Why its good to remove your console.. | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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Why its good to remove your console..

soon2bsick

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So I, like many others have read the thread about removing your 2nd generation console sticky thread. I had no real reason (yet) to remove it but I was curious today about how hard it would be..

After removing the computer panel/cup holders I found a real surprise....

The bottom was full of junk!

I've owned my mounty for over a month now and its clear that it was at one time owned by a mom.. with kids that liked to draw...

I found 3 markers, 5 crayons, about 30 tooth picks, a lighter, 2 dollars in change, coin wrappers, gum sticks, gummie lifesavers that were melted to the interior/carpet and last but not least... a rat nest. Yes... a rat nest. It was made up with about 8 inches of various cotton/paper ect.


Heres the last stuff we pulled out after already throwing away hand fuls of things





3.jpg



heres about a quarter of the rats nest


2.jpg




and what was left...




1.jpg






I'm really glad I pulled my console, even though it took some force. 1. because I was able to see how to do it and 2. so I didnt have all this crap baking under neath it any longer :rolleyes:
 



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I found an old mouse nest under the console of my XLT when I bought it. lol They had made a few other nests in the truck, but its all good. I gutted the interior, even pulled the dashboard. It is nice and clean now.
 






Yeah, you might want to look around the inside of your truck. Don't you wonder where that mouse went?
 






Yeah, you might want to look around the inside of your truck. Don't you wonder where that mouse went?


Not really,

only because the truck went through a dealer, auction and an old man who wouldn't of owned the markers, crayons and and gummies. I'm sure that nest was made 4+ years ago. I've since looked under all the seats, and crevices. I'm pretty sure at one point it was a soccer mom SUV and then maybe it sat for a long time and thats when the mouse moved in
 






i bet my console underneath is about that bad!! Hoping this spring I can pull my whole interior and give it a MUCH needed deep cleaning....
 






yeah I was quite surprised all that was under there, especially because it doesn't look possible for it to get there but..I've seen weirder things.

This summer I'm replacing the carpet/headliner to black so it was nice to figure out how to pull the console out
 






lol if i can't get my carpet clean enough, i may replace mine as well!! I should have taken pics of mine when i first bought it. It's come strides from where it was, but I live in Oregon and it rains a lot this time of year.

Like what you've done with your 'Neer so far!!
 






lol if i can't get my carpet clean enough, i may replace mine as well!! I should have taken pics of mine when i first bought it. It's come strides from where it was, but I live in Oregon and it rains a lot this time of year.

Like what you've done with your 'Neer so far!!


Thank you, I appreciate that

Stockinteriors.com is where I've always bought my carpet, they have a nice color selection and good products that are pre molded to your specific model.
 






If you had a nest under there, you'll probably also have a treat behind the headliner, mice like to crawl up there...
 






I have rat traps in my explorer right now. I left it at work for a couple days and when I went to get it, there were rat droppings all over the floor under the pedals. Turns out it got into my emergency supplies and was eating the energy bar things. I have all the kick panels out so all the wires are nice and exposed. I tried glue traps first and found one of them moved so I know its still in there. I think it came up the shifter hole as I dont have a boot and the rubber gasket thing is not screwed in. I do hope the traps get it before it dies in there. Im pretty sure its hiding in that tube behind the rear seats where the access for the body bolts are. Ill never get it out of there. Course it shredded EVERYTHING in the glove box so it could be hinding in the dash. RRRRRRRR
 






I hadn't seen any signs of a creature living in mine until I pulled the console and I've left food in the truck over night on accident and it wasn't touched so I'm not too concerned about anything still being in there. But I must say I was pretty impressed that it was able to make its little home on the console and that those markers and lighter found their way somehow down there.


Tomorrow is the fun shop of shop-vacuuming the rest. There was all kinds of grime at the bottom of the console, but I must say the worst part was the melted defunkitated gummie lifesaved that left goop on everything.


I wouldn't be surprised if I found rat droppings, because every time I open the slider for my sun roof little flakes of what appears to be lining for the headliner fall out. I'm guessing the mouse/rat/whatever was up there at one point too
 






Well, 3 days and my traps seem untouched so maybe my rat went away when we took all the gear out of the truck. I just need to bleach everything. Rats are gross. I think Im going to go to one of those coin op car washes and use the super vacuum there. Then clean the carpet with?????
 






I know people have just taken the carpet out and used the coin-op wash to clean it thoroughly, but that does require quite a bit of disassembly(seats, mainly, i guess!!)

I'm thinking of getting a portable carpet cleaner to do mine this spring...
 






I know people have just taken the carpet out and used the coin-op wash to clean it thoroughly, but that does require quite a bit of disassembly(seats, mainly, i guess!!)

I'm thinking of getting a portable carpet cleaner to do mine this spring...

Just get a good wet/dry shop vac. Where I used to detail cars back in the early 90's we would take a 5 gallon bucket, put some good foaming carpet cleaner in the bottom and using a high pressure sprayer, fill it up with suds then use a wash mitt to shampoo the carpet and suck it all out with the shop vac. Can be used for both carpet and seats.
 


















P. people
E. eating
T. tasty
A. animals
 






I just lysoled the interior and now im going to drive it to a coin place to vaccum it out. There are only droppings on the drivers floor mat and passenger mat and behind the rear seat, where he was building a nest, I think he may be / have been hinding in the tube the body mount bolts are in. He didnt touch the traps for 3 days so maybe he got out when we took all the gear out. But really the volume of droppings was small compared to the volume of shredded stuff, which was massive. Im just afraid hes in the dash and is going to fall on my feet while im driving. GROSS! I need new mats, I just may buy new ones. If the carpet comes up Im sure Ill find some coins like the OP that I could put towards them :)
 






A little threadjack....

<begin threadjack>
Reminds me of a story. My brother in law is German. While he and my sister were living in Tennessee, they bought a (non Ford) SUV from carmax. Not too long thereafter, they ran into electrical problems. They took it to a mechanic, and after several hours, he announced "there was a mouse in the wiring." Being a German, my BIL thought "mouse" was either some american automotive term or tennessee slang. So, he keeps asking the mechanic "whats a mouse? What do you mean, a mouse? Explain this mouse to me" etc.

Finally, the mechanic has to stop and, real slow like, explain that a mouse is a small, furry animal. They like to get into warm dry places. Then, they start eating/chewing/tearing things up. The mouse had chewed up the wiring, causing the short, yadda yadda.

Downside, many hundreds of dollars in repair costs.
Upside, I have NEVER laughed harder in my life. I can just imagine the story that mechanic is STILL telling his buddies over beers.

<end threadjack>
 



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haha thats too funny dude, I had actually never really heard of a mouse living in a vehicle unless it had sat for a long time. For some reason I was under the assumption a mouse wouldn't want to live in something moving/vibrating every day.. but I guess they do.


you know what.... that could actually explain some things...

my dome lights don't come on if I open the driver side door (but they come on when opening all other doors) and my puddle light doesn't have power going to it on the drivers side... maybe I can blame a damn mouse!
 






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