DrMcCoy

Hey guys, this is my first post, I've been reading occasionally for years but decided it was time to get an account. I'm having a problem with smells in the cab air intake on my truck. It's a long story, so I'll try and keep it short...

About a year ago, while parked in a garage for 2 weeks, rats got under the hood of my 2014 F150... and they brought dog food. The rats managed to jam pack the compartment under the windshield cowling (right under the wiper blades) were the cab AC intake is located. After discovering this (the smell was obviously quite strong in the cab on a hot summer day) and cleaning it out as best as I could, it was still more than noticeable, so we took the truck to the local Ford dealer, where they have a large service center. They "de-greased" and declared the issue fixed. The problem was, the smell was still very present. After returning to the service center, they disputed that there was an issue, as they couldn't smell anything. They even apparently got an insurance adjuster who happened to be there to... smell I guess. Who knows how they ran the system at the time. And they filled the cab with loads of some kind of air freshener, that took a week to go away. I'll admit that I'm a bit sensitive to smells, but most everyone else who has ridden in it can also smell the dog food (without even being primed by me).

Now, obviously smells are a subjective thing, but it is especially more noticeable on certain air settings, or hot afternoons, so it can be minimized if you want to hide it a bit. But I think a relatively new vehicle, that is otherwise very well cared for, shouldn't smell like a bag of dog food. And the smell is not just "in the background." I honestly have to leave the recirculate button on just to keep the cab (and everything inside of it) from smelling when the system is off.

So the main question is, what would you do? Does anyone have any similar experiences or suggestions? Any feedback is very welcome!

RLXXI

Lysol fresh breeze spray into the outside air intake with the fan on high speed and recirc turned off, give it a good long spray, saturate the cowling just to be sure. Now go inside on the passenger side under the dash, turn the system to recirc and heavily spray underneath where the recirc door is located. I used half a can on my truck before I got rid of the infamous manure smell that a lot of people have noticed.

I did that 2 years ago and the smell has not returned since.
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DrMcCoy

Thanks, Rnlcomp! I'll definitely try this technique. I've used some lysol, but not in the way described. I'm wondering if since in this case the smell is coming from particles of food and grease, rather than possible bacteria/mildews, the solution may be different?

McLovin

jeffinthebag

Where is the outside air intake located in the engine compartment? Looking the engine in the front is it to the left or right on the firewall ?

RLXXI

Passenger side windshield cowling.
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DrMcCoy

It's encouraging to know that you were able to remove smells like those! I've considered a detail shop, but was unsure if it would have a chance at success. I'll keep it in mind and look into local shops. I'll try the Lysol trick tomorrow, though honestly I am a bit suspicious that is what the service guys would have already done. I do know they used a ton of some kind of air freshener in the system.

gDMJoe

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jeffinthebag

Thanks.........so from the outside squirting down into the cowling. Again thanks . I hade that smell too . I took it to the dealership and they sprayed something. All I know now is when I go to the dealership for oil changes and maintenance that clean smell is alway back for a few days. I have a excellent dealership so I just assume they just spray a bit in there now and then.
I'm going to give it a try myself.

moparado

^^
This works as i had a vehicle stored in my pole barn for a year where %^&^'n mice got in the cabin and even the trunk.
The only thing i might add is when you do this, turn on AC then open all windows and preferably the doors also to let the stale combined lysol/rat crap smell air out of the cabin.
Then after that i turned on the heat to get the lysol flowing through the heater core.
I followed that procedure one more time to be sure.

If this still doesn't work, its possible the rat nests (and their crap) got way into the guts of the HAVC system.
One thing you can try is vacuuming as deep as possible into the fresh air intake entrance at the cowling with a small nozzle or preferably a jury rigged piece of tubing duct taped at the end of the vacuum hose. Snake the tubing in as far as it will go.
Might also try poking into that fresh air intake with a hanger wire with a formed hook at one end to see if there's any more crap in there.
Good luck!