Rodent chewed injector wire

Ok, truck is repaired and running good. Missed a ski day in Crystal because of this issue. Baited my front yard, added some garlic powder to the parking area. Next is putting peppermint in the engine compartment and adding the Honda rodent resistant tape to the wire in areas that are accessible. I will post some pictures and links during the rodent war.

My wife thinks I have gone Caddy Shack. Mess with a man's truck and Caddy Shack is the only option. Not to the dynamite stage yet, but not out of the question.
 
wfo9 said:
I have a 1989 Toyota pickup. It sits in a barn. I use it every two weeks or so. Don't have to worry about rodents with it. If it was my 5th gen.. no way it would still run. It's completely different now. The soy based wires are very attractive and it happens constantly. Toyota's seem to be the most attractive for some reason, but it does happen to other brands.

Another theory that I have is that they do like newer vehicles that are clean. The more grime and oil... they less they mess with it.
Click to expand...

I thought Hondas were tastier for the rodents than Toyota Soy wiring.
 
Update #1- Now that injector wire #4 is fixed- this was the service advisor's feedback- rodents like the warm engine area just under the intake to escape the cold. Unfortunately, to repair the #4 injector wire the upper intake needs to be removed. Thus the expensive repair. The service adviser remarked that it usually is the #4 injector wire that is most often chewed, in his opinion.

The PLAN- Going to add peppermint oil to 2 magnetic GuardFather cans in the. engine compartment; Honda anti rodent tape on all accessible wires. Unfortunately, the injector wires under the intake are not accessible, so I plan to spay a small amount of pepper spray on these. I plan to add peppermint oil about every 2-3month and certainly before going camping. As to the pepper spray, not sure yet but it would also need to be reapplied.

Any advice on the feasibility of spraying a small about of pepper spray on the inaccessible injector wires under the intake? If it matters I am going to use Fox peeper spray 5.3. https://shop.foxlabs.com/collections/five-point-three.

Happy to hear feedback. Yes, I know that I have gone a little Caddy Shack.
 
Last edited:
Barabus said:
Update #1- Now that injector wire #4 is fixed- this was the service advisor's feedback- rodents like the warm engine area just under the intake to escape the cold. Unfortunately, to repair the #4 injector wire the upper intake needs to be removed. Thus the expensive repair. The service adviser remarked that it usually is the #4 injector wire that is most often chewed, in his opinion.

The PLAN- Going to add peppermint oil to 2 magnetic GuardFather cans in the. engine compartment; Honda anti rodent tape on all accessible wires. Unfortunately, the injector wires under the intake are not accessible, so I plan to spay a small amount of pepper spray on these. I plan to add peppermint oil about every 2-3month and certainly before going camping. As to the pepper spray, not sure yet but it would also need to be reapplied.

Any advice on the feasibility of spraying a small about of pepper spray on the inaccessible injector wires under the intake? If it matters I am going to use Fox peeper spray 5.3. https://shop.foxlabs.com/collections/five-point-three.

Happy to hear feedback. Yes, I know that I have gone a little Caddy Shack.
Click to expand...

Damn, well I am paranoid now. I've luckily never had the issue or known anyone with it. I had my 2010 since late 2009 without issue and just got my 2016. I am now thinking about getting some of those cans to hopefully prevent this from happening ever though.
 
Barabus said:
Update #1- Now that injector wire #4 is fixed- this was the service advisor's feedback- rodents like the warm engine area just under the intake to escape the cold. Unfortunately, to repair the #4 injector wire the upper intake needs to be removed. Thus the expensive repair. The service adviser remarked that it usually is the #4 injector wire that is most often chewed, in his opinion.

The PLAN- Going to add peppermint oil to 2 magnetic GuardFather cans in the. engine compartment; Honda anti rodent tape on all accessible wires. Unfortunately, the injector wires under the intake are not accessible, so I plan to spay a small amount of pepper spray on these. I plan to add peppermint oil about every 2-3month and certainly before going camping. As to the pepper spray, not sure yet but it would also need to be reapplied.

Any advice on the feasibility of spraying a small about of pepper spray on the inaccessible injector wires under the intake? If it matters I am going to use Fox peeper spray 5.3. https://shop.foxlabs.com/collections/five-point-three.

Happy to hear feedback. Yes, I know that I have gone a little Caddy Shack.
Click to expand...

Usually you only have to worry in the winter. Spring and summer is warm enough and fall they are too busy gathering food. Winter is worst for this type of crap. I have witnessed entire seat cushions chewed up for nesting material. My point is it's not just wiring. Holes chewed through wood for access. Rubber grommets chewed up for access. Plastic (all petroleum) chewed up. Wiring insulation is just the one thing that can really be expensive.
 
1engineer said:
Usually you only have to worry in the winter. Spring and summer is warm enough and fall they are too busy gathering food. Winter is worst for this type of crap. I have witnessed entire seat cushions chewed up for nesting material. My point is it's not just wiring. Holes chewed through wood for access. Rubber grommets chewed up for access. Plastic (all petroleum) chewed up. Wiring insulation is just the one thing that can really be expensive.
Click to expand...

Agreed. My problem seems correlated with the unusually cold and snowy Winter we are having in the PNW.
 
Dang Rodents

Find it funny...well not really but had the same issue Back in June 2018 with a rodent getting into and destroying my whole engine wiring harness on my 2013 4runner. Thankfully it was covered under my comprehensive insurance cost me my $500 deductible. Fast fwd to January 11th the 4runner was dropped back of at my local dealership pending insurance company adjuster to take pictures for the same problem 7months later . So have a feeling will be getting dropped from my insurance after my truck gets fixed this time costing them 14k to fix a problem a judge dismissed case against Toyota in December of 2017..
 
Barabus said:
...
The PLAN- Going to add peppermint oil to 2 magnetic GuardFather cans in the. engine compartment; Honda anti rodent tape on all accessible wires. Unfortunately, the injector wires under the intake are not accessible, so I plan to spay a small amount of pepper spray on these. I plan to add peppermint oil about every 2-3month and certainly before going camping. As to the pepper spray, not sure yet but it would also need to be reapplied.
...
Click to expand...

Maybe hold off on the pepper spray. I've heard that rats either can't taste it or actually like it and it doesn't work for this purpose.

As someone else pointed out, it may require something more along the lines of a petroleum based product to make them really stay away. Though purposely coating your wires with oil isn't the kind of thing you would think you would want to be doing outside of the rodent problem.

I'm not actually offering this as advice because I have no experience with it, but using like a can of spray chain lube to spray the wires while holding a shop rag behind them to keep it from getting on everything might be worth trying.

That will of course collect dust and be grimy, but that's the very thing likely to put them off.
 
We have had a lot of these claims this winter and i had a couple different adjusters tell me that coyote urine works real well. Humans can't smell it and rodents hate it. you can buy it on amazon or any hunting store. Spray under hood and you should be good to go.
 
Just had this happen to me and dealer quoted me $6000 to replace the harness. Not sure if I should try another independent shop to just try re-connect the wires. Would this affect warranty?
 
You may be just unlucky, but the version with soy wires is more likely. This is very sad because you will have to spend money on repairs. And this does not mean that this will not happen again. There is a high probability that rodents will bite the wires on your car again. It would be best to clean the garage itself and get rid of the mice in your garage. Only in this case will they stop biting the wires of your car.
I usually use the services of the pest removal company https://pestcontrolservicesmaryland.com. You can find more information on their website (or, of course, you can check other companies like that). Good luck!
 
Last edited:
i park my 4runner next to my trash bin. they like the trash better. i've never had a mice ate my wire. give them some options. lol!
 
Another Seattle-area casualty here: 2019 4Runner SR5 in suburban north Edmonds (Meadowdale), regularly parked in driveway since purchased new four years ago. During few-day period up to Memorial Day a brown rat female built a nest under engine cover, totally chewing through and consuming injector wire harness #2 and part of wire harness #3. $773 repair from Swickard Toyota, which I'll eat instead of dinging my insurance policy.

Have been parking vehicles in this driveway for 25 years and never an encounter like this. Rat population spike, cat population drop and some randomness caught up to me.

All the mumbo-jumbo and folk remedies around rodent deterrents are depressing, but so are multi-hundred-dollar repair bills. Will try some variant of mint as future prevention.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Members online

Total: 240 (members: 3, guests: 237)

Forum statistics

Threads
278,311
Messages
3,554,082
Members
248,016
Latest member
Advally Service

Share this page

Trending content

Back
Top