<E36> Help, my 325i was attacked by a mouse!

["John D. Bowne" <John.D.Bowne@xxxxxxx>]

Howdy,

I'm not kidding, I'm looking for some help. First, some background.

I have a 4dr E36, '93 that I really like, however, for a variety of 
reasons, I haven't been driving it much this summer (a new BMW R1100RT had 
a lot to do with this). I would drive it about once a month or so, for long 
50+ mile trips. But, in the last couple of months, I've noticed a unique 
odor about the car, or more precisely, in the car. Since I do live in a 
rural area, this smell was not unknown to me. Its a mixture of mouse 
droppings and other liquid leavings.

Yesterday, after I got home from a shopping trip, I opened the trunk and 
found a several small (1-2 inch diameters balls of fabric fuzz laying in 
the middle of the trunk. Of course surrounded by hundreds of little 
droppings. Yech.

So, I started taking things out, the spare tire, carpets, CD player, rear 
speakers, rear seats, etc. Still no sign of a mouse next, only tiny 
footprints in odd horizontal locations. Eventually, I pulled the trunk 
interior carpets out and found the nest. It was on the top of the passenger 
side rear wheel arch. I got rid of the nest and started to try to find the 
path that the little sucker had taken to invade my car. Eventually, I found 
that the air vents at the back corners of the trunk, about 3" by 10" with 
rubber flaps was the entry and exit points.

The little vermin had eaten through a portion of the vent flap and made a 
hole about the size of the quarter. It went through not only the rubber 
flap valve, but also the plastic frame that holds it.

Now, my question, I'm not sure how to replace these flap valves, I'm a bit 
afraid to take this to the dealer for an estimate. (I did speak to the 
service rep, who assured me that a component failure due to a mouse attack 
was not a warrentable item ;-) ). I tried tugging on the plastic frame of 
the valve assembly, but didn't even get a wiggle out of it. I'm afraid that 
it might be glued in or attached in a way that can't be removed without 
taking off bodywork.

Also, anyone know a good mouse smell removal technique?

What really baffles me, is that I never carry any food in the trunk or 
leave it open, except for loading and unloading, why would the mouse go to 
all the trouble of creating a pathway into the trunk?

On a lighter note (a least for me), when I was looking for access points in 
the car, I saw a small greyish ball of fur, next to the passenger side rear 
halfshaft. It was the mouse, but it was already dead. It appears that when 
I took the car out for the errands, the mouse tried to make a break for it. 
It apparently got wedged between the half shaft at the wheel end and the 
passage for said end of the half shaft in the swing arm. It looks like the 
mouse might have been attacked by the ABS sensor ring. Somewhat fitting.

Thanks in advance....

	johnbo
	'93 325i (with one dead mouse)
	'99 R1100RT	

P.S. Anyone know a good de-digestifier for Microsoft Outlook '97?

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