Check your air box…

[VAMike]

I wonder what environment people with rodent problems are in. I live in a rural area, but park on a paved driveway with well kept lawn all around. So far in 22+ years living here, haven't noticed any rodent damage. I think there was some minimal rodent evidence once on my F150 that sat a lot, but just had to clean some crap out, but no damage.

suburb, never had problems in 20+ years before the ranger. I'm pretty careful about leaving any kind of food trash in it now so there's no tempting smells.

Sponsored

 

[chrisakz]

Ive seen plenty of machines/vehicles of any make/mode that sit around for years outside have rodent nesting issues. I know of 2 people that have had their (newer) F-350s chewed up(one or both I can’t recall were injector wires). Idk if it’s a Ford problem or what the wires are made of.

 

[Dr. Zaius]

Ive seen plenty of machines/vehicles of any make/mode that sit around for years outside have rodent nesting issues. I know of 2 people that have had their (newer) F-350s chewed up(one or both I can’t recall were injector wires). Idk if it’s a Ford problem or what the wires are made of.

Many manufacturers have switched to a soy based wiring in order to save the planet from petrochemicals and it was also cheaper to manufacture. The Cheaper part was likely the real reason with the lack of petrochemicals being a bit of virtue signaling thrown in.

Unfortunately, this soy based wiring insulation is apparently a veritable ambrosia to rodents.

Several manufacturers have been sued over it (Honda, Kia, Hyundai, and Toyota for sure, maybe more).

 

[chrisakz]

Many manufacturers have switched to a soy based wiring in order to save the planet from petrochemicals and it was also cheaper to manufacture. The Cheaper part was likely the real reason with the lack of petrochemicals being a bit of virtue signaling thrown in.

Unfortunately, this soy based wiring insulation is apparently a veritable ambrosia to rodents.

Several manufacturers have been sued over it (Honda, Kia, Hyundai, and Toyota for sure, maybe more).

That would explain it, seems that no vehicles are safe then. I remember reading a story about Mercedes-Benz using biodegradable wiring insulation and the insulation on some vehicles wouldn’t even make it more than a few years before starting to deteriorate and cause short circuiting all over the vehicle. That probably caused some serious problems for them.

 

[VAMike]

That would explain it, seems that no vehicles are safe then. I remember reading a story about Mercedes-Benz using biodegradable wiring insulation and the insulation on some vehicles wouldn’t even make it more than a few years before starting to deteriorate and cause short circuiting all over the vehicle. That probably caused some serious problems for them.

Soy wiring has nothing to do with mice thinking the cabin air filter in the ranger is a good place to sack out--that's entirely down to ford not considering that maybe it would be a good idea to put a grate in front of the intake. I said above that the ranger is the first vehicle I've had in 20+ years in the same house that's had a mouse try to take up residence...it's also the only one that has a cabin air intake with giant holes.

 

[Langwilliams]

Mice got the wiring harness on my daughters 2020 Explorer then a few months later got in the ventilation system. They replaced the whole thing it was such a mess.

 

[PoorSpecRanger]

I discovered today that in just a couple of days time frame a squirrel managed to stuff my cabin air box with fiberglass insulation, pine needles and two rather large Norway spruce pine cones. It chewed through the cabin air filter, stuff dropped in and threw off the balance of my blower. No way a mouse dragged in two giant pine cones. I had to take down my blower and spend quite a bit of time sucking / blowing crap out of the box. The little bastard chewed on plastic inside the box but didn't seem to cause any damage that effects its operation. I put a dryer sheet folded in half on top of the new cabin air filter and behind the glove box hopefully that will hold off the critter for the night. I'll be taking some plastic off soon so I can get to the intake hole and cover it with hardware cloth.

The pellet gun is loaded the trap is coming out and I'm waging war on the on the squirrels. The red bastards are on the top of my hit list as they seem to like the pine cones the most.

 

[Doc]

I discovered today that in just a couple of days time frame a squirrel managed to stuff my cabin air box with fiberglass insulation, pine needles and two rather large Norway spruce pine cones. It chewed through the cabin air filter, stuff dropped in and threw off the balance of my blower. No way a mouse dragged in two giant pine cones. I had to take down my blower and spend quite a bit of time sucking / blowing crap out of the box. The little bastard chewed on plastic inside the box but didn't seem to cause any damage that effects its operation. I put a dryer folding in half on top of the new cabin air filter and behind the glove box hopefully that will hold off the critter for the night. I'll be taking some plastic off soon so I can get to the intake hole and cover it with hardware cloth.

The pellet gun is loaded the trap is coming out and I'm waging war on the on the squirrels. The red bastards are on the top of my hit list as they seem to like the pine cones the most.

I had a Kawasaki 900 that wouldn’t start, the air filter and carb were stuffed full of acorns ..

 

[KJRR]

I discovered today that in just a couple of days time frame a squirrel managed to stuff my cabin air box with fiberglass insulation, pine needles and two rather large Norway spruce pine cones. It chewed through the cabin air filter, stuff dropped in and threw off the balance of my blower. No way a mouse dragged in two giant pine cones. I had to take down my blower and spend quite a bit of time sucking / blowing crap out of the box. The little bastard chewed on plastic inside the box but didn't seem to cause any damage that effects its operation. I put a dryer sheet folded in half on top of the new cabin air filter and behind the glove box hopefully that will hold off the critter for the night. I'll be taking some plastic off soon so I can get to the intake hole and cover it with hardware cloth.

The pellet gun is loaded the trap is coming out and I'm waging war on the on the squirrels. The red bastards are on the top of my hit list as they seem to like the pine cones the most.

Welcome to the club
KJ's Ranger | Page 2 | 2019+ Ford Ranger and Raptor Forum (5th Generation) - Ranger5G.com

 

[2020FX4]

I discovered today that in just a couple of days time frame a squirrel managed to stuff my cabin air box with fiberglass insulation, pine needles and two rather large Norway spruce pine cones. It chewed through the cabin air filter, stuff dropped in and threw off the balance of my blower. No way a mouse dragged in two giant pine cones. I had to take down my blower and spend quite a bit of time sucking / blowing crap out of the box. The little bastard chewed on plastic inside the box but didn't seem to cause any damage that effects its operation. I put a dryer sheet folded in half on top of the new cabin air filter and behind the glove box hopefully that will hold off the critter for the night. I'll be taking some plastic off soon so I can get to the intake hole and cover it with hardware cloth.

The pellet gun is loaded the trap is coming out and I'm waging war on the on the squirrels. The red bastards are on the top of my hit list as they seem to like the pine cones the most.

Since my discovery, I have been checking under my hood a lot more lately. At night I have been setting a trap under the hood. I attached it to a couple pieces of scrap wood so a rat can't drag the trap away if it doesn't get a kill shot. I put my keys in a bag to remind me to pull out the trap when I drive my truck.....

 

[lex1125]

Here is my implementation, for both the cabin filter intake and engine intake. It's of stainless steel mesh, cut to size with tabs that snap in place inside the various inlets.

Accessing the cabin filter intake:

Openings #1 and #2:

On this next one, it looks curved on the bottom with a gap, but actually the mesh is flush with the bottom of the intake...deceptive angle

This is perfect. where/what kind of mesh is this? all I see at HD is hardware cloth. thanks!

 

[jblc]

This is perfect. where/what kind of mesh is this? all I see at HD is hardware cloth. thanks!

Check out my post later in the thread here.

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

My stainless steel mesh meeses screen:

That is certainly a better job than my effort. It appears the mesh on the bias keeps the wires tamed.

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

Perhaps a stupid question, but has anyone ever looked at the cabin air dampers to see if both remain closed when on recirculating, and the engine is turned off?

If it wasn’t 8° f outside, I’d go check my truck.

 

[airline tech]

Perhaps a stupid question, but has anyone ever looked at the cabin air dampers to see if both remain closed when on recirculating, and the engine is turned off?

If it wasn’t 8° f outside, I’d go check my truck.

Stay warm and in your comfy chair:

It's all explained here:

HVAC / Climate Control- Issues - Operation - T-Shoot and Breakdown | 2019+ Ford Ranger and Raptor Forum (5th Generation) - Ranger5G.com

Short Answer:

The (Air Inlet) Door - moves to the 48% position (Partially Open) when the truck is shut off.
Vents the Evap Core housing.
Even when (Recirculation) is selected the door is never fully closed, it remains approximately 10% open, although 0% Closed (Indicated) travel.

This is the reason for adding a (Screen Cover) over the Inlet under the cowl, to stop the mice from entering the cab.

There is another entry point for mice in the cab and that is the 2 Rear Cab Vents

For the HVAC - Question

There are 2 actuators that physically move when the ignition is cycled.
Air Inlet and Mode Door, Mode door moves to the (Bi-Level) position when (Off)
These (2) actuators can also produce a Clicking / Popping sound at engine start, Moreso the Air Inlet Actuator that is known to have issues.

The Temp Blend actuators - will remain in the current selected (Temp) position and not move with ignition cycle - however if there is an issue with them, they will search for the correct position
(Selected) and attempt to find position.
This would be the clicking / popping sound that some experience for the Temp Issues

Sponsored