Dead animal smell

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Mitchell Fountain

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Hey, I’m dying over here and any help would be greatly appreciated. Noticed a smell in my 2011 Tahoe a few days ago, smells like a dead rat. I searched and clean out the Tahoe and didn’t find anything. Today I noticed it’s coming from the rear ac vents. I pulled the vents and put a camera in, but I didn’t see anything. I’m not sure where the rear unit pulls air from. Help
 

OR VietVet

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Welcome to the forum from Oregon.

Likely some mold buildup back there. There is spray to combat that at the parts stores.


We recommend that you put all your rig(s) info in your signature so we all don’t have to guess at year, make, model, engine size, trans, rear axle locker…….etc. While you may have posted pertinent info in your first post, you may forget to do it again and the info is needed by us anyway. Makes it way easier on all members that attempt to help, to have that info right up front. It is also recommended that you take a pic of your RPO codes, on the inside cover of the glove box, and post that image in your signature. All this info will greatly help those that will try to help with a problem.


If there is any other info, like upgrades, mods or recent mechanical/maintenance work done, that would be helpful in any post as well. Too many times a question is asked by the poster and after about 10 responses we find out that the poster has done recent work to attempt to fix the problem or work that was done that SEEMS not related to the problem.
 

915_Tahoe

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if i were you, i would check the rear blower motor for the a/c. no to long ago, one of the techs here at work found a shredded something in the blower cage. customer came in with the same issue, turned out a mouse got in there and well you know.

so how did it get in the truck, who knows but that's where it died.
 

Tonyrodz

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if i were you, i would check the rear blower motor for the a/c. no to long ago, one of the techs here at work found a shredded something in the blower cage. customer came in with the same issue, turned out a mouse got in there and well you know.

so how did it get in the truck, who knows but that's where it died.
OMG!! That's just nasty.
 

petethepug

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My buddy’s 05 Tahoe has been invaded by rats in the headliner. It’s an Oregon thing. Call local PD and ask if their K-9 unit can meet u somewhere.

The pooch will find it in a few minutes [emoji3]. Obviously pull your friends weed out before you meet up.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Rocket Man

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if i were you, i would check the rear blower motor for the a/c. no to long ago, one of the techs here at work found a shredded something in the blower cage. customer came in with the same issue, turned out a mouse got in there and well you know.

so how did it get in the truck, who knows but that's where it died.
Mouse was all sleeping and then...aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhnnnnnoooo
 

bill1013

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I had a 1970 Pontiac GTO back in the day. I was working the night shift. I go home and park my car and run upstairs, it's a little bit after midnight. It was a cold night, by Hawaii standards...low 60s, and a cat, which I thought was a stray, crawled up into the warm engine compartment and went to sleep. About two hours later my work is calling me back, so I go down stairs to start my car. It starts to crank and the screaming and thumping was horrendous! I turn it off and lift the hood, which had a big blister in it (from the inside protruding out). By the looks of it the cat must have been sleeping on the fan cover and was eviscerated by the fan blades. There were entrails everywhere. I steam cleaned the engine when I got off work, but I could never get that smell out of my car. Maybe it was something it ate? A few days later I see a lost cat poster in the neighborhood. It might have been the cat, but there just wasn't that much left and the fur was unrecognizable. The big block Pontiac was just too powerful. In the end I had to take a beating when I sold it. The smell just lingered no matter what I did. I loved that car
 

OR VietVet

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Same thing happened with my wife's car in KC, Mo. in the winter. It was an Oldsmobile Delta 88. I was not there but she said the same thing about the noise and thumping and the open hood cat guts everywhere. I had to put the fan belts back on it after I made a valiant effort to clean as much as I could. She never complained of the smell though.
 

exp500

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Mice invaded my old work suburban years ago, tried and tried to find how they were getting in. One day a mouse ran across my sons foot in the back seat as he was getting in. Got squished in the door. Anyway the smell! Finally found the nest in the overhead console. The entire thing was PACKED with firewall mat and droppings.That took days to clean and remove smell. Kept investigating where they were getting in and found them coming up through the fender drain opening, that put them in a sheet metal tunnel to the pillar which connected eveywhere. Folded up some coarse scotchbrite and filled that recess in cowl fender so it could still drain rain. All my trucks got that fix after that.
 

OR VietVet

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I have noticed this as well. I don't like it when the first post by a new member is for help. They should have to introduce themselves in the Newbie section and then go to the correct rig section for questions for help. I am so OCD that does drive me nuts.
 

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