tvand13

My truck has a terrible smell whenever i turn on the heat or the AC and it rattles like there's dirt stuck in the vents or something. Before I bought it, it had been sitting in the previous owner's yard for a little over two years, and there were mice and snakes living in the chassis and engine compartment. Everything is cleaned up now, but the smell is still in the heater and AC. Is there any way I could clean out the ducts going from the heater core/AC to the cabin vents? I'm thinking maybe there's remains of a mouse nest inside there or something. Does anyone have any suggestions for getting rid of the smell? Thanks!

LobstahClaw

I had a similar problem w/ my F-250 yard truck. It's been a few years but i think i used something like carpet fresh powder that has some kind of odor killer in it.

Sprinkled some into the intake(s) & vents then blew it around the inside of the ducts with compressed air. Next, i vacuumed out what i could with a shop vac.

It's messy for awhile but eventually the odor absorbing powder will work it's way back out.

Getting rid of the felt mat out from under the carpet & going to bare metal floor did a lot to tame down the nasty funk inside the cab too.

tvand13

This is going to sound stupid, but where is the intake? I actually have the blower motor resistor out, it melted to the electrical connector so have to get a new pigtail too, so would it help to blow that out with air or could I hurt something inside? Thanks!

rikard

X2 on LobstahClaws suggestions
Many times the little critters like to make their nests in the blower housing. Removing the fan assembly from the firewall and cleaning out the housing might help.
regards
rikard

tvand13

I was actually going to try that today, so thanks for the suggestion.

Just call me Sean

iTrader: (1)

You can pull the heater core and clean from there too. It comes out fast.

tvand13

What if there's something between the heater core and the vents in the cab? Compressed air is probably the only way to clean out those ducts isn't it?

Just call me Sean

iTrader: (1)

I'd see what you can reach with a shop vac.

tvand13

Alright I'll try all of that and see if it works. Thanks everyone!

tvand13

I pulled my blower motor out today and filled two coffee cans with mouse-chewed newspaper and carpet and dirt from the housing. I pulled it out in chunks as far as I could reach, then vacuumed out the rest. I sprinkled a bunch of that carpet cleaner powder in the vents in the cab and in the blower motor housing and sprayed it around with air, then vacuumed out as much as I could get. I cleaned my carpets and seats too, and now the heater smells fresh and so does those interior of the truck. It's actually bearable to drive now, thanks everyone!