The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Mouse nest odor, mess

Hi Guys,

Kinda Stovebolt related here. Got the Blazer plow truck out of the shed today. Opened the door and about fell over....MOUSE stink. I've taken the heater core and heater box, ducts ect all out. Anyone have any good home brews to help get the stench outta the inside? I'm going to replace the heater core and have washed the heater housing and ducts with pine sol and water. Got the truck sitting outside to air out now.
Thanks, Don

The main thing is to be sure and get all of the mouse nest out. Many times, if the smell continues to linger, it means that there is still some nest material in there somewhere. Otherwise, it's like you said, wash it up, and air it out.
When I put my stuff away for the winter, I put a bar of Irish Spring soap in there. Supposedly, the mice don't like it. Also, it leaves a better aroma than moth balls.

Since the mice have already been in there, your pretty much SOL. If the are limited to the HVAC assembly, you can try a few drops of hand soap in a bucket of hydrogen peroxide with a little baking soda added. I think the ratio is 32 oz of H2O2, 1 table spoon of baking soda, and 4-5 drops of hand soap. (it is supposed to work on dog urine) If they got into the carpet, padding, seats, etc. there is no simple method short of completely removing the interior and replacing. The uric acid is what gives off the smell, and it permeates the pores in the paint as well as plastic, etc. You can rent an ozone machine and try that, some people have had luck, others have not. If they got into the headliner, remove the headliner and discard.

I also recommend the scented soap. I usually grab the stuff out of the bathroom and make Margaret buy more from the house. I use the soap for storing anything as the scent keeps mice and spiders out of the cars, boat, etc. A few well placed pieces in a disposable dish works wonders.

Id probably try bleach if youve got parts that it wont effect. Air it out good.

I found nests all over mine and it probably took me about 6 months to find them all. They were in the headliner, glovebox, seat, inside the door hinges, etc...

Took another 6 months for most of the smell to finally go away.

Good luck, Jeff

This is what I have done in the past. It is not something your wife would approve of but, take a pump-up sprayer and fill it with diesel. Pump it up and spray anything, everything, and anywhere that rat has been. It will take a while for the diesel smell to disapate but better to smell diesel than rat doodoo.

Just a safety note. Make sure you're wearing rubber or vinyl gloves when handling anything realted to mouse or rat crap. A resperator mask as well. Hantavirus (sp) apperently isn't fun to get.

this will work get a ionizer the big kind for houses i have two put it in the truck on high with windows up for a few days this works to kill mold and smells also

bleach water w/some Dawn as well, they like to get above the windshield of these trucks, if ya don't clean it out it will still stink

What Joe maybe referring to is "Odor & Stain Eater" by Unique Mfg. and Mrkting, Arvada, CO. The garage where I'm at now was previously occupied by dog owner who didn't bother to take care of his dogs. It smelled bad even two years after he was gone. I picked this product up at the local ACE and two weeks after mopping it down on the cement floor the odor was gone. It's even suppose to be good for skunk odor and has a money back guarantee. I called them several times for advice and they were real helpful.

Larry

Depending on the condition of the truck, I have taken out all the seats, carpets and clean the cab corners out and have actually pressure washed the cabs out. Wash with bleach water after that. I try to not handle as much of that crap as possible. When it drys, I use some odor remover from Kameapart or WallyWorld and spray down everything. The seats I will wipe down and bang around to get as much dust, crap, etc out of it. Usually the seats are crap anyway, so I don't worry about ruining them. I spray the seats a couple of times with the same odor stuff. It usually does the trick. I use Irish Spring to store them.

One place the mice get is in the headliner above the windshield. Usaully it ends up rotting the metal above the windshield from the mouse urine. That is a hard place to clean out.