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mouse nest in blower motor

110K views 69 replies 34 participants last post by  Thrillhouse 
#1 ·
Hello all, I am a new Pilot owner and new to this site.
We have about 6800 miles on our 05 EX and noticed a strange sound coming from the HVAC fan motor. After removing the right exterior cowl panel and pulling the fan motor out, I discovered the fan packed with insulation and small chunks of paper from a mouse nest. I proceded to clean the pollen filter, heater housing, fan and cowl area. While cleaning I noticed a 6 inch round hole in the inner cowl panel where the fresh air inlet is, that is not covered with anything. It seems as though there should be screen or grate or something covering that huge hole. Here in Wisconsin, when the weather gets cold, the rodents try to get in. Has anyone else experienced this problem? Is there an easy fix? Or better yet a recall or TSB so the dealer can fix it?
Thanks
 
#28 ·
good guess by all and Wiki.

If you pull up the cowl/cowling/hunk o plastic with a bunch o small holes punched in it just below the windshield wiper blades (performed from under the hood), you'll discover two large holes in the firewall (sheet metal that separates engine compartment from the passenger compartment). It's these holes that are suspected to let in the vermin, especially if the cowling is not snapped down tight against the car body.

Anyone actually find nesting material near those holes?
 
#31 ·
I just saw this thread after trading my 2002 EX CRV for a 2006 EX 4wd Pilot. I want to prevent the mice problem (have seen some poop inside car), so I took apart the pass side cowling. I can see how easy it is for them to get in. Thought about gluing screen around the intakes, but there are a bunch of them across the width of the car, with other little lips left and right of that that will be hard to seal up. If you pull the cowling you will see what I mean. I decided to put screen around the little rubber flapper that lets air in and water out in the side of the fender/cowling. Only had time to do one side last night. Will finish the job later. I did put a piece over the recirc inlet inside the car. That is the easy one.
 
#32 ·
Found more mouse poop inside car, so they are still getting in.

Pulled the cowl last night and decided to try to seal up the air intake for the a/c - heater. Ended up bending the metal that covers the hole (just aft of the shock mount) to gain access, and fashioned a piece of screen (1/2" hardware cloth) to cover the hole. It is a tight access, and requires the use of mirrors to see everything properly. The screen was about 6" x 10" or so; I bent the back of it (closeset to firewall) up to wedge the back edge down against the intake hole. The front was anchored by drilling a small hole in the raised intake area and securing the screen with a ty-wrap. I also spread as much "Plumbers Goop" around the screen and intake lip to hold it down. No more mice should get in there!

The other area of entry is the exhaust air port in the back of the car next to the jack storage. You can see it from inside if you remove the jack, or from underside the car between the bumper cover and body of car. It has a plastic grate inside, but the spacing of the grate is very large and will not prevent mice from getting in. I saw mouse poop in this area when I removed the jack! They can probably get in here easier than the A/C! I have not sealed up this area yet, but will do so soon. The rear bumper cover will need to be removed to gain access. I found the procedure for removing the bumper cover by searching for install instructions for the backup sensors at Bernardi Honda website.

I will try to post pictures of what I have done when I have more time, and I figure out how to do it!

Honda definetly blew it with the design of the car in these two areas!
I should not have to go through all this trouble, but I am through with having mice in my car, and cleaning up mouse poop inside it every week!!!!
 
#33 ·
I had poop on the engine and a wire was chewed last year. Cost $150 to repair.

I tried mothballs in the engine, but can't say that really works. Finally, this year I poured vinegar all over the engine (just on the big plastic parts) since either a rat or squirrel was stashing up acorns on my battery. The vinegar seems to work as a deterrent. I also put a bin of strong mint foot soak underneath the car engine (mixed with water)-

so far so good...the vinegar is obnoxious, but the car is outside.


:(
 
#35 ·
I am sorry if I am asking a question that's already been answered but where is the AC blower (the circular plastic piece) located?

I have been hearing noises when using the heater and I am now worried that a mouse could have gotten in. I have looked around for hours trying to find out where the blower is located but could not find any so now I am posting this question.

Thank you
 
#36 ·
jhk214 said:
I am sorry if I am asking a question that's already been answered but where is the AC blower (the circular plastic piece) located?

I have been hearing noises when using the heater and I am now worried that a mouse could have gotten in. I have looked around for hours trying to find out where the blower is located but could not find any so now I am posting this question.

Thank you
Behind the glove box, for disassembly search for threads re cabin filter replacement.
 
#38 ·
I'm going to resurrect this thread because we started noticing mouse droppings in the Pilot (including in my daughter's car seat... yuck).

Anyone have any success with preventing the mice from getting in? Pictures would be very helpful.

I've started putting mousetraps in the garage and caught three already this winter, but there's obviously still more as my wife found more droppings today.

Happy New Year everyone.
 
#39 ·
sjlee said:
I'm going to resurrect this thread because we started noticing mouse droppings in the Pilot (including in my daughter's car seat... yuck).

Anyone have any success with preventing the mice from getting in? Pictures would be very helpful.

I've started putting mousetraps in the garage and caught three already this winter, but there's obviously still more as my wife found more droppings today.

Happy New Year everyone.
My first suggestion is an obvious one - get rid of the mice in your garage. That is what we had to do with the rats. We had mice/rats that came up out of the sewers and nested in our garage. So we had to mice/rat proof the garage. Our laundry was in the garage so we had to first put up wire in the dryer vent, then we installed a new garage access door (not the main garage door) with a sealed door jam - the old one side door did not have a seal on the bottom and the varmits could crawl underneath. We also took everything out of the garage and found lots of nests in boxes and things that we had to clean out.

As for the Pilot itself - we didn't do anything with it once we got rid of the mice/rats. Plus, we ended up moving the next year.

Good luck and happy new year!
 
#40 ·
DrummerBoy523 said:


My first suggestion is an obvious one - get rid of the mice in your garage. That is what we had to do with the rats. We had mice/rats that came up out of the sewers and nested in our garage. So we had to mice/rat proof the garage. Our laundry was in the garage so we had to first put up wire in the dryer vent, then we installed a new garage access door (not the main garage door) with a sealed door jam - the old one side door did not have a seal on the bottom and the varmits could crawl underneath. We also took everything out of the garage and found lots of nests in boxes and things that we had to clean out.

As for the Pilot itself - we didn't do anything with it once we got rid of the mice/rats. Plus, we ended up moving the next year.

Good luck and happy new year!
I've caught 4 mice since I first noticed droppings in our Pilot, but my guess is that they will continue to come into the garage when the weather gets cold. We live next to a 5-acre park, so there is an never-ending supply of mice that'll find ways to get into the garage.

I'd like to figure a way to keep them out of the vehicle... so far I haven't had an issue with them getting into my Accord.
 
#41 ·
So - how do you get at the heater blower to remove the mouse nest? I store my car in CT when I am in Florida and came back to find the a/c not working right and the blower sounding like a constipated vacuum cleaner in need of a bag change. I am sure it is, like all the others in this post, a mouse nest.
But how do I tackle it ( without writing a check to the dealer)? Do I remove the cowl screen by the wipers? Do I remove the cabin filter, which is covered in other posts? Or is there a way to get at the blower motor without doing either. I have an open car shed, and being around I can't get a cat. So do moth balls, dryer sheets, voodoo mouse dolls, or any of the other cures work once I figure out how to remove the current nest?
As always guys/gals thanks for any help you can give.
Oh, by the way, this is the 2003 Pilot, the 2011 Pilot is in Florida and doesn't have the same rodent problem it seems that the New England area does.
 
#43 ·
Hi to all and thanks for posting about this problem. We have just finished doing the clean up again!! This time we removed the Cowling and did some screen work. We hope this will help prevent the mice. We love the pilot but not the mice problems. We have had to take our 2006 in 5 times for this problem. Will try and figure out how to post picture here.??
 
#45 ·
If you have mice in your Pilot to this degree, hopefully you have a detached garage like a mile away from your house. I still say the user who bought a cat has the right idea. The root cause is mice. No car manufacturer would take that into consideration for design, only larger particulate maybe. I say mount a few bowls of posion near the Pilot now that you have a good solution, although I might recommend not using 1970s flat head screws next time. Use some cardboard, shape it to fit the contours, cut new mesh and tack weld that sucker on.
 
#46 ·
If you have mice in your Pilot to this degree, hopefully you have a detached garage like a mile away from your house. I still say the user who bought a cat has the right idea. The root cause is mice. No car manufacturer would take that into consideration for design, only larger particulate maybe. I say mount a few bowls of posion near the Pilot now that you have a good solution, although I might recommend not using 1970s flat head screws next time. Use some cardboard, shape it to fit the contours, cut new mesh and tack weld that sucker on.
We live in the country and Have that CAT!! She does kill, but she likes Rabbit better :29: We have traps all around the car. Found that they get in on wheel well and proceed from there chewing through the flange and into the cowling... We will see if home made remedy will work. Husband did the design. Yes, we have detached garage.
 
#47 ·
Remove from your garage all newspapers, old rags, clothing etc anything that encourages mice to create a nest.The neater the garage, the better.

I've found mice nests in cars parked outdoors as well so its not just garage parked cars that suffer.

They also love the engine bay. They haven't adopted the pilot yet but I've found nests on top of inlet manifolds, in the V of a V8. Crafty little buggers these mice....
 
#48 ·
Keeping mice out of blower motor - or anywhere

I have had repeated problems with mice and their nesting habits -in boats, cars, central AC units - to name a few places - and the best thing I have found to use to keep them away are the clothes dryer sheets aka fabric softener sheets you throw in the dryer to keep the clothes from wrinkling. Cheap and you can choose the scent you want. They work great!!;)
 
#49 ·
Constant Mouse Problems

To add my own bit to this:

We live in a heavily wooded area, with tons of wood mice. There's nothing you can realistically do to get rid of them.

They've taken a liking to my '05 Pilot. Since the first one in 2009, I've had probably 10 or so. Nasty stuff: they tear up the tissues in the car and use it for nesting material, poo and pee everywhere etc. Of course, I've also had several instances of nesting inside the blower and one instance of them nesting under the sliding door in the console (filling the console with pee, of course)

I've seen info here about how they're possibly getting in. Let me add another to that. Right above the point where the steering column goes through the firewall, mice have chewed completely through the firewall and appear to have gotten in through a space behind it. Pic attached. I've covered the holes with the aluminum tape used for furnace ducting.

It just seems like you can't mouse-proof this car. There are so many openings. As I park outside and live in the woods, the info about cleaning out your garage and whatnot doesn't apply.

The traps in the car catch a fair number of them, but not until they've had a good run of things, making a huge mess.

Here's a post I wrote about it in 2009:
The Mouse House in my Car, or Perils of Telecommuting - Pete Brown's 10rem.net

I'm going to put hardware cloth over the recirculator opening, but I know that will only stop one part of the problem. I've cleaned that thing out enough times that I now leave off that one hard-to-reach screw in the rear just to make the process go more quickly. If you've removed it, you know what screw I'm talking about :)

There's hardly any food in the car, but the crumbs around my son's car seat are obviously enough to keep a mouse happy. Not sure what else to do here.

It has made me hate my Pilot, to tell you the truth. Nothing like the smell of mouse pee baking in the sun to make you want a different car.
 

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#53 ·
We've been battling mice in the air filter, vents and cabin since July. The smell is awful and we're not able to use the heat at all (we live in New England and it's cold) Honda charged us $85 today to remove part of headliner and say that the underside is loaded with mouse urine stains and droppings. They've said mice have gotten everywhere and they'll have to "gut" the Pilot to remedy - although there's no guarantee they can remove smell. They refuse to accept it is the result of a design flaw and suggested we either contact our insurance carrier or trade the car in. Any advice? I have two small children and can't have them riding in a germ/bacteria bubble! HELP
 
#54 ·
I would contact your insurance agent and see what they can do. You might also consider contacting Honda Customer Care and see if they are willing to do anything for you.

In the end, you might be better off to get rid of the Pilot and get something else. Despite what the dealer says, it is a poor design feature. There are numerous accounts of people having problems with mice getting into the vehicle. Granted, the problem will only affect those people who live in areas where mice have few other options to get into (e.g. rural areas).

We had mice coming into our vehicle for a while, but luckily, they didn't do any damage... just pooped everywhere and ate what the kids dropped. Ended up finding out where they were coming into the garage and sealed it off.
 
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