dead animal in the sunroof area?

[Tunegoon]

Hey guys...

Strange one for you. Have a dead animal smell coming from the drivers side of the sunroof. Smells from the outside when open...really stinks up the car from the inside when the car is shut. Have looked under the sunroof interior and have shined a flashlight back thru where the roof slides, but don't see anything. Any ideas where a critter could have gotten to and died, or how to get a look at the whole interior of the roof (i.e remove the ceiling liner)? It's really bad!

I have a '99 996 Coupe

Tony

[beauar]

**** it sounds like the seinfeld episode with the BMW and the smelly guy that was in it. I have no idea how to fix your issue. Are u sure its not coming from under the car? I would imagine an animal would have a very tough time getting in your sunroof

Hey guys...

Strange one for you. Have a dead animal smell coming from the drivers side of the sunroof. Smells from the outside when open...really stinks up the car from the inside when the car is shut. Have looked under the sunroof interior and have shined a flashlight back thru where the roof slides, but don't see anything. Any ideas where a critter could have gotten to and died, or how to get a look at the whole interior of the roof (i.e remove the ceiling liner)? It's really bad!

I have a '99 996 Coupe

Tony

[bmohr]

LOL! the valet screwed you:) This is a first. Agreed it seems impossible for a critter to get in your sunroof. Maybe it crawled up the A-Frame by chewing through from below/engine bay. Remove your trim and give a look around.

[Larold]

I have had a garaged Ferrari's electrics eaten by rats. 6 month later, coming home from the mechanic's a giant rat jumped off the rear deck onto the freeway. It had been living for months on the exhaust system, and when it got hot, it tried to jump. Something may have died above the engine area. Good luck getting to it...

[Tunegoon]

Positive that it's not coming from beneath the car...fyi. I've had it up on jack stands and looked all around. Been in the engine bay...no smell or critter. This is a first!

[blundgren77]

So funny you mention this. I was at my local P-car dealer (also sells VW), with my better halfs VW for some warranty work. Service manager was showing me this brand-new VW they had in the bay getting pretty much re-wired.

The cars owner bought the car new and put on a little over 1400 miles, and suddenly all sorts of electrical things started going wrong. When they opened up the car to start troubleshooting they found the problem. Lady left the car out one night (starting to get cool here in Wisconsin) a few weeks ago, and forgot to close the sunroof. A toasty warm car must have looked very inviting for a cold mouse, and somehow the mouse got into the open sunroof rails between the slides and roofline, and decided to gnaw way at wiring.

They found a ton of chewed through wiring and a dead mouse - all of which wasn't covered under warranty. :) 900.00 later the lady had her new VW back. :)

So, I guess if you are sure it's coming from the top, it's not impossible. Any place a mouse can get it's head, it can get it's body, so even the smallest gap between the sunroof rails, if it was left open, is a potential for a critter to make your baby his condo. :)

You'd probably have to take the liner down to get at the area and see if anyone decided to make a home. That's what the dealer had to do to the car I saw. How you go about removing the liner though I'm not certain. Might be work a PM to porschelibrarian. He's got access to the shop manuals which might shed some light on removing it without messing it up.

[White987S]

They found a ton of chewed through wiring and a dead mouse - all of which wasn't covered under warranty. :) 900.00 later the lady had her new VW back. :)

This would be covered by your insurance (Comp.)...right?

[RockSS]

Sounds like an insurance thing to me, should be covered.

I have heard lots of stories of rodents getting into cars and causing a bunch of weird stuff to happen. I new a guy who had a classic car that started to run very poorly. After a ton of troubleshooting they took off the air cleaner assembly and took it apart. in there mice or rats had used it as a warehouse to store things like nuts, grass, straw ect...

Tony C

[tac27]

Peppermint oil supposedly repels mice. My parents learned about this trick from a neighbor near their cabin; since they have started to use it, the mice, and squirrels, have stayed out of the vehicle and the buildings.

[Tunegoon]

Peppermint oil supposedly repels mice. My parents learned about this trick from a neighbor near their cabin; since they have started to use it, the mice, and squirrels, have stayed out of the vehicle and the buildings.

That's a new one for me!

[mcliquid]

My in-laws had a pickup truck that was the home of a really dead animal. They never could find it, but it was believed to be in the dash somewhere. Since the truck lived outside there was no way to keep other animals out of it. I know the guy who has it now and I will check to see if the odor is still there. :unsure: Good luck on finding it. I doubt it is a small mouse, if you can smell it. Rat maybe or something larger?

[White987S]

My in-laws had a pickup truck that was the home of a really dead animal.

....as opposed to partially dead? :)

LOL!!

[Tunegoon]

never did find it....but it smells much better 3 weeks later!