I was driving in my 02 Max on 10/30 and noticed a clicking noise come on whenever I would switch to use the vent for the air to go up top. I got home and thought something was wrong. I got in the car and after starting it, my "service engine soon" light came on. I checked the gas cap and it was fine. I took it in to Autozone the next day and I got two codes: P0455, EVAP Emission and P1448, Manufacture Control Auxilary Emission. They said it needed to go in the dealer. Unfortunately, I had to go out of town for one week for emergency. I came back late on 11/7. I drove the car the next day to work. Light on but no more clicking sound. Called dealer and made appointment for 11/10. Got home from work and when I went out again, the light was off. Had to run into the house, came back out and noticed something in the end of muffler. 9 out of 10 times, I park in backwards, also in my garage. I thought it was mud since it was dark out(8pm). I used my first two fingers to flick it out. I put my fingers behind the darn thing and it was soft so I flick it out asap. I thought it was poop at first but it turned out to be a dead MOUSE! I immediately went back in to wash my hands. I went to the store and on the way back home, my vent started to make a loud "fluddering" noise. I turned it off and when I got home, I opened up the microfilter area. The filter had many small sponge particles and so did the compartment. I knew right there that I had more mice in the car. I put the flashlight to the fan motor and saw a tail. I dropped the fan motor and found another dead mouse. I wasn't thinking about it before I emptied it in the trash bin but I should have taken a picture. I opend up the trunk and what a mess. I have a back pack with hard candy in it or had. All was gone and had small pieces of wrapper and poop all over. I'll look all over the car this weekend for more signs and will take the vacuum hose to the opening where the fan motor came from.

 

cliffs: you had a dead mouse inside your tailpipe and inside you fan?

how did they get it?

 

Mickey is a son of a ***** and he'll chew through anything to get to some candy

 

Thanks for sharing the story. Maybe it's time for clean up your garage/house..

 

Don't know how they got in. I've been at my house for 11 years and nothing like this has happened before. I do live next to a wet land but there'a a first for anything. My wife has an 03 Max and her's has been left alone so far. My coworker bought a new 06 CRV beginning of this year and had electrical problems and took her car in. She was told that they needed to replace the wire harness since mice got to it. I guess when it gets cold, they look for a warm spot.

 

wow, mouse in your car. I never leave any food or candy behind in the car. But fortunately mouse or mice in my city is rarely seen and unheard of being found inside the car

 

I almost pissed myself reading your post. AWESOME!

 

thats nuttin i had to repair a vehicle at work today... a rat bout 12" dead from eatin hydralic fluid... it ate through some hydraulic lines...

 

Sounds like you need to replace your "CAT"!

(sorry, mice suck, but I just couldn't help myself!)

 

dude, thats nuts. I guess its a wake up call to keep your car a little cleaner

 

hahahaha. I thought finding mice in a car only happened to old beat up ones. That show Pimp my Ride always finds mice in their customers cars..

 

You need to get some good old fashioned spring loaded mouse traps and set them around your car and maybe inside. Hopefully they haven't chewed on anything and caused more damage that they already have.

 

Field mice like to winter over inside vehicles. I had a 1984 Mazda 626 hatchback that was invaded by a couple of mice. They pissed and crapped in various places. They also brought in nuts to eat while living there. When I got back from a 6 month deployment I had to take apart interior panels to clean up behind them. I had nut shells coming out of my dash vents for weeks. It also took a lot of Lysol to kill the stench from the urine.

 

I hear they make good exhaust silencers tho...

 

Mannnn...those freaken mice/rats, they're just always looking for adventures! And not just mice and rats. Here we have some crazy rabbits that just jump under your wheels when you drive by them! You'll be driving along a nice quiet road and you'll see rabbits on the side of the road just sitting there waiting for something. When you pull closer to them, all of a sudden they decide to run, but ohhh nooo not from the car, they run toward your car right under the wheels just asking to get run over!!! Some suicidal animals these days!

That story is crazy BTW, yeah how in the world did it get inside the pipe is the mistery!

 

It smogged itself. I didnt know rodents were suicidal. There was no smell or nothin when you turned your fan on?

 

+1 Using the old fashioned traps will ensure you have a body count! Use peanut butter for bait.

 

The new age mice are prepared for those traps.

 

Man, I've seen roaches in Florida that an old-school mouse trap might not even faze...

 

lol you guys are to funny

 

time to do some cleaning around the house....

 

I would recommend doing clean sweep of the entire car to make sure there are no more mice because I am sure you dont want the have the same experience like the co worker with the CRV. Secondly check your garage and around the outside of your house and set some bait for them to eat because your objective is to eliminate them. You certaintly don't want them to multiply and become more of a nuisance. Finally make sure you keep the inside of your car clean and around the house too. If all else fails then try hiring an exterminator or get some professional advice from one.

 

My car is clean and usually washed/cleaned once a week inside and out. There were couple of suggestions to clean the garage so I looked around. Well, I looked around and my wife left a birthday cake in a box from February on top of some boxes. It was my daughter's fifth birthday and had a "Barbie" doll built inside so she kept it. I called Orkin and they did set traps but he stated that the mice are probably gone by now since I moved things around looking for nests after finding the cake. He was here on Friday morning and no mice have been caught(yet). As for the candy in my gym bag, I've had hard candy in my bag for years and that was never bothered. So I hope I learned a lesson to make sure no cake is left in my garage. I did go through my car and and disinfected the whole inside.

 

I remember somebody on Volvo forums with a lizard in thier car.

I once found some nuts placed in my old car which I guessed was from a squirrel.
I always close my sunroof now.

What I want to know is what the muffler mouse's thoughts were right as the engine was starting. Poor bastard scurried his way down the wrong hole.

 

My car is clean and usually washed/cleaned once a week inside and out. There were couple of suggestions to clean the garage so I looked around. Well, I looked around and my wife left a birthday cake in a box from February on top of some boxes. It was my daughter's fifth birthday and had a "Barbie" doll built inside so she kept it. I called Orkin and they did set traps but he stated that the mice are probably gone by now since I moved things around looking for nests after finding the cake. He was here on Friday morning and no mice have been caught(yet). As for the candy in my gym bag, I've had hard candy in my bag for years and that was never bothered. So I hope I learned a lesson to make sure no cake is left in my garage. I did go through my car and and disinfected the whole inside.