Rat nest blowing out of vents - how getting in??

[Bob H]

I live out in the country. This is my 2nd Astro (love them).
Both of my vans have been invaded by rodents on various occasions.
They get into the blower (passenger side dash) somehow, and build a big ass nest that blows out my vents - especially if I turn on the windshield defroster.

Does anyone know the "highway" to this blower box? How are they getting in?

I have a Haynes manual, the exploded view seems to indicate that they could get in at the lower fender behind either front wheel, or the vented panel between windshield wiper arms. I have placed 1/4" hardware cloth (wire mesh) blocking these areas and they still get in.

I am fairly mechanically inclined, have rebuilt engines. But I had to pay a dealer to repair the damage to my last van (lot of dealer only parts, and my job was busy). This van has had the wiring chewed, multiple invasions to the ventilation system, and "mystery turds" inside the van. How do they get in?

[MountainManJoe]

How do they NOT get it. Rodents will find a way. The vans are pretty well sealed against the weather, but not from below. The body is double layer, but it's hollow in between . The rockers have holes in them to drain water, and the cavities lead all the way inside. On gravel roads, this always results in the inside filling with dust, and one day I plan to plug all the gaps. Sorry, but there's no easy solution. The worst enemy to any vehicle is to sit unused.

[Bob H]

The vans are pretty well sealed against the weather, but not from below... The rockers have holes in them to drain water, and the cavities lead all the way inside.

Gotcha - and I saw some of those holes the last time I tried to keep them out with 1/4" wire mesh.
Does anyone know for sure where the "fresh air intake" gets it's air from? It seems like that region behind the firewall, below the windshield wipers. I need to find some way to block that off with wire mesh.

The worst enemy to any vehicle is to sit unused.

I am a believer. I was working out of state for 9 months, knew my battery was going to be dead. But I did not expect confetti to blow out my vents after I replaced the battery and started it up.
Now I have been home for about 8 months, didn't ride the van much last week and "they are back".

[doyoulikeithere]

you could install a kitty door, a shiney new cat food dish (filled of course), and cat bed and a couple of cat toys

[Bob H]

I was hoping that some of you folks would have walked this road before, figured out where one could place some wire mesh to keep rodents out of the ventilation system. No?

[Krank88]

Tie moth balls up in four or five socks and attach them around the motor, front end, where they come in. They will look for a new home.I had a squirrel eating acorns in my engine compartment. I tried the moth balls and the squirrel moved to my neighbors car. A temporary fix anyway.

[Bob H]

Acutally I tried the moth balls. And the peppermint oil soaked into a bag of whatever from Amazon. And the ultrasonic noise maker repellants.

This is the 2nd time my fan motor speed adjustment module has failed after a rat-nest in the ventilation system. Apparantly it burns out.

They get into the blower (passenger side dash) somehow, and build a big ass nest that blows out my vents - especially if I turn on the windshield defroster.

Does anyone know the "highway" to this blower box? How are they getting in?

I want to put a solid barrier in place (like 1/4" wire mesh) wherever the air induction is to the vent system (heater, AC, vent air).

this 99 Astro and my prior 97 Astro both had this issue, yet none of my other vehicles have had them get into the ventilation system. I figured this would come up all the time with Astro owners, and there would be a known remedy.