mouse cage blower on the heater. (Cirus) The cage was full of mouse trash & heater core obstructed again. I never have figured out how to get the cowel up so I could screen the air inlet like I've done on others,I dropped the blower, cleaned it all out. MOstly fingers with a little shop vac (really could not get in there good). Same as lasat time but a son-of-a-female-dog as are most things which really require 2 fully functional hands. I ended up using a stick to jam the blower back into place so I could get the screws back in. My only defense is to switch the heater to recirculate when parking... but some damn fool (probably me) eventually forgets to.Russ

Is the vent control for the recirulation vacuum driven or cable? If its cable driven you should be fine doing that to keep the 4 legged suckers out. But vacuum driven the system will lose vacuum and the door might sag open again...

I believe it's cable controled because I can hear it thunk even with the engine off. It's still a stop gap but until/unless I figure out how to get the cowel up... it's all I've got. I can not seal the whole cowel like I did on the truck because the hood hinges enter that space.

If it does turn out to be vacuum controlled you can get a check valve for a buck or two. I stuck one on my HVAC and it will stay on whatever vent I want indefinitely now.

Thanks ISX, I don't think I need to for the Cirus but it could be just the ticket for a truck with the vacume controler out. That's what I like, creative ways to work around.Russ

While I was cleaning the mouse poo out of the blower cage & heater core... I found the resistor block for the blower speed control. I'd had it replaced by the garage because I could not find the cussed thing. Well, it mounts into the bottom of the air duct between the blower & the heater core, with the contact block sticking down... & one wire to the blower. (The instructions that came with the unit from NAPA said "under the hood".) Really these are in the passenger's foot well behind the glove box (in the Cirus, necessary to remove a plastic duct/panel under the dash). This explains why I got the smell as the old resistor failed... air flow was supposed to cool it. Mouse fluff obstructed the air, caused it to overheat. Hope this will help someone else.Russ

Man you and the mice... Well I'm glad you found the resistor and possibly replace it now...

Wish I could figure out to get the cowel up & screen it... much better than cleaning up after. Wife's been cleaning out storaged stuff in the barn... very many ruined my mice. Just uncovered some spare tractor lights... rubber housings... mouse nest in them & rubber chewed up. Saved the sealed beams & trashed the rest.