Stupid mice....

[Bears63]

When I bought my K30 from my dad I new it had a mouse problem as it had sat for 3 years. Well, today I went to put in a new wiper switch and when I pulled off the instrument panel bezel I found the nest.... and why the gauges are not working.... The mice had made a nest on top of the cluster and the droppings and urine had run down the cluster. So, everything that is metal is just solid rust at this point. I have a lot more cleaning and parts replacing to do than I expected.

[Just call me Sean]

That sucks.

[DPowers]

That sucks

[DPowers]

Originally Posted by Just call me Sean

That sucks.

Originally Posted by DPowers

That sucks

Wow- what are the chances that we both post the same thing at the same time...

[Just call me Sean]

Originally Posted by DPowers

Wow- what are the chances that we both post the same thing at the same time...

Lol again, you ninja'd me.

[Just call me Sean]

Lol, I ninja'd you.

[chengny]

Hate to tell you, but that might not be the only place they decided to homestead:

I had the same problem - the truck was a lumber yard truck that never left the lot. For 21 years the mice made it their home.

When I bought it, I first thought it was stale cigarette smoke. But I used to smoke 2 packs/day and my vehicles never smelled like that. Course, by the time I figured out what the smell was - it was too late - I owned it.


The interior smelled so gross - make you almost gag.

No amount of vacuuming, wiping down, de-oderizer, etc. would get rid of it.

Long story short:

I completely stripped out the interior. Headliner & trim, pillar moldings, seat, the complete floor coverings, dash board. Next, I vacuumed every thing up -the void spaces above the cab corners were packed (solid packed a foot deep) with ... I don't even know what it was.. dead mice, mice crap - I didn't inspect what came out that closely.

Pulled the plugs on the floor (under the seat had it been there), disconnected the battery and hooked a garden hose up to the water heater. I hydroblasted that truck interior till you could eat off of the floor. Reassembled everything and thought I was good to go - NOPE! Still smelled like a mouse crack den.

Lots of investigation revealed that they had also packed the entire outside air ventilation system. The passages leading from under the windshield cowling all the way down to the vents were packed with more mice stuff. Getting that out took forever.

Good luck.

[old Rusty C10]

make sure that you clean it out and disinfect it good... if you can get one of those rodent noise things they prevent them from coming back

[Just call me Sean]

Originally Posted by old Rusty C10

if you can get one of those rodent noise things they prevent them from coming back

After disassembly and cleaning you have to worry about them coming back? And I thought cockroaches were bad.

[rich weyand]

I had mice get into my VibeGT five years back. Insurance paid an interior shop to gut the car down to sheet metal -- looked like a burned out vehicle -- clean it out and reassemble it. Professionally cleaned all the seats and carpet and headliner and cloth bits, replaced the carpet pad, removed the dash and heater core to clean it all, a ton of work.

Two hints:

- Mice have no bladders, they pee constantly. Mouse urine glows a sickly greenish-yellow under UV light, so you know where to clean.

- Chlorine bleach is about the only thing that can get mouse urine up leaving no urine odor. Remove the chlorine odor with Windex.

Oh, and mice carry disease. Use latex gloves.

[Bears63]

Thanks for the info and tips. I have never dealt with mouse infestation like this before. The plan is to gut the cab for cleaning which works out okay anyway since I want to replace the heater core too. One reason I had to stop yesterday was so I could pick up some gloves. There is no way I was progressing further without them!

[old Rusty C10]

not for nothing wear a mask too... years back they were talking about some kind of Hanta Virus that comes from mouse poop... landscapers were dropping like flies from it
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hantavirus

[Tucson38]

Reassembled everything and thought I was good to go - NOPE! Still smelled like a mouse crack den.

Great comment! I'm laughing coffee all over my shirt.

[BigBlocksRule]

I tore a 409 down a couple of weeks ago. It had been an irrigation engine in its prior life.
Must have been a bale of cotton between the flywheel and block, pan was completely full of mouse poop, rusted the oil pump pickup completely away, there wasn't anything left. Still have some stuff to get apart before I can vat it to see how much of this engine is left.

[Bears63]

Bob, I was watching a show just this morning about the Hanta virus and I did some quick research and it turns out that there have been many cases of it here in South Dakota in the last 10 years. So yes, I will be taking appropriate precautions. I haven't touched the truck today and don't plan to work on the cab until I have everything I need to do this properly. I should be getting it done this next week though and I'll take some pictures of this adventure.

[BigBlocksRule]

The virus won't live long outside of the host, or at least that's what my research turned up after I cleaned mine up.

[Bears63]

This stuff is still somewhat recent; I actually killed a mouse in the truck a couple days ago. Otherwise I wouldn't be quite as concerned. Better safe than sorry in this case. But you are correct, BBR, from my reading it is stated that it can live a while but no more than 2 days at most after the host is cleared out.

[DPowers]

You will be very popular with any stray cats in the area.

[motornut]

that sounds bad, mine wasn't that bad but same prob

[hatzie]

Had Mice in the trunk of my Jetta. They're destructive little critters.
Took the entire trunk liner out in June and left it on sawhorses in the meadow all summer. Carpet the same way. They invaded the heater and seized the fan with urine. I replaced the heater intake ducts etc with salvage yard parts.
With luck they didn't invade the vent intakes.
Fbreeze makes an animal urine neutralizer that seems to work on anything that was not in direct contact with the little critters urine.

Keeping them out...
I've been told Fbreeze and Dryer sheets are rodent repellent if the perfume doesn't give you headaches.
If you can cover the air intake points on the body with stainless screen they will stay away from that. The metal seems to deter chewing.

[Bears63]

I have been working on my mess these past few evenings and I almost have the cab gutted. I still need to yank the heater core and duct work and I can start the cleanup process. Overall it has been good because I have discovered a lot of PO items like only putting stuff in with half the hardware, random wiring splices that go who knows where, that kind of garbage. Reassembly will probably take a while as I am going to address the serious issues right away but the smaller stuff will wait until next spring.

Once it gets too dark to continue I have been cleaning the stuff already removed. I tried some Scrubbing Bubbles Foaming Disinfectant. It works great at stripping off the mouse mess without harming the finish on anything. Rinse in hot water and stuff almost looks new. I am hoping to have most of it done and back together over the weekend. I'm taking some pictures along the way and I'll post them when I am done with this adventure.

[old Rusty C10]

the pictures will also help with reassembly

[Bears63]

That is the main reason I am taking the pictures. It's more for me than you guys! I must admit that as aggravated as I am about doing all this now, I am kind of glad for it too. Before this I have only had '60-'72 trucks primarily so I didn't know a whole lot about the square bodies. This has been a great learning experience for me.

Here's the first pic I took. I know it doesn't look bad, but the dark "dusty" areas are so dusty from mouse urine. Also, look at the streaks above where the wiper switch mounts. Also from mouse urine. I took the panel down this far at first to dispose of a big nest and to handle literal piles of feces prior to removing the rest.

[Bears63]

Got the cab mostly gutted today, I still have to drop the heater but it is so windy out today that I don't feel like spraying the coolant all over the parking lot of the apartment building when I go to drain it. I think they may frown on that one While I am at it I am also going to replace the heater core, water pump, heater hoses, radiator hoses and thermostat. I have no idea the last time any of that was replaced and since I have to drain the system anyway now is a good time to do it.

[manimal]

If I were you, I would strip it ALL THE WAY DOWN to bare cab inside...EVERYTHING OUT. I've been through this a few times...NOT FUN.