Rodents in the heater/AC blower fan

KING RAT

MEMBER
2000 TOYOTA 4RUNNER
V6
4WD
AUTOMATIC
166,000 MILES

Rodents get into the car and build a nest in the "squirrel cage" fan on the blower motor. I've set traps, used electronic repellers, moth balls and D-con poison cakes, but no joy. I have screen under the cowl on the intake, screen on the driver, passenger and rear vents. I am at the point where I can get the trim off and pull the motor in about 10 minutes and it's escalated to about daily. I thought to make a screen disk with wire rim and fasten that to the top of the "squirrel cage", but these things are pretty sensitive to weight distribution and I don't want to create a wobble. It finally came to me that if I can get a piece of screen over the housing the fan fits into, I can probably solve the problem. Once I take the glove box out I see a piece of duct work running across and covering where I need to get to. That's the best explanation I can offer, but can supply a picture if necessary. I'm almost at the point that I want to call in an air strike.

3 Replies

JACOBANDNICKOLAS

MECHANIC
108,336 POSTS

Hi,

This doesn't sound fun. LOL They have to be getting in via the air inlet. I attached a picture below. Have you tried blocking that area?

Joe

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Wednesday, July 15th, 2020 AT 9:53 PM

4DRTOM

MECHANIC
467 POSTS

Hello King,

Oh, I'm sorry they created a nest. I've seen it before I'm in the northwest in a country setting. Those little critters can make a real mess. I will get you the diagrams and the steps to take to get it out. In your adventure have you found the spot where they are able to access the system has this been a reoccurring event. The heating/cooling systems are sealed for things like this. They must have eaten through plastic somewhere, they like wires too. Something about plastic and the wires coating if you look closely with a flashlight you will see somewhere small pieces of plastic that will be close to where they have made entry. Pieces of nuts, stick, hair, etc., this will be the path they are taking in and out. Look under the windshield down in the cowling, all around the firewall, behind the glove box, all around the air in and air outposts. If they have been there a while you may have a bit of cleaning with a good cleaner and paper towels to get the urine smell out. They can enter through a pretty small hole, I want to say on air the grill is like 1/2 inch. I'll go get the instructions to get the heater box and fan out right and post them. your going to want to clean the insides. Check out this article in the mean time while I get your specific information. Click the link below.
Tom
https://www.2carpros.com/articles/blower-fan-motor-works-on-high-speed-only