Where could something (animal) have crawled in an died?
 

So the other day I started noticing a funky smell in the 4Runner - and in the last day or 2 it's gotten worse. Almost smells like a dead animal - mouse maybe? I've searched the interior (under seats, glove box, etc) to see if I left some half eaten sandwich in there or something - but nothing. I got under the truck and looked/smelled around and really didn't see or smell anything on the outside.

If i had to guess - it seems a little more potent on the drivers side rear seat floor area. So anyone that's really poked around in their undercarriage know if there's a spot(s) that a animal could have crawled into the body area and died?

Thanks,
John

John,

Possibly, you might want to try wiping your upper lip. :laugh: j/k

Two members have written me to say that they found dog food and other food stuff inside their blower fans. See my write up here: http://www.4runners.org/articles/fan

Also, there is really no interior area aside from the little space that the car jack resides where anything could "live and die". see my other write up to see my interior torn down http://www.4runners.org/articles/sound

Undercarriage: i highly doubt that sometihng on the outside is stinking up the inside.

Do you have a rear heater? Maybe its something in there.

Otherwise, my best guess is the blower fan or if you have kids, they might have spilled milk which has been absorbed by the carpet and the carpet padding. Rancid milk is the worst.

Bob

Im the guy who found dog food in my fan unit. It was a mess! I think the rat made it out in time though so I never found him. But I still get wiffs of dogg food when I turn the heat on. I would check in there, its really easy to clean out. Good luck.

Thanks for the responses - I did turn on my heat and ac on full blast and the smell didn't get any worse and didn't seem to come from the air vents. I do have rear heat - and I didn't try that fan - so I might do that. Thanks for the tear down info - that's good info - hopefully I'll find the source of the stank.

thanks again!
John

I found a birds nest in the fan blower of my old Tercel once.

I had my coffee spill one night going to work. I tried to soak it up as much as I could but the floor was still slightly damp. A few weeks later I started to get a real sour smell in the cab and I tracked it down to the old coffee stain. I guess the old cream in my coffee was giving off the wonderful aroma. Some good carpet cleaner fixed it.

could be a snake crawled up in there and died? i heard it has happened before...somewhere.

A mouse got in my airfilter box once and chewed a hole in the filter. Doubt that it would put a smell in the cab though.

Seen lotsa rodent damage in my years as a tech.Current favorite is the knock sensor harness on honda V6's,must taste like candy.I like when the rats get caught in the belts on start-up.I do vote for a critter in your blower housing though.

I spilled a milkshake in my last car, I thought I cleaned well but over the next month it just got worse, I had to soak the carpets to get it out.

I also spilled a whole taco in between the seats in that car on my lunch break, then my car sat in 105 degree heat until 6 pm and I could barley breath gettt ing home.

a squirrel died and got stuck in my brake system once on my bmw in colorado ... that smelled horrible and made nice grinding sounds when i applied the brakes!