Ease of battery fan inspection - Gen 3

Could not find any Gen 3 instructions to get at the fan assembly, but it is easy
1. Take out back storage grey cover, fold down the rear seats
2. Remove back black plastic under floor carrier container - note hand holes on each side make it easy
3. Flap over the seat back grey floor covering material and de velcro how it connects to the further back material
4. Find the 10 mm silver hex bolt from the passenger side door and remove it
5. From the back slide your hand in under the covering and lifting up, pop the plastic clips that hold it down. Do this gently and work from right to left until it is free. Remove it
6. Pry out any white clips that remained in the aluminum cover and save
7. Now you can inspect the fan and check the ducts
8. I would leave off any white clips that pulled out , and press the remaining ones in when closing it up. Put in the 10mm bolt and drop everything back into place - well thought out design.

I ended up doing this because I discovered the start of a mouse nest in the storage underfloor area. Mice are a real problem. They nest in air filters and end up getting sucked into the engine causing much expensive grief, if they gnaw thru the filter itself. They can build a nest on top of the gas tank and chew the wires feeding the tank and the gas line as well. These have all happened to my cars in the past. With all the wiring and cozy spaces in the battery compartment, I thought I had better check. Now I Decon every car, all the engine crannies, inside the air filter compartment, in the trunk area, any place they can get into. f you live in a city likely not a problem , but if you park in the country , watch out. Yesterday I looked for a small roll of tums that was in the bottle holder and they were gone! Found the package open on the back floor with tums scattered all over. Guess the mice had indigestion....Time to Decon the Prius !!

 

Nope , clean as a whistle at 46,000 miles

 

d con is a mice poison, wafarin I believe, that is harmless to other animals. Get it at Home Depot or a hardware store.

 

I stand corrected, you are right it can be fatal if not compensated with Vitamin K for other animals. Thanks for pointing that out.

 

d-con is according to the label Coumarin not wafarin as I thought, but in any case is hazardous all around. Don't know what else to use for automobile mouse protection. Anyone with ideas?