Driving to the airport last week, I noticed a musty smell coming from the vents. So while I was out of town, I read all of the posts about odors related to condensation or drain blockage related to a/c components. I was fully prepared to do some flushing or drop it off at the dealer for that work. Well, when I got jumped in to go home from the airport after a week out of town, the odor was unbearable. I made it home with the windows down and the sunroof open. Cheers to Atlanta weather. Long story short - I recognized that the odor was dead animal smell. I removed both windshield wipers arms and then with the hood open, pried up the two pieces of the grill/screen that covers the air intake at the base of the windshield (it just snaps in with plastic clips). Looking straight into the openings, everything looked fine. But peering around with a flashlight from all angles reveled something furry all the way at the end on the passenger side. For the record, a 1 7/8 shop vac hose can be fished into the openings and a Husky shop vac has enough suction to evacuate a 10 inch rat. Luckily it was too fat to actually go up the hose, so I was able to drop it onto a shovel with I turned off the shop vac. I can't tell you how grossed out I was. You're probably grossed out reading this. Anyway, I flushed everything with a bleach solution, then some simple green, and finally lysol. The vents now smell like a chemical mountain waterfall but that is better than dead rat. So, two things:
1. If you have an odor that goes beyond musty, it might be a good idea to clean out the area under those fresh air vent/grills between the windshield and hood.
2. How did such a large rat get in there? Do I even want to know? In any case, I'm going to pretend that it happened when I was parked somewhere other than my house!
1. If you have an odor that goes beyond musty, it might be a good idea to clean out the area under those fresh air vent/grills between the windshield and hood.
2. How did such a large rat get in there? Do I even want to know? In any case, I'm going to pretend that it happened when I was parked somewhere other than my house!
and yes, find out how it got in there. It may of chewed it's way in there damaging other things like seals, or harnesses, etc.