Thanks to people on this forum, I have taken off the wipers and screened the air con intake, and have screened two air vents off the spare tire area in my 2005 Prius. I hope this is the end to mice trouble. I've caught more than a dozen over the past 14 months. I am sure there is a rodent urine roadmap well established that says, "Come this way guys." Anyway, a lot of forum people have criticized Toyota for not spending pennies for screening. I know it has taken me hours to fix what could have easily occured in factory. Question: looked under the hood of a 2010, but could not see if there is now screening for the air con intake. Does anyone know if Toyota has improved this problem in the 2004-09 Prius?
I just got my 2010 a couple of days ago. looking at the front under the wipers it looks like they closed off the side entry point with plastic but I am not sure it is closed off tight enough... I will take it apart in a week and take a closer look. The back mouse entrance is still there, both sides behind the battery and on the opposite side. maybe there are no mice in japan or maybe they are so big they couldn't squeeze thru the vent opening. Anyways I will have to mouse proof another prius. Thanks TOYOTA for giving me something to do.
Thanks Syncmaster for taking the time to reply, and understanding the agony of the problem. Doesn't affect every Prius owner, but it has been a major pain for me here in farm country. I hope you can let us know if there are improvements at the front end, the pathway into the air cond. intake. That was the biggest pain to do (properly) in my 05. The back vents (right and left of the spare tire) were easier in my opinion.
here is a link to genII fixes for the rear vent mouse opening. lots of pictures. http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-...rid-wiring-harness-causes-1166-79-damage.html here is a link to the area under the windshield wipers on the gen II prius. http://priusonline.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=6033&sid=b6ee301af8eca01600c29a1333cf302d
on my 04 impala they got up in my air filter and chewed it up, but gm installed a screen between the air filter and the intake witched prevented costly repairs because it held back all the little peices of filter. Does anybody know if the prius has a screen like this?
Try to PM Hobbit who has pics of my Gen III front cowl disassembled. It looks like mice could still enter. Good news is that the means to close off the interior from the cowl seems to be an easy fix. Bad news is that cowl really collects crap and could hold an extended mouse family. Wayne
The 2010 has a single A/C intake opening that is completely accessible once the cowl is out. I will try to get that set of pictures [mostly concerning EBH installs] dealt with soon, which I think shows this. Where sealing up the air intake in an Iconic is almost impossible due to the dual-layer way the firewall/cowl area is designed and how it feeds out to under the front quarter panels, it looks much more doable in the 2010. I haven't looked at the rear outlet vents yet but I suspect they're the same simple light rubber flaps [that don't do squat to keep out critters]. . _H*
