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

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?

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

maxmelchior said:

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

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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.

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

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

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.

Since we can't hide posts, how about either deleting that photo, or posting just a link to it, making viewing it optional?

I have a Toyota Tundra which sits idle most of the time ( it's a farm truck) and I have had to have several wiring harnesses replaced due to rodent damage and a couple more repaired more than once. At $2500 a pop for a harness replacement, it gets expensive even if you have comprehensive coverage. Get rid of the rodents any way you can!

Well the rat is back - I've pulled panels and carpet and still not sure where these vents are - do you have more details? There are a couple of light grey round rubber gasket things (with a "PUSH" label) - is that what you mean?

The seal over the hole from the engine bay looks intact, so it must be getting in somewhere else.

And traps going into the car tonight

nlspace said:

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.

Click to expand...

On my 2012, there is an opening in the rear bumper above the license plate, and if you look thru there with a flashlight you can see the rubber flaps covering the exhaust vents to the left and right. In the rear trunk interior there is a cover plate on the left side that opens into a large plenum above the wheel where is see a fixture for holding a screw jack and tools (which don't exist), but it has plenty of room for rodent mischief and hollow steel channels to explore the car.

Good luck to finding the entrance point and ending the misery,
kenny

LeftieBiker said:

Since we can't hide posts, how about either deleting that photo, or posting just a link to it, making viewing it optional?

Click to expand...

I deleted the pictures at your request.

Thanks - I was also able locate using this https://parts.nissanusa.com/a/Nissan_2015_Leaf-HATCHBACK-S-ELECTRIC/_84421_8165780/BODY-SIDE-FITTING/ZE0U_US_767A_3.html

The vents ("Quarter Panel Vents") seem accessible only from the outside, so now I'm in the process of removing the rear bumper.

nlspace said:

On my 2012, there is an opening in the rear bumper above the license plate, and if you look thru there with a flashlight you can see the rubber flaps covering the exhaust vents to the left and right. In the rear trunk interior there is a cover plate on the left side that opens into a large plenum above the wheel where is see a fixture for holding a screw jack and tools (which don't exist), but it has plenty of room for rodent mischief and hollow steel channels to explore the car.

Good luck to finding the entrance point and ending the misery,
kenny

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Did you cure the rat problem? I had a rat or two a few months back and your duct tape solution? Surprised it lasted a day.

First I blocked all entry points (in garage) and the rat ate a hole thru the ¾ " particle board overnight. It also ate holes in EVERY plastic container in the garage including cleaners, bleach, laundry detergents, canned foods AND my rubber canoe :shock:

But has never touched the car. I set traps for it which didn't work. The traps sprung but caught nothing. The landlord came out and put poison in under the house as apparently kids were playing around and left the lid off the crawl space access port. I haven't detected any activity for well over a month now so hoping they are gone for now.

FYI; I heard they won't go thru steel wool. Well, apparently these rats didn't get the message.

Found it - they ripped the vent flaps off and chewed through the plastic. I'm putting in some solid metal mesh.

maxmelchior said:

Found it - they ripped the vent flaps off and chewed through the plastic. I'm putting in some solid metal mesh.

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Do you park outside?

Glad you found it.

And they are on sale too, $11.

https://parts.nissanusa.com/p/Nissa.../Quarter-Panel-Vent/89725309/77008-AX60B.html

Tried to resize smaller using bbc code but no luck...