I have a brand new subaru outback w/ what people would think is a funny problem, till you experience it yourself. It started out as a slight annoyance but now has almost rendered the car as unusable.Upon taking the car back to the dealership they found rodent body parts all over the engine compartment. Apparently one or more were nesting in there and got caught up in the moving parts. Now once the car warms up all you smell in the interior is not my leather seat but rather burnt body parts. Turning on recalculate helps but doesn’t solve the problem.When you look inside the engine compartment all you see engine I can’t find anymore body parts but I know they must be in there.Any body have any ideas ?
Assuming you have a cabin air filter, have you checked it? Rodents seem to like that area.
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In and around engine air filter also.
+1 to the previous responses, but unless the OP takes steps to deal with the apparent rodent infestation in and around his house, the problem is going to recur. Rodent infestation is sort of like rust damage. For every bit that you observe, there is a LOT more than might be apparent to the naked eye.
Uh boyee… That is no bueno. I must also concur with @VDCdriver… and the others thus far.
The very first place I would be focusing my attention is the where the cabin filter is located. Mice love to get into the “heater box” inside the car which is typically behind your glove box area… There should be an easy access point to gain access to that cubby hole… You may need to remove your glove box or simply drop the glove box door down, depending on the design of the box.
You should be able to locate the squirrel cage blower motor that circulates the air within the cabin behind that glove box. Once you remove that blower assy ( usually a very simple procedure with 3 screws or small bolts), you will then have the access you need to clear out the box. I would then use some commercial bleach to wash out that plastic heater box. You will also be able to make sure the drain to the box is functioning… doing so before hand would be prudent prior to whichever cleanser you choose to utilize.
That is the firs thing I would be doing along with inspecting and changing the cabin filter…
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I’ve washed-out my engine compartment in one of those diy’er car wash places where they have a pressure spray wand and you put in a couple dollars for 3 minutes. I expect something like that would help. Both of my vehicles are 30 years or older though. Pressure spraying the engine compartment might do more harm than help w/a modern car. But some form of hand-washing the engine would likely do the trick. This presumes the odor is coming from the engine compartment of course. Waiting should work too, if you can wait long enough, and it doesn’t happen again.