Brain Teaser... yeah, I'm 4real.

[Down2TheC]

You won't believe it straight out so I'll tell the back story...
A few years ago I was changing the air filter in my Toyota CamryXLE '92 and found about 3 cups of dog food sitting in the housing! Totally freaked me out. Upon further investigation I also had dog food sitting down on the block in every nook and cranny. I decided that mice (I never see them... so that or gnomes) were stealing my dogs food and transporting it to the car. The Camry had an air intake near the ground pointing down.

Well my Solara turned 1 year and 11K yesterday (nice coincidence.) and for the past week I'm smelling dog food from the air vents! They're at it again! F#^&in' gnomes! But I checked the air intake and it's small and behind the grille. And the HVAC air vents feed from under the windshield. So I'm tryin' to figure out where I can look for dog food. It ain't cookin or the smell would be gone by now so no place hot. And the engine compartment doesn't smell at all.

Any suggestions or wise a s s comments are welcome... At least I know why my Dobe is lookin' skinny.

[captainpimp]

wise a s s comment.
did you recently cheat on a girl or do something to piss someone off? hahaha

[PhreakdOut]

LMAO

Have you tried changing brands of dog food?

Try something "pinetree" scented! It will save you money on air freasheners!

[mmcdonald]

Plant a camera under the car and film it. Get a motion detector that lights off the camera.

[Jackass-Jeff]

rats are known to eat dogfood (if easily accessible)

rats are known to climb into the RX 300/330 vent systems (similar to your Camry situation... and the Gen 2 Solara also has the new vent system w/ filter.... which puts you in that boat)

i would check for any electrical(wiring) damage under the hood... rats are known to chew threw those vital cables which make sure everything is running smoothly... x_x place a few "fly paper" traps under your car everynight... maybe it is rats... if so, they'll get caught on it and you can feed them to your dog.

[DocJohn]

rats are known to eat dogfood (if easily accessible)

rats are known to climb into the RX 300/330 vent systems (similar to your Camry situation... and the Gen 2 Solara also has the new vent system w/ filter.... which puts you in that boat)

i would check for any electrical(wiring) damage under the hood... rats are known to chew threw those vital cables which make sure everything is running smoothly... x_x place a few "fly paper" traps under your car everynight... maybe it is rats... if so, they'll get caught on it and you can feed them to your dog.

Jeff: Sounds like you're right on the money here. Squirrels and Chipmunks will hoard food like this too and can squeeze into some really small spaces.

Down2thec: Go to the local animal shelter and get yourself a big, nasty tomcat and keep him in your garage at night so he can put the hurt on your rodent gremlins.

[Down2TheC]

Doc and Jeff seem to have it. I've got the prevention set. No more bags of food, it goes into plastic containers
once it's bought. I just need to find the crap thats in there. Hopefully if there's no food, they won't visit anymore.

I'll have to check the manual for the air vent routing and see if there are possible entries. It's definitely not
from the eng comp. In park and off, the vents still blow food stink. No fan, no stink. Oh yeah, and recirc does it too.

Maybe you just have FLATULENCE aka GAS,,,, Maybe you just farted and the smell made you think of Dog Food........

Can't be... the paint ain't peelin'.

did you recently cheat on a girl or do something to piss someone off? hahaha

Nice thought but the women I know couldn't open the hood, much less turn a wrench. (unlike the fine gear-head hotties on this site... you know who you are!)