Of Mice and Men

As some of you may recall, I had an ongoing battle with Squirrels in Texas. They were boring holes in my house. Here in New York, my battle has been with mice. They’re nesting in the ventilation system of my Toyota Sienna and Toyota Camry (Yes, we’re a Toyota family).

For the first couple months we were here, I couldn’t figure out why the inside of our cars smelled like grass. Then, in the Sienna, the blower started making a real bad noise, and wouldn’t blow air. I took it in to the Toyota place and they told me it was mice building a nest in the blower motor, and they could remove the nest for me, but it would cost about $200. Yikes! I asked what could be done to keep the mice from doing this later on, and they said, “Nothing.” So I decided not to pay the $200 and just live with it. The grass small wasn’t bad, and the thumping in the blower fan, while annoying, wasn’t going to kill me.

But then last November (2009) a mouse died somewhere inside the ventilation system of my Camry. It stunk so bad, I had to drive everywhere with my windows rolled down — in the middle of winter. The last straw was when I got the opportunity to take my wife on a date, and we gagged all the way to dinner and all the way home. The smell of rotting mice corpses is not recommended for romance. So I took the Camry to Toyota, and again, they said they could clean it out for me, but it would cost an arm, a leg, and my next of kin. And probably, the mice would just come back.

So finally, I took matters into my own hands. I did a little research online and found out that the Camry blower motor has a filter which can be accessed from behind the glove box. I opened it up and pulled out about a quart of nesting material and…six dead, rotting baby mice. So at least this showed me I could clean out the mouse house every time they built a new one in the Camry. Over the past year, I’ve had to clean it out every month or so, and have had to buy a new filter each time also, as they keep chewing it apart for nesting material.

With the Sienna, I had no such luck. I took out the glove compartment (much more difficult), and there was no filter visible, and no way to access the blower motor. So I just to live with it. Thankfully, it never developed the rancid, rotting flesh smell.

Last week, however, the blower completely stopped working in the Sienna. It didn’t burn out; it was just so clogged, no air blew through the ventilation system, and when we turned it on, the vibration literally shook the front half of the car. I happened to need an oil change and state inspection this week, and had a $14.99 coupon at the Toyota dealer, so took it there. I again asked about the blower motor and the nesting mice, and they once again wanted to charge me a couple hundred dollars to clean it out. Since I didn’t want my wife and three girls to drive around in a freezing cold car all winter, and we would need to defrost the windows, so I almost paid them the money.

Wow, am I glad I didn’t! I’m pretty good with tools and machines, and so decided that whatever they were going to do to clean it out, I could do on my own at home. So I got home, took out a few tools, and got to work. It took me all of ten minutes to get access, ten minutes to clean, ten minutes to put wire mesh over the place the mice were getting in so they couldn’t get in again, and then ten minutes to close it all back up. It was so easy, I did the same thing to the Camry today. No more mice, no more mess, no more stinking corpses.

Why am I posting this? I googled “mice building nests in Toyota Sienna or Camry blower motor” and it seems this is a big problem with Toyota cars. Nobody wants to pay a shop a couple hundred bucks to clean out a nest when the mice will just be back a few days later.

So below are a few pictures with a minor explanations of what to do. All you really need is a regular screw driver, a pair of needle-nosed pliers, a socket wrench, and some wire mesh.

First, remove that plastic air intake cover. Go slow and be careful. It's generally just clips holding it on. Use the screw driver and needle nosed pliers at this stage. On the Camry, I had to remove the wipers, but this was not necessary on the Sienna.

Once the plastic cover is removed, you can see how the mice are getting into the blower fan. There is a water drain hose that goes down the side of your vehicle. They climb up that, and then down into the ventilation system through this big opening.

This is a closer look at the opening where the mice get down into the ventilation system. I've already cleared out the nest that was in there, so you can see the blower fan.

Finally, put some wire mesh over the hole to keep mice from getting in. The hardest part is attaching the mesh permanently. The Sienna had some screws I took out, then put back in after laying the mesh down. On the Camry, I had to drill some holes and put in some screws on the intake shaft to fasten the mesh. You can see one of the screws there in the corner. Also, if you see some red stuff on the mesh, that's my blood. I put it there to scare the mice away. Just kidding. It is my blood, but I pricked my fingers several times on the sharp edges of the mesh as I was bending it around the intake shaft.

Then, put it all back together, and you’re done! I just saved myself about $400, plus any other damage the mice might have done to my blower fan and ventilation system, and hopefully, the mesh will keep them from coming back. If not, I’ll let you know.

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