Hello I was wondering if anyone could point me in the direction of a/some diagram(s) that display the inlet portion of the cabin air system. It seems a mouse has found the foam end caps on the cowling around wipers. Not sure what they were thinking making the end caps out of thin foam when the rest of the assembly is solid plastic.. perhaps it was an engineered point of failure? The service dept gave me a rough quote of $500-$1k depending what all they have to do. Needless to say at that price point I'd like to attempt the job myself first.

I'll add some pictures of what I'm talking about later so others can try to add some machine screen to the foam end caps. This problem is quite annoying considering how cheaply it could have been avoided given the MSRP of this truck...

 

Couldn't you just put a mouse trap or two in the truck and eliminate the issue?

 

I guess I should also mention that it smells like urine anytime the heat is on..

 

Yes, please share pics. (I forgot to check my '12 when I got home.) I work in plastics, might have a few ideas.

 

And the urine smell would suck. I had a co-worker smell dog food. Found out the mice were stowing it away inside his ducts. Lots of fun when it got into the squirrel cage while he was driving into work and started spitting pieces out through his defroster.

 

As promised..

 

Given the size of the hole I somewhat assume its a rat..

 

Completely different than my '12. The piece that is chewed out is commonly referred to as a "gap hider" and has been made of flexible material for a couple of reasons. One is for the "sealing" effect - a flexible rubber like material that can move and conform. The other is to take up build variation. Sheet metal stamping dimensions can vary so mounting points, hinges, etc. are designed to be adjusted during assembly to get the panels, doors, hoods, etc. to line up.

There has been a push to become "environmentally friendly" in the auto industry and a big push has been to use natural fibers for things like insulation, headliner backing, etc. I can't say for certain, but those covers look like a woven fiber, correct? If they are, and they are a natural fiber, then that would be considered "food" for a rodent.

 

I'm not certain what the material is but it feels like normal styrofoam. It definitely isn't being used to "seal" anything.. perhaps they forgot about the area and came up with a quick/cheap cap, if you want to call it that. Regardless I now have an issue that is going to cost an arm and a leg to have resolved that could have been avoided for a few dollars in materials/engineering. Given the $49k MSRP associated with this truck this is extremely frustrating. This is the 3rd time Ford's "value engineering" has caused me problems. The first two were Ford's pathetically cheap speakers. This is also my first non-Jeep vehicle. Combined I have probably put ~400k miles on my Jeeps and have experienced one issue (wheel bearing), though that failure was likely caused by high speed on rough trails. I haven't done anything at all rough with this truck.. it can't even resist nature sitting in my driveway. I don't mean to take my frustrations out on the forum.. I'm just not exactly pleased with my purchase. Guess I should have bought that 30MPG oil burner the billy goat has.

 

Trade it in. You will never get that smell out.