Desh excavation to clean vents out questions?

[Bogo]

Any hints on the best way to dig into the dash for cleaning out the vent ducts. Looks like I had a mouse take up residence in the vent system, and it seams like the last time I took the truck out for a drive I scared it to death. Chewed up paper bits, and a very nasty dead critter stench are now coming out of the vents. Of course this happens at the hottest time of the year when air conditioning is absolutely necessary.

Vehicle is a '95 4Runner SR5.

 

[2ndGenToyotaFan]

I've never had a Second Gen apart, sorry... Good luck! The FSM might be of some help, check in the body section...

 

[Bogo]

Not much luck in the FSM. Some on the AC coils and fan blower, but none on the heater or the rest of the dash. I already removed the blower. Nothing before or just after it. So it is all after the AC or heater coils.

 

[2ndGenToyotaFan]

Well, 1st Gens suck, so I'd imagine that 2nd Gens suck at least twice as much... Just start pullin' stuff out....

 

[Combat Chuck]

Well, 1st Gens suck, so I'd imagine that 2nd Gens suck at least twice as much... Just start pullin' stuff out....

Funny, first-gen pickups are a breeze to take apart.
You folks need to simplify!

But seriously, good luck with that, dead critter stench is never a fun thing to have when you want the vents on!

 

[PAToyota]

I'd start by popping the vent covers off and using a shop vac to suck out what you can.

 

[WarDamnEagle]

I've taken apart a Gen1 4Runner and it's not that difficult to take apart but you do need to follow the procedure in the FSM closely as there are some hidden screws that are easier to get to if you follow Toyota's suggestions. I found it very difficult to remove the vents without breaking them so I'm sure there's a trick or two there that I didn't pick up on.

You probably have mold and mildew around the A/C coils. You can try to clean them with a small vac but you should be careful if you start spraying stuff on them as certain products can harm the material. I've used a couple of BG Products products called Fridgi-clean and Fridgi-fresh (comes in a kit together) that does a pretty good job cleaning the coils and freshening the vents. I used it on a '97 LC and on an '85 4Runner and it helped in both cases.