Critters in my car's past?

[Stainless]

I've recently determined that I've got to replace my non-functioning Kenwood DVD player in my DeLorean with a functioning radio. Since the brain to the Kenwood system resides in the cubby behind the driver, I took out the rear bulkhead panel to start contemplating how I want to go about doing this replacement and deal with the wiring.

While doing this, I rediscovered that on the back of my rear bulkhead panel, on the passenger side foam, I have an unusually shaped hole in the foam. There appears to be small pieces of evidence suggesting that this is where a critter once called home, but a previous owner had attempted to clean it up.

I have not discovered any other place on the car that a critter chewed up or messed with, but this seems like the most logical explanation. What do you think?

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[MML]

Yup, definitely mice. I had the exact same problem. Turned out they used all the chewed up foam to make a nest inside the passenger pontoon!

[David T]

They also like to chew the insulation on wires so you should check any wiring nearby. The entire area should be dis-infected because of droppings and urine. Once you see any signs of infestation you should wear a dust mask and gloves. While the area may have been cleaned up of obvious signs (droppings) you can't know if and how it was dis-infected. Once you see any signs the entire car should be inspected. Favorite places include the area behind the grille, the fuse-block, and the heater box.

[powerline84]

I am pretty sure that in the years my car sat dead in its barn resting place before I tackled the restoration it was the world's nicest mouse house. I found a dead mouse behind my rear bulkhead that u are referring to.

[Rich_NYS]

Same with both cars I've had...

[eight8toy]

Favorite places include the area behind the grille, the fuse-block, and the heater box.

Also had a nice nest below my shift boot I found when replacing all the manual transmission shift bushings.

[bfloyd]

Yep, I found a dead deflated petrified mouse behind my grill while doing the eyebrow repairs last year. Also found a ton of little tufts of pink figerglass insulation inside the tool storage area in the front of the trunk. My car might have been stored inside for 20+ years before I bought it, but it was home to a couple of critters at one point for sure.

[Jonathan]

I got my car in 2007 and it came with very little info from its past. I figure it must have sat at some point over those years, because what it did come with were plenty of leftovers from previous residents.

I had mouse nest material in: the passenger door, the cavity in the fiberglas up in the front right corner, the jack and tool bag area (the tool bag smelled pretty awful), and the cubby hole behind the driver's seat. It was mostly tiny pieces of newspaper or bits of that pink home insulation stuff.

I also had a hornet's nest/honeycomb type thing in the left rear corner in the area where the charcoal canister is. None of these things came with any of the previous guests mummified remains though.

And my car was no barn find either. Some of those cars we see coming out of the woodwork are pretty much rolling biohazards. Mouse piss and other yuck, foul old gas and hunks of asbestos. The real Doc Brown needs to wear a HAZMAT suit with these cars and not a radiation one!

[sdg3205]

Id have to find some pics, but by far the weirdest critter i found in a delorean was some kind of insect colony. At first it looked like yellow dust, but upon closer inspection is was thousands of tiny dead bugs. creeped me right out.