Getting rid of dead mouse smell?

[88lance]

Hello everyone, got a nice '02 Z71 I found and bought.
Guy said it stinks a bit because a mouse died in it and he doesn't know where it is.
So I took it home and tracked the smell to the cargo area near the rear ac. Disassembled the AC, nothing.
Looked in the little rear frame pillar and found 3 dead baby mice in the bottom. Fished them out, searched the rest of the cargo area including headliner.
Can't find any more. Bleached it all, then coated it all with spray paint behind the panels, then spray foamed the inside pillars with spray foam, as well as void areas near the AC box.
Can't find any concentrated areas of the smell anymore.
Went and had the interior detailed, shampoo, and the guy bombed it for a full 15 hours with Ozone treatment he said.
All I could smell was ozone for a week. Lol
Now a few weeks later, the dead mouse smell is showing back up.
Sniffed around and can't find a source, and doesn't come from any vents.
Took front ac blower box apart, and replaced filter also, nothing.
Did a scent bomb and it went away for about 4 days, and now it's back. Wth?
It's like it's just in the air or something, there is no source or area that it is stronger.
Could it just be soaked into the carpet and headliner, or should that have came out with the shampoo?
Any ideas?

 

[K2 Kaiju]

My daughter had a mouse piss smell water leak in her car. I used the oxyclean odor eliminator with a fan overnight, then put and old ionic breeze air cleaner in it for another night. They were shit at cleaning air, but they made ozone which is great for killing smells

 

[88lance]

My daughter had a mouse piss smell water leak in her car. I used the oxyclean odor eliminator with a fan overnight, then put and old ionic breeze air cleaner in it for another night. They were shit at cleaning air, but they made ozone which is great for killing smells

I'll check it out, thanks! I'm not sure what is still smelling, but maybe that will kill it

 

[petethepug]

When my buddies ’02 Tahoe was invaded by multiple meece families in OR he found them in the HVAC ductwork and headliner.

Try a black light for spotting untraced urine trails the little suckers leave.

 

[88lance]

When my buddies ’02 Tahoe was invaded by multiple meece families in OR he found them in the HVAC ductwork and headliner.

Try a black light for spotting untraced urine trails the little suckers leave.

I wasn't able to see in the front half of the headliner, I may need to drop it down up there also. The smell doesn't seem concentrated there, but it may just not make it through in one spot

I didn't know black light showed urine marks, I'll try that

 

[petethepug]

Trust me it could be worse. My buddies wife had a mouse hop on her leg while driving. That was the final straw that got them to sell it for $900 to a mom n pop dealer. They did the same thing cleaning it before they unloaded it.

Try Pooft from Amazon. It’ll chemically break down the ammonia and ship smell. If you got a smoking deal on the truck definitely consider replacing the carpet. You’ll be pulling the seats out as well as able to be 200% certain theirs no critters in there. The smell and feel in the truck will transform it. Adding some dynamat or similar will give it a double wow removing about 70% of the resonance noise inside.

Happy hunting!

 

[Doubeleive]

Hello everyone, got a nice '02 Z71 I found and bought.
Guy said it stinks a bit because a mouse died in it and he doesn't know where it is.
So I took it home and tracked the smell to the cargo area near the rear ac. Disassembled the AC, nothing.
Looked in the little rear frame pillar and found 3 dead baby mice in the bottom. Fished them out, searched the rest of the cargo area including headliner.
Can't find any more. Bleached it all, then coated it all with spray paint behind the panels, then spray foamed the inside pillars with spray foam, as well as void areas near the AC box.
Can't find any concentrated areas of the smell anymore.
Went and had the interior detailed, shampoo, and the guy bombed it for a full 15 hours with Ozone treatment he said.
All I could smell was ozone for a week. Lol
Now a few weeks later, the dead mouse smell is showing back up.
Sniffed around and can't find a source, and doesn't come from any vents.
Took front ac blower box apart, and replaced filter also, nothing.
Did a scent bomb and it went away for about 4 days, and now it's back. Wth?
It's like it's just in the air or something, there is no source or area that it is stronger.
Could it just be soaked into the carpet and headliner, or should that have came out with the shampoo?
Any ideas?

throw a ionizer in it for a couple days, odor should be gone presuming you removed the source of the odor as well
just plug it and feed the cord out a cracked window, let it run
after this machine runs there should be no odor it does not leave a odor from using it.

https://www.amazon.com/Commercial-Generator-Eliminator-Industrial-Deodorizer/dp/B08GWVHC1S/ref=sr_1_6?crid=30G30KKTUK1PP&keywords=ionizer+odor+eliminator&qid=1703975867&sprefix=ionizer+odor%2Caps%2C155&sr=8-6

 

[88lance]

Thanks! The ozone machine is similar to what the detail shop did I think. I haven't heard of the Pooft from Amazon, I'll check it out also.
I thought about replacing carpet, it may come down to that. Adding insulation when going back is a pretty good idea, I'll probably do that if it comes down to tearing the carpet out.

 

[mikez71]

Make sure they're not able to get in wherever they got in from! Could be mice are going back to it if you park outside..?

One youtube video showed mice poop all in the headliner, above dome lamp. Apparently they can run up the A-pillars. Might remove the dome lamp to see..

 

[88lance]

Make sure they're not able to get in wherever they got in from! Could be mice are going back to it if you park outside..?

One youtube video showed mice poop all in the headliner, above dome lamp. Apparently they can run up the A-pillars. Might remove the dome lamp to see..

The previous owner lived on a farm and told me that he was cleaning the inside and left all the doors open when he went in the house to eat lunch, and afterwards is when he started finding the poop. Then it started smelling.
So it looks like they jumped in at that point and got stuck inside.
I haven't had any mouse problems where I live, so after I brought it home it was probably the end of that.
I was really surprised when I took the interior apart at how many tunnels and openings there were in the pillars and roof and side panels, it's like a mouse maze under all the plastic. They can pretty much run anywhere throughout the whole truck without ever even coming out.
I only dropped the headliner from the rear and looked forward as far as I could, I really need to drop it in the front and check that out as well