Critters Chewing on Wiring

[SchwarzeEwigkt]

So, last night I went to go someplace and my car wouldn’t start. Cranks, but won’t fire. Ran fine until I parked it. Pulled codes and have one for the crank position sensor and for one of the knock sensors. Took a peek under the intake manifold and noticed the wire loom was chewed open, the knock sensor wires are gone, and it looks like the CPS wire is partly chewed through. Seems I get to spend the next few days pulling my manifold and doing wiring. Delightful.

 

I’ve never had this happen before, so I’m not sure what you do to avoid this in the future. What have you folks done to keep critters out? This is a monumental pain in my ass that I have no interest in repeating.

 

 

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[Plastixx]

I experienced this for the very first time a few months ago on my daughters car (I'm also in NY) . She called me in a panic because she was running late for a dentist appointment and said the car would shake violently when she tried to put it in reverse.

 

Went and scanned it for codes and got a half dozen different transmission codes about solenoids and turbine speeds. Thought the valve body took a dump. Decided to snoop around the engine bay and noticed a plug on the tranny with two cut wires. They were cut right at the plug and were so clean it looked like it was done with a razor, but that was impossible, so it had to have been a squirrel. Went to the junkyard and got another plug to splice on and the car came right back to life.

 

There are all kinds of animal/rodent repellent sprays available. Not sure how well they work or how long they last. I've heard mothballs also work. Put some in small cloth bags and strategically place them in the bay.

[NVAKeith]

Learned about the existence of Honda “rodent tape” watching South Main Auto videos on YouTube. When you patch up the chewed area, add some of this tape to deter future chewing. Doesn’t help the rest of the harness though!

 

https://www.collegehillshonda.com/product/4019-2317.html

[Scubaboo]

Anyone have experience on which of the various sprays or scents work to keep the rodents out?

 

An outdoor cat will work too. They may scratch up your car if they decide to get up on the hood or roof though

[FLlegacy]

I believe the wire insulation is made in part from soy which makes it attractive to rodents, I've had my O2 sensor wire loom chewed on a little bit and my engine cover peed on regularly. I put baits in those areas on my car to fix the problem.

[stewdogg]

I had some chewed through wires on my A/C compressor wiring a couple years ago. That led to me finding out I had an infestation in my detached garage. I spent the summer trying to get rid of them. I tired a bunch of stuff, but the only thing that worked was to clean everything, close up all the ways a mouse/mole could get into the garage and take any possibility of food or shelter away. Turns out the rodents had created a few ways into the garage. I stuffed some steel wool in the holes and added some spray foam along with it.

I figure they started in the pile of wood I had behind the garage. Taking the wood away and fortifying the holes with steel wool/foam seems to have gotten rid of them for the last few years.

 

Non of the smelly things seem to last long enough to be effective on their own. The sprays and even the cheaper option of fabric softeners only last day or two. You really need to find the source of the little critters.

[SchwarzeEwigkt]

So, this happened to me again. Luckily both this time and the last time my insurance company was willing to cover the repair under my comp policy. "Just" had to fork out my deductible both times, which sucks.

 

I park my car outside and don't put much mileage on it due to the fact that I'm still totally work from home. What I really need to do is clean out the garage early this year so I can put my car in there. Luckily, my wife volunteered to drive my car to work a couple days a week just to keep it a moving target. Hopefully that'll help until I can make room for the car in the garage.

 

I've also ordered a little ultrasonic doohickey with LED strobes on it I'm going to try strapping to the bottom of the intake manifold. Either it'll make that little hidey-hole between the manifold and the block inhospitable or it'll turn it into a sweet rave party for the little bastards that'll distract them enough to not chew on my wiring...