mice & screening off cabin air intake

The plastics are supposed to be "plant based" I think. For anyone considering screening off the cabin air intakes, see Nutzaboutbolt's video on spark plug change, pinned in the 3rd gen maintenance section. It goes through the steps to remove the windshield cowl and wipers/motors.

Maybe I should do this. We had a rat take up residence in the engine bay for a while, our trusty/rusty Shiba flushed him, for good, knock on wood.

There's also egress via the flaps that vent air under the hatch floor. One's just behind the 12 volt battery, and another directly opposite.

 

The covering for the wires is soy based which can attract mice, but that is not unique to the Prius or Toyota. The only vehicle (counting, cars/trucks, motorcycles, boats and planes) I ever had mice in was my 1952 Willys. But, my father had parked that next to his hanger and let it sit there in the weeds for years before we towed it out and got it running again. Once I cleaned out the nests, repaired the seats and a couple of wires, never had them in there again. The thing now sits indoors and while I only check on it every 6 months or so it still appears to be mouse free.

From what I've seen doing google searches, it seems like mice really like Toyotas for some reason. It might be rodents in general, my wife used to work at a Toyota dealership and they often had problems with rabbits chewing on wires of brand new cars. I'll probably place poison throughout my garage just in case a mouse gets in there.

For those leaving their car outside.... maybe build a mouse trap out of a 5 gallon bucket and see how many you catch in a night. If the numbers are high it might be worth doing some pest control, but I don't think that is really fixing the problem.

 

I recently bought a 2014 Prius plugin and 2 months later the air conditioning smells moldy when used. I searched for others with this problem or a fix for it on Priuschat but no hits. Anyone here heard of this? I read online of several others having this problemr some took their car to dealer they said but Toyota didn't help solve it. Anyone on this thread hear about this and know of a fix? I've seen no indications of mice in the cabin or engine compartment but I dont know how to check air intake or vent lines.

SM-T230NU ?

 

Could you start with spraying lysol into the cabin's fresh air intake? Should be right up by the windshield cowl. my idea is car at an idle, no ac on, fan on high to help pull the lysol through, all the windows open. Spray in lysol to hopefully kill the mildew. Of course you probably want to make sure that the drain line is not clogged before you start this. I wouldn't be drowning the system with lysol, just a quick spray. There are probably better options than lysol if you wanted to look around for something that smells a bit better than an adult bookstore.

 

I love my 2015 prius! I hate the mice. My husband covered the air vent with the mesh suggest on this Forum. I am attaching two pictures, the before, huge mouse intake... and the same intake with the screening. I hope this takes care of the little critters making a cozy home on my cabin air filter.

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i noticed mouse repellent at home cheapo the other day, i wonder if it would work.

 

It's a Toyota problem in general. People are having issues with all of their vehicles from 2010 forward. I'm recommending everyone who has an issue with mice to file a complaint with the "National Highway Safety Administration. I'm new to the board, so apparently I'm not allows to post the link. Google it. It's easy to find and easy to file a complaint. If enough are filed, they will open an investigation and if the findings are in our favor, they might force Toyota to make us whole. Anyway, a little more detail on the problem as I see it. Apparently Toyota used soy based materials for the plastics and wire insulation from what I gather. Makes them smell like BBQ to mice. To make matters worse, they DID NOT seal the cabins, at least in the Prius. I have a 2011, problems with mice from the very start. 3500.00 in damages so far. Dealers won't do anything as there are no bulletins nor recalls from Toyota for a fix...mainly because there are a number of class action lawsuits against the manufacture for this very reason. To issue a bulletin or recall then admits a defect and thus they will lose their lawsuits. The dealer will, if you pay them, fix the damage, but like I said, the mice have free reign in and out of the car. Until you seal the cabin, you will continue to have problems. On the Prius, the intake for the cabin/AC blower, has an access point that is 12 inches wide and 5.5 inches tall. In the trunk there are two more intakes that are 6 inches tall, about 4 inches wide. You need to install a galvanized steel mesh (1/4 holes, with self tapping screws) over those openings to keep the mice from getting in. It's only about 20 bucks in materials, however, depending on your level of skill, it could take anywhere from 2-5 hours to complete as there's a lot of disassembling required. The rears are the easiest to access. You're just pulling the truck apart. The front is a bit more difficult as you have to remove the cowling over the wipes, then remove the wiper motor and housing. Once that's off, you have easy access to the gaping hole into the cabin. Here are some pics. Been a week, so far, no mice.

 

Keeping my fingers crossed that this is the last of them. There are numerous people having issues with them gnawing the wires off the fuel injectors, particularly in the v-8 motors for the Tundras, according to the "off the record" comments by my mechanic at the dealership. My engine compartment is so covered in oil and road grease (it's a commuter for me), I'm guessing that natural coating is keeping them from doing any further wiring damage on the exterior of the vehicle.

 

lots of cars have problems with rodents. i know a few people who have had non toyota problems. i'm sure the net is full of them. rodents?

 

tis true, but none seem to have a chronic problem like toyota. When i opened my case with the manufacture two days ago, the girl i spoke with said she's lost track of how many similar complaints she's gotten. The guy at the dealer acknowledges that they have a major problem with their cars attracting rodents. The two vehicles I have parked right next to my prius have never had an issue with rodents. When I take the prius to another city, state, it really doesn't matter where, the rodents find it and eat it. It's a toyota problem. I wish it wasn't. owned a number of toyotas over the years including this one. Have had nothing but good things to say until now. take away the rodent issues and this prius is a good car, too.

 

You

You might want to PM @Prius Team your case number for followup. They are the Toyota marketing team for Prius & Prime.

 

If you go to this thread:
Nutz About Bolts Prius Maintenance Videos | PriusChat

You will find a video which shows how to replace the spark plugs in your Prius. You follow these directions to remove ALL of the material down to the sheet metal. Now you can use sheet metal screws with washers to affix the heavy duty metal screening over all of the air inlets into the car. While you're at it, you can reach into these openings and clean as much of the cabin air intake as possible, and you can clean up all the metal and plastic you've removed so that your fresh air intake is completely clean. In addition, there are two areas in the rear hatch area which also need to be screened off; these will let mice into your car, but they won't get to the cabin air intake, I believe they'll get into the HV battery area or even the passenger cabin itself.

 

I know that this is an old thread I just did an oil change on my Prius yesterday and went through the filters and found that Mouse chewed from a air cabin filter just like everybody else I went and bought the mesh today in the self tapping screws my question is do you need to cover the holes on the driver's side as well or can I just cover the passenger side I don't necessarily feel comfortable taking the whole wiper assembly off to get to the holes on the driver side are they all connected is what I'm wondering thanks for your help

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I should add I drive a 2008 Toyota Prius not a gen 3 to the holes maybe are different

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1/4" galvanized steel screen (square hole), not hexagonal hole, works well. I used caulking to fix the 1/4" galvanized screen rather than screws. Caulk may be messier, but I think it does a great job. I used a pricey product called "Fuze*It" by "Liquid Nails". Should be able to get it at most places you get caulk.
https://priuschat.com/threads/mouseproofing-the-prius.51005

 

I believe I found a simple solution to the mouse problem – an answer that doesn't involve efforts to add physical obstructions to keep rodents out.

I came to this because it was getting so bad that during the winter that I would have to change the cabin air filter once every few weeks because the mice would keep making a nest in there. It goes without saying that this hindered comfortable use of the car's ventilation system as well.

Then I was reading somewhere how mice don't like certain scents, and go out of their way to avoid particular smells. One of the smells the article mentioned was peppermint.

So, I had an idea – to try to defeat the mice another way. I replaced the cabin air filter yet again, but this time I first lightly saturated the filter with... peppermint essential oil.

The result was startling. No mice have come in since, for the rest of the winter and all the time since. Six months now, and no mice!

Since then, I've resprinkled the essential oil on the air filter a couple of times to refresh the smell, but there have been no more nests and I haven't had to replace the filter – it looks as good as the day I installed it.

Yes, the inside of the car does smell rather like fresh peppermint, but it's a scent – and experience – I enjoy much more than the mice!

Hope this helps someone else. Much easier I think than trying to block them.

 

Agreed. I am currently dealing with mouse infestation in my 2021 PP engine bay. Luckily, I have not had major damage to electronics or hoses yet and the mice have not gained entrance into the cabin spaces. I initially tried the peppermint and other scent-based repellent sold in the local hardware store and quickly found their ineffectiveness.

In a course of searching for the solution to deter mice, I did extensive scientific literature searches. There is very high interest in finding effective repellent for mice (rodents) for pest management in both industries and agriculture. Yet, I did not find a single article validating the effectiveness of odorant-based repellent being effective in deterring the mice from accessing an area. You can see the list of references I have found in my mouse thread.
Mouse nesting locations in the Prius Prime | Page 2 | PriusChat

In addition to the ineffectiveness of repellents I have tried, in my case, the mice are nesting in the engine bay not inside of the cabin. I am more concerned about the damage to the wires and hoses in the engine bay which can end up very expensive to repair. It is almost impossible to block the entry of mice into the engine bay by any physical barriers. Yes, I have had the initial attempt by some mice to break through the cabin filter and enter the cabin, but I have not seen any indication that mice had entered passed the cabin filter.

For now, I elected not to cover the A/C vent hole under the wiper cowl, at least not yet for it is the primary location mice love to roam and explore if one enters the engine bay. I have covered the upper part of the cabin filter case to prevent the mouse to chew the filter but left the way for the mouse to enter there. I am currently monitoring the mouse dropping onto the cabin filter on daily bases to see if I continue having the mouse visitor or not.

~2 weeks ago when I first discovered the infestation and covered the cabin filter, I was seeing over 10 droppings/night. It has decreased to a few to none overnight now. For me, it is better to be able to monitor the mouse activity easily and deal with it immediately than blocking the A/C vent completely and not seeing the sign of mouse activity until I discover that the car is disabled due to the damages to the vital wires and hoses one day.

BTW, since I can not easily monitor the rear of the vehicle under the deck where the hybrid battery resides, I did put a hardware cloth barrier over the side panel vents both L and R on rear qt panels.