Hoping someone can help me with this, I have a constant mouse problem in my disco. They keep getting inside the vehicle and into the glovebox, this has been a massive aggrevation to me. Does anyone have any idea where they could be getting in from? I cant find any obvious holes, there isnt anything between the engine bay and the cab that I can see, and I repaired all the rust holes in the body. Is there another location I should check?

 

Lol!

Mice can squeeze through a hole the size of a dime and a crack the width of a match stick. You have two options:

1. Get a cat. Problem solved.
2. Put mouse bait around the truck area and with small tray of water. They will be gone within weeks.

 

problem is that I live on a farm. My rover is parked with the nose 6" from the corn field around my house, there is no way to keep them at bay so I need to find where the hole is. We have never had this problem in any other vehicle before...

 

How are your door seals?

 

A better idea IMO is to add an "odor" that will keep mice from WANTING to inhabit your vehicle in the first place ...holes or not. Ideally you ought to fix the enterance point. There are a few things mice and other insects/rodents don't like that actually smell 'good' to humans.

One is Peppermint. Esp peppermint extract which is really strong. You can buy a lifetime supply bottle on Amazon for $12 and put it on something (cloth ball, etc). I haven't use peppermint, but I bought some recently to try (but I haven't used yet to positively recommend). But all the reviews say it works great. Another is dryer sheets. Dryer sheets smell great and refreshing, everybody has them in their cupboard ...and mice/bugs can't stand the smell. Guys who have classic cars do this all the time incl me. Just a couple on the rear floor ...or maybe one in the glove box too. Dryer sheets are cheap, but after several months they need to be replaced. But they work and they don't smell offensive. I put them in vehicles outside and mice may walk in from time to time, but they won't stay or build nests.

Another is this product (below) ...FreshCab, which I can also attest works very well. I have a box in my plow jeep XJ that has all sorts of rust holes, and have used them in there for probably 10 years (once I determined keeping them out was futile). I saw it and thought, "I'll give it a try". I think I replaced the first box after like 7 yrs so a box keeps going quite a while. I just put the whole box in the vehicle! lol. Mice come in from time to time and occasionally gnaw a little, on this or that item, but not much and they probably just leave. They don't make a mess and definitely won't inhabit. Prior to that I was having quite an issue. I wouldn't say it smells refreshing like the box says, but it's not repulsive either. I don't know how to classify it. It doesn't really bother me, but it doesn't smell as good as dryer sheets or peppermint. Also some guys use mothballs. Mothballs smell odd like old-people so I don't use them ...that would be last resort for me. They work I guess, but I'd rather have peppermint or dryer sheets or that FreshCab product. You can buy a car deodorizer made by Gain or some such company that smells just like dryer sheets too. And that would probably work too. Ideally you want something that's 'set it and forget it'.

Also, if you haven't done so, I would HIGHLY recommend you remove the plastic cowl cover behind the hood, in front of the windshield, and install a piece of wire mesh over the fresh air vent where your heater blower motor is. If mice get in there and make a smelly nest, it'll get all inside your heater box when you turn on the fan and completely smell up the entire interior like terrible mice. Don't ask how I know! Errr. Anyway, I used 1/4" (hole) wire hardware cloth. Didn't take but 1/2 hr and you might someday wish you had!

https://www.menards.com/main/outdoor...7540046&ipos=8

https://www.target.com/p/febreze-car...93#lnk=sametab

I also put small packets of mice bait on top my LR engine. I take these packs (below), cut them in half with a big scissors (tape the cut ends shut ..so you've made two smaller packs from the one large pack) ...then place a few in each engine compartment of vehicles. For whatever reason, mice seem to love eating out of the paper packets vs just blocks of bait. Smaller packets work better bc eventually humidity and rain make them go 'funny' after several months. But by that time they've usually eaten all the bait and there isn't much waste (hence the smaller packs). They used to sell them in the smaller size but now I just cut them in half. And the packs don't melt or burn on top of the intake, or inner fender well. If you have a lot of cats around, you may not want to poison mice.
https://www.farmandfleet.com/product...lace-pacs.html

These keep mice out of my vehicles.

 

If you want to keep them out of your truck, these tips will help. If you want them gone period, get a barn cat. Trust me on this one.

 

Thank you so much, I didnt realise they might still be able to get in from the cowl. I will remove it and add mesh. I think that is where they might be getting in since they always end up inside the glove box. I will do the dryer sheets during the winter while its in storage and not being driven, but thats kind of a pain when I daily it. I guess Ill have to resort to stuff like that if the cowl doesnt solve it. Thank you for that information!

 

They'd have to get past the heater blower fins, which 'might' be large enough for a mouse to fit through ...but I'm not sure. However a crafty mouse could easily chew a larger gap through the fins to get through. What I was saying above is if they build a nest in that region or in the centrifugal blower fan cage, turning on the blower motor can (and will) blow mice nest and urine all over inside the heater box ....and then you could have a serious smelly mess every time you drive it!! ha ha.

That happened to me. The smell was so overwhelming, it was nauseating even when driving with all the windows open in 40° temps!! lol. Plus the dust from a nest is probably rather unhealthy as some long-term health issues are attributed to mice turds. I ended up cleaning out the blower and blower area, the parts I could reach, with a shop vac. Then sucking the bits of nest out of the inner heater box with a small hose (hooked to a shop vac) ...using a probe camera. It worked. Then spraying a concoction of mice urine neutralization solution using a small submersable pump (in a bucket of the solution). ..and spray head I made ...also vacuuming the solution out simultaneously with a shop vac as I sprayed the solution ...and looking at the probe camera to make sure I was spraying all areas inside the heater box. It worked and there is no hint of mouse smell (none!) and it's been probably 7-8 years since.

But the easiest thing to do would be to keep the mice out with a screen in the first place. Lot of vehicles have an open area above the fan, not just Disco's. It would be a warm safe place for a mouse to nest.

 

My previous mouse problem in the disco had mouse nest in the blower fan and a horrible smell from the heater vents. When I turn on the fan a bunch of foam comes out so they are definitely in the system. This would make perfect sense and Im going to take that apart and block it off and clean it up in there again. Thanks!

 

BTW, guys on the classic car forums for many yrs generally believe Bounce (dryer sheets) have a stronger smell ...and tend to work better. I would agree they are strong smelling in my experience. That's what I use.

While a cat or two/three are always preferable, it's sometimes not an option. For instance my brother has several classic cars in storage. Storage he doesn't own and cat's can't access (but mice could). The risk of mice damage is something to avoid in any car, esp a classic car. Therefore a lot of owners believe it's worth taking a little anti-mice measures to keep them out.

But when feasible, yeah, I totally agree, definitely get a good cat and let them hunt ..... LOL!!