Mouse in Air Duct (Removal)

[fredwhitford]

1998 2.8, it appears I have a mouse nest in my heater air ducts and it smells musty. Any way to get this removed? Is it necessary to take the dash apart? Easy tricks and experiences helpful.

[JRowe]

Depends on where it is. Do know where it might be?

[Vintage42]

.... it appears I have a mouse nest in my heater air ducts...

You don't sound certain. What makes you think so? A musty smell can come from a moldy evaporator for which there are spray cleaners like -
https://www.amazon.com/nextzett-9611...98885674&psc=1

[z3forlife]

+1. It’s sounds like evap funk. This works good also.
https://www.uspmotorsports.com/Frigi...eodorizer.html

[Vintage42]

That Frigi-Fresh is not quite the same as Klima Cleaner.
Frigi-Fresh is sprayed onto the cabin filter or into the dash ducts.
Klima Cleaner is not for the cabin filter, and is only for spraying onto the evaporator coil via a long tube that reaches down through the dash vents and the ducting into the evaporator housing, and drains the residue to the ground.

That said, we just bought a nice car from CarMax that must have been given the usual used car treatment with Fabreez.
I just changed its dirty cabin filter, and will be getting it out again to spray with Frigi-Fresh.

[z3forlife]

I spray it into the air return with the recirculation on and the fan on high that way it’s going through the coil.

[Vintage42]

I spray it into the air return with the recirculation on and the fan on high that way it’s going through the coil.

Is it a spray or a liquid? Klima Cleaner squirts through a hose that reaches into the evaporator housing, becomes a foam that expands to fill the housing, cleans the coil, then liquifies to collect in the drain pan to sanitize that, and runs out the pan's drain tube. Good video in here:
https://www.amazon.com/nextzett-9611...xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==

[z3forlife]

It’s a spray but I assume either would help.

[fredwhitford]

It is a mouse, I have been battling them for 40 years and know the smell. Anyone ever take the dash apart?

- - - Updated - - -

It is a mouse nest I assume not occupied.

[Vintage42]

It is a mouse, I have been battling them for 40 years and know the smell. Anyone ever take the dash apart?... .

Might start with figuring where the mice entered:
http://bmwfans.info/parts-catalog/Z3..._conditioning/
and
https://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/s...9#post30036609

Dashes have been removed:
https://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/s...ntire-interior
https://www.zroadster.net/forum/view...360432#p360432

[z3forlife]

Maybe you can get at it from the inlet under the hood and vacuum it out. Bummer. I know that smell from a vacation home we owned.

[Vintage42]

It appears that to enter the HVAC housing from the hood, a mouse would have to get through the blower's squirrel cage fans:
https://www.pelicanparts.com/BMW/tec...ent_mobile.htm