Bucket, planks, pop can, antifreeze ???? Have been using Irish Spring in my RV for 5 years and recently in the vette when stored.....no issues...get some bars and shave off some 1/4" slices....place in small aluminum foil cups..like muffin size and locate under engine bay...seats, back compartent etc....smells better than moth ***** and works like HOT DAMN !!

 

Every car is different. I'd love to have a car with an original interior with minor patina. Unfortunately, many of my panels were broken and ripped. My car looked like it was parked outside for part of its life. Much of the vinyl was brittle. Touch it and it cracked. Dye can't fix that.

My advice is to spend more money and get a car with a nicer interior rather than spend the money on new parts. For me, too late. Plus all the work was enjoyable. Worth the frustration. I know the car inside and out. You don't get that experience buying a survivor.

 

I did a search on “mouse smell” and got a lot of hits. This looks like the most active thread.

My old ’77 has been setting for about 10 years and, yea, it’s been a home for mice. I’ve got about 5 gallons of nests out of it so far. Good thing I checked the air cleaner before trying to start it. Lots of acorn hulls and other debris around inside the breather and the tube to the intake duct was clogged with a nest.

Yea, the inside stinks. I plan to pull the seats and carpet out and see what I can do about cleaning them up and scrubbing the floor, etc. I’ve not looked under the dash yet or behind the door panels.

As for Irish Spring, Bounce and other laundry odorizers, I can’t take them. They make me ill. I don’t know about moth *****. Maybe one of those machines that make a high-frequency noise that drives them away?

Mice do not only find their way into stored cars. I changed the air filter on our 2003 Durango a while back and found a handful of acorn hulls and other evidence in the air cleaner compartment. Then a couple of days ago Mary started to so place. I heard her scream, “Get out here!” She was standing with the driver’s side door open and pointed to a mouse setting on the driver’s seat. I don’t know what its problem was, I just picked it up by the tail and took it to the edge of the yard. (I won’t continue in case there are mouse lovers here on the Forum.)

 

If you can smell evidence of mice, I'm betting they've been in the heater/defroster box.

 

Common places I've found mice are heater/defroster, actually saw one come scrambling out from the foot duct once when things got too hot.
Under the console is another favorite as well as under the seats. Beware, they chew anything they find. Chewed my fiber optic bundle in half once.

So far as Irish Spring goes, doesn't work. I see evidence they were actually chewing on the bars. They seemed to like it...

 

It sounds a little late to be thinking of ways to keep mice out. The last car I had to do required door panels removed and the complete ventilation system to be removed and scrubbed. Don't mess around with that stuff. It can give you bad respiratory problems.

 

I stored my Corvette in a Car Jacket for years. Unfortunately, one year out of about 15 the little bast*rds chewed through the plastic and made a home inside my car for the winter. It took my wife and I almost a whole summer to get the car cleaned out. All of the gages, lights, etc worked properly. However, I eventually found a small nest right under the ashtray in the console. Around the nest I found bare wires where the critters had chewed off the insulation. Luckily no shorts or smoke!!!

The last several years I then placed bounce sheets inside the car and inside the Car Jacket. No problems with mice. However, I never had problems with mice the first dozen years so I can't be absolutely positive that the bounce sheets worked or not.

Jim

 

Found traces of a mouse while my C3 was at the body shop. left a granola bar in the back sealed in its package, come back the next day to continue work and it's ripped open and halfway eaten. That mouse ate one healthy organic granola bar for its meal

 

Just wanted to pass this along for info, but I recently picked up a C4 that had been stored in a barn and was told it had the "musty" smell from "maybe the seals are leaking in back". When I got home I immediately threw away the strawberry deodorizer that was in the console cup holder and put the car out in the sun to dry out. Well, a few days later I got a good wiff of what was left, and it smelled like a hamster cage that hadn't been changed in a year! I just finished going through most of it and found a nest in the back foam (under the back hatch latch plastic trim), traces of mice in the passenger lwr IP pnl, and a real strong odor from inside the passenger door (this seems to be where most of the odor is coming from, they love the large half round holes in the door bottoms). Last night I removed the rear compartment insulation and carpet and dunked the insulation in a mixture of bleach and water, then hosed it out and the smell came right out of it. Carpet came clean too, and I sprayed everything with "Nature's Miracle Urine Destroyer". That stuff works like magic, the smell is gone from the whole rear of the vehicle. I also sprayed under the IP and the smell was gone in 5 minutes (although it wasn't that strong there) Looking forward to pulling that passenger door panel, I think that will be the "jackpot". Also hoping they weren't in the HVAC system, can't really tell yet. BTW, bought 32oz. of Natures Miracle from a pet store for 11 bucks.

 

The lil bastards ate all the plastic off my e-brake light wire under my console. Funny thing it never shorted out
I double wrapped it in electrical tape and covered it with a wire loom protector sheath.
Now I got the pellet trays out there 4 em
Marshal

 

IN 2010, I bought a 87 Vette. The mice had invaded her and really left a terrible stink from urine etc. The Vette was black with a red interior. I wanted Competition Yellow with a black interior. I thought when I changed the interior to the new black, the smell would go away.......it did not. I had removed all traces of the mouse nests. I did some investigation on oder removal and found about Ozone Generators.

I rented a Ozone Generator (small unit, about 14x14x10 inches) from a rent all business. The instructions was to put in in the area of odor, turn it on, close the doors and let it run for a few days. Then open the doors and let the car air out before you get in !!!!. I was amazed, the mouse stink was gone forever. I forget the rental price, but it was very cheap. The Ozone in the air in the cabin did the trick, nothing was damaged and the only work on my part was set in in the cabin and turn it on.

8Valve

 

Damn, that sounds easy, you should see all the screws I have left over. Anyway, I found 6" of rags, paper, pee, and crap in my passenger door, I've never seen anything like this. So I'm glad I got to clean all that out, I was wondering why that window wouldn't go all the way down and why that side of the car stunk so bad But now that I'm almost done going thru the whole car, I would like to put one of those ozone machines in just to kill what's left.

 

Good knowing some habbits of mice, and good site is "bugspray.com" and click on "M" for mice. Once mice make a home, you need to thoroughly get rid of them, or kill them off. If you block their entrance, they'll just find another way to get back in. Kinda like what any of us would would do, if getting kicked out of our own houses. The Bug Spray site explains all this, and sells all kinds of traps and deodorizers. Also for the earlier mention of wrapping bundles in electrical tape. Make sure it's the good stuff like Scotch 33+, or could turn into a gooey mess in a couple years. You wont be happy.

 

Choose what ever method you choose to get rid of the odor. But first keep checking every knook and cranny....anywhere....in your car for more nests and mouse waste build up. I mentioned tha 87 I bought. The mice had gotten up over the computer under the dash and made a nest, nests were in the console. They get everywhere. Until you remove all the odor causing waste. odor
remediation will be impossible.

8Valve

 

that's where i found them in mine,filled a gallon bucket full of nest material from the heat/ac unit,still stinks.im going to wash it all down with that pet urine odor eliminator, i have also heard that vinegar works also if you dont mind pickled corvette sell

 

best solution is get a cat, course you will then have to cover the Corvette to stop the kitty kat tracks

But we have a business relation with our cat who cleans up the critters in return for MEOW MIX cat food, LOL's

 

Cats maybe sound like a good solution on the surface, but in reality involve open food and water, which attract even more rodents. Not at all, a good idea.

 

I apologize in advance. ... How did the rodents get their nose between the little bitty legs of the moth?

 

I can see why they like the doors, there's perfect mouse size drain holes in the bottoms. I removed 6" of waste and debris from the RH door, and there was the beginnings of a nest in the foam under the back hatch plastic pnl at the rear where the latch is. And there's some odor coming from the LH door, so that will be next. So far I've pulled everything apart except for the LH door and area above/behind the radio. I pulled the HVAC fan and it was clean in there, as well as in the ducts I have checked, still has a faint odor when the fan is on though, and I'm not sure where to look next. Also picked up 2 bottles of Zero Odor Pet (in stock at Bed, Bath, and Beyond for 12.95) to try in addition to the Natures Miracle Urine I already used. I think I am almost done with this one. "I hate dem meeces to pieces".