Mouse poop and the headliner

[carlfriedman]

I know, it sounds like a kids rock band.

The car came to me reaking of mouse. I found the big nest in the glove box, I found the big nest in the heater and I found an activity area behind the dash. I have completely removed the interior except for the door and side panels and the headliner. Mouse stink is mostly but not all gone. The headliner is beautiful with no sags no rips and no stains but I desperately need to peek into tthe area between the liner and the ceiling to verify mice never got up there. I have never messed with headliners on any car and really don't want to. But....is there a somewhat easy way to undo some edges just so I can look in with a flashlight to confirm mice never got up there?

Carl

[AndyS]

With the way a headliner is installed they would have to chew a hole to get up in there.

[H_Krix]

With the way a headliner is installed they would have to chew a hole to get up in there.

Not if its a sunroof car... I could also see a mouse getting up there by climbing up the c-pillar, getting access through the trunk or possibly behind the rear door panels.

As for peeking underneath it, uh... good luck I guess. You could possibly pull the headliner down at the back with the glass out to look inside, but you won't get a very good view (mostly just up until the first "rib" that holds the liner up.)

Also, there's a chance you could tear it by trying to re-stretch and glue it. Kinda risky.

If its a sunroof car, crank the roof back and see if you can blow some air into it - this might force some of the junk down the c-pillars, but thats also a longshot. Sorry I'm not much help here, but I can't think of any way to do this and keep your vintage headliner intact

[scottt]

I found huge nests in most of my cars under the fuse box as well as the same area on the passenger side.

[Mike Self]

spraying with Fabreeze. If they were in the seats, remove the seats from the car, and turn them upside down. Spray Fabreeze into the gummihaar and leave 'em in the sun for a day or so...Smell will be gone.

As for headliner, you may be able to shine a small flashlight up under the headliner by removing a section of windlacing (grey/black plastic trim) directly above the door window openings. The headliner is fastened to the car's body under the windlacing, and you can carefully pull a small section loose to look. Even before looking, if you have the headliner loose, a quick sniff will tell you in a hurry if mousies have been lurking up there. You'll also see nest material imprints on the visible side of the headliner...

Hope it's clean up there...

mike