminum would be a good choice. You can fab up a thin holder from some aluminum C-channel so you can slide in the green scotch brite/metal grate into it from the cab side. This would allow you to clean it without taking apart the blower system. Of course...the metal would be on the bottom and the scotch brite would be on top.

You could even put some green scotch brite on the blower intake as well to reduce the amount of stuff you could pick up from the interior.

Keep in mind that this will reduce the airflow but it should be easy to pull out if you don't like the results. That's as good as I git fer now...

8lugnuts

DC, oh yeah! I would believe it having done lots of carcass crawling and trawling in the local junk yards. Around these parts there's another variety of "critter" you need to be careful of, especially in your vehicle.....copperheads! Wherever you find one(rodent) you will usually find the other. I hope I never find one in my truck or Jeep. They are around here though, plus black snakes. The black snakes don't bother me as much since the are non-poisonous, and they snack on baby copperheads.

BZP: great ideas...you got me thinking, if you look at my pics above(#2 & #8) I was thinking I could fab a filter in the upper intake which brings in air from the firewall vents. That opening up there is tapered and wider at the bottom, and has a little lip there I could fasten something to. Then I was thinking I could put something in place of the foam that's on the flapper for interior intake. I like the scotchbrite idea but I keep thinking I once had some charcoal filter material just like scotchbrite when I once owned a huge aquarium, or maybe it was an airconditiong system material. It was hard though, not like the scotchbrite stuff, but if I can find some material like that I might be able to make it work.

BamZipPow

You should be able to find some activated carbon filters that are used fer air purifiers pretty easily. They are designed fer air flow so it should detract too much from air flow.

Bed, Bath, and Beyond, Ace Hardware, Tru-Value Hardware, Home Depot, Lowes are a few place that come to mind that might have those. Good luck!