If not, then you should, this is what mine looked like with about 22K miles. Pretty nasty, I had to take out some more paper so that I can pull it out.

 

Where would I find that? That looks really bad

 

Looks like something made a nest in there??? Mine is clean, also don t forget to check your drains while in that area of the battery and filter.

 

Wow that is bad, I only have 5K miles, how often do you check this thing?

 

Agree - looks like OP had some critters (mice) nesting in there. Check any electrical connections while you are in there.

 

Thanks for the heads up. I live on a farm, so mice nests are always a concern. I checked this and replaced a few weeks ago. It was pretty dirty but no nests! I have had the car for about 8 weeks, bought it used.

 

Yeah, I was shocked when I saw it, there could be mice around, they seem to hide in garages during the winter months. The cabin filter are located on the left side of the battery for those who don't know.

 

I need to check mine!

Chris -

 

I had a mouse in mine and had eaten through the filter and pissed in the hvac ducts. Took me about 18 months to get the smell out. Since then I've constructed a metal cage around the filter with a metal screen, like chicken wire only thicker, to keep the mice out.

I've also taken extreme precautions to keep mice out of the car. I put sticky traps near the wheels and put out Cayenne powder along the edge of my ancient garage. Since putting out the Cayenne powder along the periphery of the inside of the garage I've had a huge reduction in mice pellets. Mice constantly lick/groom their paws and needless to say don't appreciate ingesting very hot spices.

 

Is that a GTS or a Turbo?

 

for those that don t know they take two mins to check with no tools needed, so check them because mileage doesn t matter if critters (or mold from moisture) enter.

 

A couple of years ago I had a lot of mice spending the winter in my shed and a few in my garage. I put a half dozen Fresh Cab Rodent Repellent packets in the shed, a few in the garage, and one in my frunk, one in the cab, and one in the engine compartment. Results: no more mice.

http://www.earth-kind.com/products/

The Fresh Cab Rodent Repellent packets have a strong pine smell. Not objectionable.

.

 

We don't have mice in So Cal only money sucking politicians. They can do much more damage than mice or other rodents.

 

Not sure I've seen one that bad, glad you checked it now and didn't wait any longer.

 

I'm still shocked to be honest. I have mouse traps in the garage and I haven't capture one yet. There are no mice droppings.