Toyota Repair: Heater Box/Ductwork cleaning1998 Tacoma, haynes manual, darn mouse

Question
Ted..
I have read here and elsewhere about mouse-in-the-heater problems.. now I
have one. Today I dropped the fan cage. One nut dropped out. The nest is
elsewhere.. the likely place is the heater box or the cooling box right next to
it.
What I want to know is this.. I must clean the whole duct assembly inside,
heater box and as much of the cooler box as I can without removing it. The
Haynes manual says remove the steering wheel! The instrument panel! The
dozens of electrical connections! Can this be true? It has taken me a couple
hours to get the trim panels off...do i really have to go deeper? Or is there an
easier way to get to all the insides of the ductwork without disassembling my
formerly sweet truck...
DARN MOUSE!!!! Hes a smelly one too....


Answer
I t depends on where the rodent deposited all the nesting material, I have no way of knowing how far you have to go to get everything out, there may not be anything else in there at all. What I would suggest before taking everything apart is that you run a deodorizing cleaner through the duct system, these are available at most autoparts stores, it involves drilling a hole into the air duct and injecting a foam cleaner into the system, follow the instructions, this may only be a temporary fix but if it the smell stays gone there is no need to go further.