Interior: Getting rid of mouse odor

[ddub]

Anyone have a remedy for mouse odor besides fire? Despite my trap line and poison bait I still have mouse odor in my truck.

[Flashback]

You can always let a skunk spray in it to cover the mouse odor. LOL . I have used the gaines febreeze (spelling?) with good results.

[BobPalma]

It's not perfect, but here's the best I've ever been able to do...and I've encountered a lot of that in the used car business, buying cars in rural areas.

(I even bought a Cutlass Ciera once that stunk to high heaven; the people had just returned from wintering in Florida with another car and got the Ciera out of the barn to sell; ugh! When I drove home and pulled up in my drive and shut the car off, a live mouse ran out from under the front seat! So Step #1 in that case was to trap the little buggers who were still in it!)

Anyway, assuming the little monsters are gone, I've used this procedure with some success: Put the car outside in the bright, hot sun with all the windows down. Take as many shallow bowls as you can muster and place them all around the interior. Fill them with lemon-scented ammonia and let it air out that way for a day or two.

Then, throw out all the remaining ammonia and close the windows. Leave it in the sun with the windows up and place fresh ammonia in the shallow bowls.

However, the key to much of it is to find and remove all the nests. Do this with a face mask and rubber gloves in a well-ventilated area.

They will have nests in the defroster and air supply ducts, the blower fan housing, etc., as well as the headliner. If there are nests in the headliner, you might as well tear it out and plan on a new one; you'll never get the smell out if there are nests in the headliner.

Remove the seats and floor covering to find nests and latrines the little buggers have established, too.

No matter how you look at it, it isn't any fun when mice have ever been in a vehicle.

I just read Tex's comment about Fabreeze. I agree; it is good to use after you have done as much as you can. Thanks, Tex. BP

[Bills R2]

You will need to remove & clean/ replace what you can. And try this, it actually has some science behind it.
A used car guy told me that he puts a NEW tire inside smelly old cars.
The Carbon Black actually absorbs odors and leaves behind a little of that great tire smell. Evidence of this is when you smell the tire after
it has ben out of the smelly car for some time, it will retain that smell.

[JoeHall]

Its a little late now, but I use moth balls to keep critters from setting up house in the first place. Roll the windows down for awhile to get the smell out when you use the car.

[Stratohammer]

My daughter's Champion came, unbeknownst to us, complete with a couple expired pack rats and their food stash. The car had been stored in "rustic" conditions for a decade or so and smelled a bit musty. OK, maybe a bit more than musty. As I began readying the car for daily use, the odor hung right in there. When I found the first signs of rodent habitation, I immediately donned protective gear. Bob's right - get your mask on and glove up because hantavirus from mouse exhaust can be serious business. I found two carcasses, nesting material, and a bunch of dog chow. The previous owner had a couple big dogs and those pack rats had at least one "big dog" dish full of chow in the back of the front seat. So that's why it looked a little lumpy...

The most important part of the process is removal or cleaning of the soiled materials - insulation, upholstery padding, whatever. In our case, removal of the tainted material followed by sunlight, dry moving air, time, and Febreeze finally removed the odor. I've also had success in other cases by using odor-eating enzymes or bacteria. Check out the pet odor removal products found at PetsMart, etc.

Good luck!

Mike

[jclary]

I have encountered the mouse debris in several vehicles that have sat for a period of time. Like flies, mice are universal, indiscriminate vermin. They are present in upscale, urban, and rural areas. They will invade any available space their little whiskers can penetrate. If you have done your due diligence and removed all the obvious nesting material from the seat stuffing, little ledges under the dash, head liner, door cavities, top of the radio and glove box...much of the odor should dissipate. If a strong detectable odor persists, there are a couple of other places to examine on many Studebaker vehicles. C Cab and certain Lark models have fresh air intake tunnels. They need to be examined for nests and stored seeds/nuts/food. Same for vehicles with the vent doors. The air tunnels there are convenient entry ways into the cars and have enough cavity for multiple rodent uses. Vehicles with the flex air duct for under-seat heaters make a snug little tunnel home for the little rascals. Don't forget the duct cavities for the defroster. All of these areas need to be inspected and cleaned.

Not to give you the heebie jeebies...but, in warm weather, having that mouse odor, in these areas, is like a GPS system for snakes looking for a gourmet meal wrapped in fur.

[55coupe]

Take your time cleaning, like others have mentioned use a mask do not use your shop-vac air borne mouse poop can be deadly this is not a joke. Just afew years back a young man in our area died as a result of cleaning a car with no protection and useing his shop-vac.

[ddub]

SNAKES!!! Happily we only have garter snakes in this part of the world.

[Jeff_H]

This reminds me of what my Dad did in the 70s when mice got into the seat cushion of his John Deere combine harvester one winter.

I don't recommend this....

Back in the day, Dad was a user of Olde Spice aftershave lotion. So, he poured some of that into the air holes in the underside of the seat cushion and soaked it into the seat padding with the hope it would cover up the smell.

Well, it sort of worked I guess. Every time anyone sat in that seat for many years after, out would come a whoosh of air that smelled of mouse nest and olde spice, ugh. I can almost smell it now, hack hack hack....

[studeluvr]

I bought a burnt VW bus the interior was all melted. I used eucalyptus branches, filled 'er and left it in the Calif. sun with windows rolled up for a month never a hint of burnt plastic again.

[lark55]

We had actually had training for mouse crap removal in my job. It may not be practical but we were instructed to use a spray bottle filled with a water/bleach solution. The little nuggets were soaked and allowed to stand for five minutes then wiped up with a paper towel. Be sure to wear a mask with gloves as previously stated.Also, if they weren't dealt with a timely manner,then a rattlesnake sweep was a good idea before entering the room or building.

[njonkman]

I don't use my 96 F150 pick up in the winter and last spring when I went to drive it for the first time it stank of mice. I opened the glove box and there was a mouse nest with stuffing out of the seat. Fortunately it was only in the glove box.
There was a pool of mouse pee under it. I threw the nest out and took my owner's manual out etc. and washed the glove box with bleach a couple of times and threw in a couple of drier sheets and a few more on, under and in front of the seat on the floor. This spring no more mouse problems and the odor was gone except that of the drier sheets.
That same winter they also got into my tool storage under my camper and I did the same thing there after cleaning it. No more mice problems there either. Also threw some sheets around inside the camper. I guess there must be something in them that mice don't like.
Nick

[Daytona]

The one thing I found to remove odor is putting coffee grounds on the floor and leaving it there until the odor is gone. I have used this to remove cigarette smell.

[Mrs K Corbin]

Just put in CAT smell..... LOL!