How do I get rid of Mouse odor?

[N62350]

Hello evryone, I am new to this forum so bear with me. My Buick Centurion was sitting for 22 years in a barn, and the mice got to it. I have removed a large nest under the spare tire in the trunk, and a nest inside the passanger door panel. I still have that awful mouse smell. Where else could it be coming from?

[Gum,beest]

Hi and welcome to the forum
I think you have to turn the car inside out completely and look where the could have found material for their nest
Remove the seats, dash, and the carpet inspect every thing clean them with upholstery cleaner or replace it
I think that is the only way to get rid of the smell and mice

[Smartin]

Yep, they get everywhere.

Pull the seats and carpet. Check the underside (inside) of the seats for nests, in the dashboard, heating ducts, headliner, etc. Nasty little buggers.

[N62350]

Well, its a convertible, so I don't have to worry about headliner. How do I go about removing the back seat? Front seats should be easy, and i guess i'll buy a new carpet.Dash looks ok and the heat doesn't smell when I have it on.

[Gum,beest]

If i recall it correctly it should lift right out (seat) then there are two bolts revealed for the backseat remove them and then the back seat lift out as well

[Smartin]

You have to push back and down at the same time on the seat bottom, it should lift out after you "unhook" it from the floor. The rear upper portion is bolted to the floor at the bottom, and then will lift off of 3 hooks on the seat back.

[dewbers]

Welcome to the site... give us some info about you and your car and post pics as well.
Good luck with the mouse thing. These guys already gave great info about how to rid the smell.
Can't wait to hear more on the car though. It's actually been sitting for 22 yrs? Wow. Tell us more.

[73 Centurion]

Sounds like a fascinating project!

Unfortunately our cars have lots of places large enough for a mouse nest. Check the plastic screen at the base of the windsheild and see if they've gnawed a hole. If you find a hole you'll need to pull the fan motor and see if they've made it into the heater box. They built a nest in the heater box of one of my cars. The only way to get the smell out was to completely disassemble the system and scrub it inside and out.

The nest you removed may contain clues about other nests. If they used seat material you should check in the bottom of the seats. If there is grey jute material then pull the carpets etc.

Mice are very habitual in their movments, they follow the same path whenever possible. You'll find mice pellets along those trails that might lead you to a nest.

It's good news that you have a convertible. A day spent driving around with the top down can clear out a lot of smells.

Febreeze does a good job of removing smells once you remove the nest. There are also cleaning products for pets that have accidents and they do a good job of neutralizing the odor.

We'd love to see some pictures! Good luck.

John

[The German]

After all that what the others wrote here is done and there still is a rest of smell, then drive to a professional cars cleaner and ask them for the ozone-gas-machine. This is a small electic appliance which produces Ozone ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozone ). You place this machine into your car for 12 hours while the car is closed. So the Ozone goes everywhere getting all smell molecules and cracks them away. You will have no smell in your car afterwards ! I don´t know what that procedure will cost - perhaps 30-50 $ - but if you have done all the other steps to get rid of the smell this step is the only one that remains to end successful.
Good luck !

[N62350]

Ok, for those interested, here is the update. I pulled all door panels and seats. Passenger door loaded to the sill with mouse nest. Under the back seat, found some residue and cleaned it real well. While I had the door panels, off, I greased all the windows. I thought I needed new motors because they would need help on the way up. Not so. After cycling it with grease a few times they are like new.Vacuumed under carpet and dashboard. It just smells musty now, not "micey" so mission accomplished. I am buying 4 new tires for it tommorrow. Hopefully the radials will ride nicer. Anybody here have radials that they like or don't like? By the way, pictures and story is coming as soon as I get a new download cord for my camera.

[Gum,beest]

OK that is good to hear
but keep an watchful eye out for that mouse the don't let themselves be evicted that easily
Now a few rides with the top down to get rid of that musty smell or that ozone treatment Rolf suggested

For the tires i hope you buy the ones with a thin white stripe (1") they where optional but they look so much better under the car
The correct ones are in the size H78-15 (standard) or J78-15 (optional)
The most important thing is to keep within a 2% margin of the original outside diameter
this will keep the accuracy of the speedo in check and the correct loads on the engine and transmission where they where designed for
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b311/TjaWieBenIK/Scans/tyre-conversions.jpg

[73 Cent]

and be careful cuz mouse crap can carry a disease with it (i forget the specific name)

[jonathan2340]

hi guys...This is really a great information that you have posted here. i just love this post. keep it up.