Chipmunks in the heat/ac system

[brainguyus]

I've had to clean nesting material out of the blower motor twice in my wife's Versa due to chipmunks that think it makes a swell apartment (Nissan was kind enough to do it no charge the first time).

I'm about to do it a third and hopefully last time. I want to cover all the intakes with chicken wire or screen at least until they get the hint. Does anyone know if the cowl intake is the only one or is there another duct somewhere under the car that they might be using? The cowl looks pretty tight, so I really have no idea how they're getting in.

I'm about to go caddyshack on these little guys.

[technicolorskies]

There's a spray that you can buy (the name escapes me at the moment) that keeps rodents away. A squirrel made a nest in my sister's car a few months ago and chewed through every wire it could find. It's not too difficult to solder the wires together, but it would've taken me days to sort through all the damage. We just had it towed to the nearest repair shop and let them have it. Anyway, I'll see if I can find out what the spray is called. It's worked great so far.

[brainguyus]

There's a spray that you can buy (the name escapes me at the moment) that keeps rodents away. A squirrel made a nest in my sister's car a few months ago and chewed through every wire it could find. It's not too difficult to solder the wires together, but it would've taken me days to sort through all the damage. We just had it towed to the nearest repair shop and let them have it. Anyway, I'll see if I can find out what the spray is called. It's worked great so far.

Thanks for the info. I don't want to use any sprays since it's in the ventilation system and the wife has a few allergies. Spraying randomly underneath the car may be an option. If you remember the name let me know.

I'm more concerned with locating all the intake ductwork and trying to block them there. The service dept. manager told me the cowl is the only intake for the ventilation system that he's aware of. As I stated earlier it looks pretty tight and I'm wondering if they're getting in somewhere else.

I'm going to pull the cowl off this evening and check things out.

[ UPDATE ]

There are two ~1.5" drainage holes at each end of the lower cowl. Perfect chipmunk access. I had to remove the entire windshield wiper assembly to get to the one on the left side. I covered these two holes with chicken wire. It may be possible to get to the holes from the other side by removing the fender shield...I didn't really check. Did another cleaning of the blower, filter, and ductwork. So far so good....

If a guy comes in here asking about a service manual with really bad spelling and using the screen name of Chip Munke ...ban him!
Modified by brainguyus at 7:02 PM 8/27/2009