TiIngot

After winter storage a couple years ago I found mice droppings all over the interior and trapped seven mice from outside the windshield by the windshield wipers. Somehow they also got inside and there were two nests found, one behind a rear speaker and the other under the passenger dash knee panel.

After removing the knee panel I found some insulation chewed on wires that was easily visable and retaped them. However I did not try to get above the hump behind the radio or anywhere on the drivers side.

The past two summers the air conditioning works but flow only comes out the default position to the defroster and feet. The air selection in the auto climate control lights up to other postiions but the actuator does not redistribute the air flow as requested.

To me it almost appears the mice may have chewed through a vacuum line somewhere under the dash. When I bought the '96 LT4 in 2000 the same flow symptoms were corrected when I found and replaced the broken vacuum valve located under the right fuel rail cover.

Now the questions, where should I start to look to fix it? Somewhere under the dash, somewhere under the hood? How does the vacuum line route from the engine compartment through the firewall to the inside? Am I right to suggest a vacuum problem and not a mechanical or electrical problem?

Thank you in advance,

PS: I now use Bounce dryer sheets under the hood, all through the interior, inside each tire rim and in the exhaust, over 30 in all each fall at storage and have solved the mice problem.

LoneStarV

If it was my vette? I would near gut that interior starting with the dash to find ALL the damage. In the long run it will be less trouble than your car going up in flames later on from a short they created chewing on wires. I have heard the dryer sheet story and it's BS urban myth. You either got your mice or they moved on and new ones haven't arrived.

ricasso

Had a Mouses nest in my '94, I had a security tracker fitted and when the Tech dropped the passenger knee panel to route a live feed a nest the size of a large Grapefruit fell out, it was made entirely from a PO's map book! never did find the culprit though..

markKlein

I'd start by checking all of the vacuum tubing under the hood and cross your fingers.

corvetteronw

I use several electronic pest repellent thingies in my pole barn. Bought them at Home Depot. Seems to work so far.
I owned an 87 a few years ago that I bought from the original owner in Houston. Owner had to replace some of the fuel injector wires due to mousies. I found a nest and a dead mousie in the spare tire when I dropped it to check the tire's pressure.
The good news is that I had the dash all apart to replace the VATS control module and found no signs of damage or nests in there at all.
The only other problem I found was a chewed vacuum line near the cruise control vaccum chamber.

MissileDoc

This link should help. I just removed the vent controller in my 1996, clipped 1/16th of an inch from the vacuum rubber tips, put a small amount of dielectric grease on the rubber tips to promote a good vacuum seal then reinstalled it using a 7 MM lock nut on the tubing manifold. Don't tighten the rubber tubing manifold too much or it will pinch the tips and you will not see any improvement in the vent switching function. FYI, apparently this is a problem specific to 1996 year Corvettes.

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c4-t...l-problem.html

Cruisinfanatic

you need to pull the radio and climate control because you've most likely got an old nest in back there too. There are vac lines there that are surely chewed in half

TiIngot

Thank you for the reply' s so far. In about a month I will be pulling the Vette away from the garage wall and beginning spring cleaning and repairs.

Cliff Harris

The HVAC vacuum comes from the vacuum check valve and goes through the firewall on the passenger side through the bulkhead feedthrough (looks like a large connector but isn't a connector) with the wiring harness. Then it goes to the HVAC programmer located above the gas pedal. The HVAC programmer has solenoids that send the vacuum to the various actuators that control which vents the air comes out of.

It sounds like the vacuum isn't getting to the HVAC programmer or the wiring between the HVAC control head and the HVAC programmer is bad/damaged.

eutu1984

I had problems with the hvac only blowing out the floor and defrost vents, I took out the C68 controller opened it up and found that a mice ate through the rubber manifold that connects the solenoids together.

davewhtt

borrow a neighbors cat..put it in car for a few days with no food?? I bet the cat will find the mice,cause between the smell from the cat sh.. and if the cat dies??

TiIngot

At one time a mouse fell out from under the dash and ran across my legs as I was driving out to the golf course a couple years ago. We feed the birds all year and will never really get rid of the mice around the house because of the seed.

However, I really think the Bounce dryer sheets work. Use a lot of them all over the interior and under the hood especially along the wiper blades. I even had acorns rolling around in cavities inside my hood above the wheel wells. However no more since I generiously use the dryer sheets. Buy a new fresh box each year. We also use them inside a camper that is permanently parked at a campground during winter.

mixalive

The cat thing works good. My cat brought me a mouse this morning..

Mtn Billy

Ask any RVer about dryer sheets.

You will need to pull the center out of the dash and check out wireing and vacuum lines.

DinoBob

I could tell a mouse story about my 86. I have kept it from the wife. When I got the car home from Maryland I was putting it in the garage, and reached down to pick up a stray leaf from the mat. Only it was a little hairless baby mouse, which I did not recognize in the dark. Now, you fellas can deny it, if you like, but I contend that if you expect a leaf, and get a squirming living thing, your voice will

a) get very loud
b) rise five octaves

And probably both. I sounded like Mariah Carey at the climax of The National Anthem. I dropped the as-yet unidentified object with a horrendous shudder. I have seen blood and gore in my life- I was right on the front lines delivering my daughter and have been at some grisly mishaps of human behavior, including one where I severed half of my nose from my face and knocked out five teeth- but it was awful- worse than the time I reached for a stick and instead picked up a dead snake.

The next day, I found another- right where his sibling had lain. Ominous portents of a smelly car. Because, the big question is, of course- where's Momma.?

I found out a week later, when a powerful stench descended upon the car. The nice smell of an always garaged car with leather was replaced with decomposing rodent.

After a complete disassembly of the dash, seats removed, and sniff inspection, I could never find the corpse. I suspect it was in the heater duct.

I put the exhaust fan on in the garage for about a week and let the wndows stay open, and got myself a bottle of Griots Leather Scent. All in all, it took the better part of two months before all traces of Minnie's unfortunate demise were gone.

TiIngot

Dino,

My smell was not from the dead but waste. The inside of the passenger dash knee pad is lined with a thin layer of foam rubber and this is where one of the nests was located. The mouse urine is VERY string. I had to take the pad out and soak it in a laundry tub. The water immediately turned brown. It was stronger that a bottle of food coloring. It took all summer to get the odor out of the car.

the blur

Did they get in there with the windows closed ?

DinoBob

In my case, I have no idea. The trip I relayed was the day I bought the car.

TiIngot

Stored top up, windows closed, negative battery cable disconnected and car covered. I think they made it in through somewhere in the firewall or, better yet, the shifter linkage.