2015 Leaf: Vent between cabin and engine bay / Rat issue

[maxmelchior]

2015 Leaf S - made the mistake of leaving some bird seeds in the trunk. A couple of days ago I discovered these chewed up. Most likely point of entry was from the engine bay through a hole (vent?) to the cabin, it's behind the motor. It looks like it was previously covered in foam, which the rat chewed through.

I obviously need to block this, but I'm trying to figure out the purpose of the hole - is it important to allow airflow?

[nlspace]

You might want to pull back the carpet and the plastic interior side pods in the rear and get to the inner steel walls. There is a vent with loosely held rubber flaps which open outwards to vent cabin pressure when you close a door. i have had female mice crawl up there and easily lift the flap to get in and build a nest under the spare. Not sure that a rat could get thru the vent opening, but it's worth checking to rule it out. i used duct tape to cover the vent in another car because they kept coming back.

i don't know about the front hole in your picture, but i would be taping it over at least as a temporary fix to stop the rat pack.

[maxmelchior]

I blocked the hole with some metal mesh and taped over it with several strips of duct tape. A few days later, the tape was torn right off (!) and it had squeezed under the mesh.

I'll check the vent in the back.

[nlspace]

It's probably a female with a nest.

Leave the mesh off and put a big spring-loaded rat trap with bait back in the trunk where she was going. Screw it to a heavy piece of lumber, e.g 2x6 scrap piece, because they will flip the trap to make it spring and then eat the bait.

Once you get her then seal the opening and find the nest somewhere under the carpet or side tunnels. Unless it is a male, then just seal it, but i would still want to trace the path and clean out all the turds.

[maxmelchior]

Does anyone know the purpose of the hole? Or where I could look it up?

[nlspace]

i can't really tell from your picture where on the car that opening is located, but on my 2012 there is an opening shaped like that above and to the right of the accel pedal that has two fluid lines such as to and from the heater core.

i looked in the trunk and the exhaust vents are located in the side panel plastic, not the sheetmetal of the inner fenders. So it doesn't look like any direct or easy path to get into the trunk from the rear. Of course no spare tire.

[Nubo]

Does anyone know the purpose of the hole? Or where I could look it up?

On LEAFs equipped with heat-pumps, that is a pass-through for lines to and from the "inner condenser" Iirc, S-model didn't have the heat pump so it was probably just blocked off. I don't know if that part of the plenum would be under fan pressure on an S but since it's now open you can check with the fan on high. If you feel air blowing out then make sure to seal it in such a way so that blower air does not escape.

Since rodents got in there, it's a good possibility they left some "presents". Might not be a bad idea to spray a whole can of Lysol into the system, as people do with mold problems. Spray it into the outside cowl vents with the fan on (do not use recirculate), then let the car sit with the windows open for a day or so to disinfect. Once that's done it's probably a good time to replace the cabin air filter too.

[maxmelchior]

Thanks. No pipes going through on the S model. I'll find a way to block it. Should keep my feet warmer too

[LeftieBiker]

If there is no odor I'd definitely use less Lysol. That is nasty, toxic stuff...

[Flyct]

Rodents can cause expensive damage. They love wire insulation.

You need to capture it one way or another before he spores serious expensive damage These guys are smart.

One morning I lost my internet, phone service, one hard wired camera, and garage door opener push button in my house . I found the fios fiber optic cable chewed through, a network cable to a camera cut clean through and low voltage wire to my garage door opener button cut clean in my attic.

After getting it all fixed I put a camera in my attic, placed some bait up there and set it for motion detection. This is what I captured.



I first tried small live animal trap but he/she just ate the peanut butter and left.

I then set up several old fashioned rat traps and got him 2 days later.