PSA to check your stuff. I live in a pretty rural area. On a Tuesday night I was hauling a trailer through a pasture, parked the 4runner, popped the hood to get to the air compressor to air up tires everything was good. Less than 24 hours later I jumped in, turned the key, and it felt like the motor was about to slap the sides of the fender. Popped the hood and saw the rats nest.

Round 1 was ignition wires, a relatively easy fix but was why the motor was running so rough.

Round 2 wasn't discovered until two days later when I shifted to 4lo. The transfer case shifted but I noticed the dashlights still seemed to think it was in 4hi. I was afraid I knew what this meant and sure enough took to dealer for diagnostic. The rats had chewed through the main wiring harness connected to the transfer case position sensor on top of the Tcase. $5581 on top of the $200.00 for the ignition problems I fixed earlier.

I have now declared Jihad against the rat bastards.

BTW: no way I'm letting the dealership drop the transmission and Tcase. And in case you're wondering the biggest effect is the inability to use locker and ATRAC etc. easily fixed by the gray wire mod, but watch yo stuff!

Too late to help you, but others may find essential oils useful in keeping mice and rats away: https://www.google.com/search?client...ls+for+rodents

We have used essential oils in our mountain cabin for years to keep the mice out. It really works.

This thread will also have some good information: Rats!

I went through that nightmare with my 2017 Porsche 911. Two wiring harnesses chewed up. Car was in the shop for 4 months and repairs totaled $30,000. Fortunately insurance covered it and car is back to normal now. I also declared war on rodents. I took all food out of the garage like dog food. Now I shine a very bright LED lamp under the car and liberally use the peppermint spray. No more rat problems. My 4Runner sits outdoors so I will spray down the engine with the peppermint spray sometimes. Should do it more often.

Duplicate of my post concerning squirrel issues:

"This MIGHT help (?). We had tree rats & mice eat up the wiring on the ATVs at a hunting camp. Don't know if squirrels are the same, but rats and mice cannot vomit! Mix baking soda with peanut butter and leave as bait. Dogs will like it, also but they can vomit. Be safe and place bait where the dogs can't get to it.

In grad school, we used peanut butter as bait when doing small rodent surveys"

Hi Nalcyon,

If you're pretty handy with small//NON Mechanical repairs, you can handle this yourself! There "Should be" a SECTIONAL wire harness to the X-fer case, and to the "ABS-ECU" on the "Master cyl"! If you look at the wires in question...

...you should be able to cut ALL of the electrical tape from the "Split-Loom" wire insulation, un-plug the damaged harness section(s), and replace these part sections with New ones from "Amazon", "Walmart" or "Ebay" OEM standard from Toyota! And you're RIGHT...

"I wouldn't let a Toyota Dealership touch my truck B'cuz of their (Proven) incompetent, ineptitude!"

~rig~ 'Best to you'

Thanks for the replies and tips! So far my poison traps have killed at least three rats I have found in the barn, one was the size of a small horse.

I'm not letting the dealership do this repair and am much more interested in fixing the damaged section and definitely not the whole harness. Insurance said they would cover it with a 500 deductible and no rise to premiums but I will probably just do this myself.

I used to have this problem with my 67 Camaro. They didn't really mess with wires too much, (not that many anyways), but had one get under the passenger seat and go to the buffet on the stuffing eventually coming through the vinyl in the back of the seat.

Its a frustration of living in the country and the reality is that even when you're vigilant there is always the possibility one will slip by and eat that 1 wire.

we had mice and shrews of all things in our last places garage. taking any trash cans out of the garage as well as any other smell/food sources (dog food, bike riding snacks, half opened drink cans) and a short skirmish with traps did it for good

I lost my last vehicle to rats destroying wire harness and 30K fix at Range Rover. Insurance covered and totaled out the car. I am much happier with my 4Runner after that experience. I now have flood lights all over my truck in the driveway.

Interesting fact: The wire casing is made with soybean. I wonder what brilliant engineer thought that up.

YOu need snakes in a 4Runner to keep the rats and mice at bay... Just be careful which snakes you hire:-)

Good idea. Then put a few hawks on the roof to keep the snakes in check.

rat-wires — ImgBB


i can i will images


Got under the vehicle and found the missing section of wire, it is between two plugs about 6inches in length. Since the two plugs are so close I should be able to replace that section without any splices, just undo the connectors, run the new wires between them, re install connectors. It is wild that a dealership would want to drop the transmission and xfer case then replace the entire wiring harness. Heck, I'll check but Toyota may even sell that specific section of wire separate.

Ya I had this happen a few months ago. Main engine wire harness with injectors. Total from dealer came in at $7800. Insurance paid with only a $100 deductible.


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Lemme guess, you live in Provo and went to BYU. They are crazy about essential oils there, even claiming they cure cancer. Definitely a Utah thing.

Has anyone tried the Honda-made spice-chili flavored anti-rodent electrical tape? It’s pricey at like 40 bucks a roll but supposedly one lick of this tape sends a rat packing.

Depending on your region, might have to step it up a notch and hit them with the ghost peppers.

I was about to ask the same thing, had it happen about 6 months ago, I think it was wires to spark plugs.

$500 to repair at dealer.

Got me interested in prevention and I saw that tape with chili and some other types. There were mixed opinions on those and on the peppermint oils. I was left wondering if any of it worked anyway.

So yeah I will be interested to hear about people's experience also.