Dead animal under hood of 2012 Highlander

[graciesmom2020]

Something is dead in my Highlander. It had chewed a bit of the cabin filter and little chucks blew everywhere when I turned on the window defogger. The cabin filter has since been replaced, but the smell of death is horrid and we can't find the animal. Any suggestions as to where to look and/or how to check these places without removing the entire dashboard? Please help, the car is undriveable with the sickening smell.

 

[tbplus10]

Sounds like its gotten up into the fan/cage.
The only way to find this little critter is take apart the plenum under the dash, if you find it chances are its gonna need a real good cleaning with something like Simple Green, Pine cleaner or Bleach.

 

[graciesmom2020]

TB...thanks for your ideas....Do you think the smell will EVER go away??? Ugh....this is so disgusting!!

 

[jazz]

Keep us posted as to the outcome...I am betting a squirrel.. I bought a truck that stunk like something died in it..It was priced right. I asked the seller if a dog had been living in the truck. He said no,,obviously I had insulted him....my faux pas.. I sent the bench seat to the dump,,,sprayed whole interior with simple green twice and let it soak then power sprayed. That worked... Hopefully yours is not as severe...might be a good idea to keep the windows open so the odour does not permeate the interior fabric

 

[toyotafan]

Eventually the smell will go away, that's the nature of smells, but you really need to find the dead carcass and try to get it out if there's one up there. The problem is that people aren't really good at pinpointing smells like that when they're so rancid, and it's probably quite a bit up in there too. Jeeze, I don't envy you in this clean-up project.

 

[toyotafan]

oh, and if you do find something ... please take some pics and share with the group. ;-)

 

[14TundraSammy]

Did you get the smell resolved? If so how?