mouse in heater

[lincolncreek]

I have a 1979 mercedes 300 diesel and a mouse has moved in and the smell is bad when the heater is turned on. I can't find the air intake for the heater, I want to put screen over the intake to keep the little
buggers out. I live on a farm so not having them around is not an option.

[Cr from Texas]

I'm pretty sure the fresh air supply is through the cowl vents where the wipers mount. Unless that grid is broken, it's too small for a mouse. My guess is you have an area rusted out that allows the mouse to enter. Check under the battery tray - I had a rust hole and water leak in that spot.

[TMAllison]

Sticky traps and snap traps inside the car to get rid of the one you've got first. No poison or it'll die somewhere you cant get to.

http://www.detali.ru/cat/oem_mb1.asp?TP=1&F=123130&VIN=

[1983/300CD]

They can get in by chewing off your "elephant trunk" drain tubes on the firewall.

[JimmyL]

Originally Posted by TMAllison

Sticky traps and snap traps inside the car to get rid of the one you've got first. No poison or it'll die somewhere you cant get to.

http://www.detali.ru/cat/oem_mb1.asp?TP=1&F=123130&VIN=

Yea, the poison route is effective, but you can have catastrophic results!
My poison was green, and when I started finding little green turds I knew the poison had been ingested. Most of the time they seem to crawl away, but not this one. The smell of summer cooked dead flesh was just the worse smell possible. I couldn't drive the wagon for 2 months last summer.
And, I never found the carcass. I've had the seats out and even the dash, but no body.
Fine now, though.......

[Mustang_man298]

Originally Posted by JimmyL

Yea, the poison route is effective, but you can have catastrophic results!
My poison was green, and when I started finding little green turds I knew the poison had been ingested. The smell of summer cooked dead flesh was just the worse smell possible.

That brings back fond memories of a fishing trip. I was in my ol' pickup, stopped in to get some frozen anchovies on the way to the river (they worked really well there). I was in a hurry to thaw them, so, I placed the bags over the defrost ducts on top of the dash. About 15 minutes later this gamey fish odor was becoming quite noticeable, turned out one of the bags had a little hole in the corner, that just happened to be right over the duct, allowing all the juice to drain down in....I smelled dead baking fish for the better part of a year on that one....

Back to the topic, it is pretty easy to pull the blower fan off, you might do well to pop it off and see if the nest is in the area, might be able to vacuum it out and help the smell.