Rodent Damage - 2008 LC200

[elk]

I alternate driving my modded 100 series and the 200. I last drove the 200 five days ago. Yesterday I got into the vehicle and was greeted by the PCS warning light. PCS? What the heck is that? Since my wife and I were headed out, we took her car while I searched Mud for a solution.

I found several threads about a pre -collision sensor and went about popping the hood to take a look at the suspect component. I was greeted by this lovely nest.

Squirrely had chewed through my wiring harness at the fuse box. ABS, VSC, PCS, brake, hazard, and assorted other lights are now on. He made it through 7-10 wires that I can see. Normally I would trace these back and solder them, but there are a jumble of shredded connections and frayed wires. I don't want to do more harm.

Thankfully my insurance will cover it and I managed to limp it to the dealer. Has anyone else had similar experiences? I hate using my insurance but really don't want to R&R this one myself.

 

[bloc]

Get ready for an insane repair bill for the harness and especially labor to replace it.

7-10 seems easy to manage for a repair, especially with Toyota’s tendency to clearly differentiate circuits by color.. but then you might impact the long term reliability of the wiring with solder vs the factory crimps.

Time to get an outside cat?

 

[lowenbrau]

It’ll keep happening. Soy insulation is irresistible to critters. Toyota seems to be avoiding liability so far.

Toyota wins dismissal of suit over rodent-damaged soy-based wiring

A federal judge dismissed a class-action lawsuit against Toyota that sought compensation for damage caused by rodents chewing through insulation for engine wiring.

www.autonews.com

 

[prharper]

When was the last time you popped the hood? Crazy how it nested in there.

 

[elk]

I changed the oil two weekends ago. I checked the oil level again last weekend. He was a busy fellow.

 

[elk]

Toyota wants 9.5k to replace the harness at 30 hrs of labor. My mechanic can repair the harness for under $1k and warrant the work. I'm going to go with the repair, I can't justify opening up that much of the truck.

 

[619TOY]

Toyota wants 9.5k to replace the harness at 30 hrs of labor. My mechanic can repair the harness for under $1k and warrant the work. I'm going to go with the repair, I can't justify opening up that much of the truck.

A highly skilled tech can repair almost any rodent damage so I wouldn’t be concerned as long as you trust your tech’s skills. Hopefully the warranty you referenced is at least five years to lifetime. One of the biggest concerns with these types of repairs is making sure the connections are air and water tight. Getting things working again is only part of the battle. If the connections aren’t water tight, the wire will start the break down due to corrosion or oxidation and that can take years to cause problems to reappear and then you’re looking at replacing larger sections of wire to remove the corroded sections. FWIW any electrical work our shop does is warranted for life, but that’s pretty much exclusively new installations.

 

[Sandroad]

Get ready for an insane repair bill for the harness and especially labor to replace it.

7-10 seems easy to manage for a repair, especially with Toyota’s tendency to clearly differentiate circuits by color.. but then you might impact the long term reliability of the wiring with solder vs the factory crimps.

Time to get an outside cat?

You called that one. Insane is the right word!

 

[CharlieS]

Have you cleaned out the leaves and determined the extent of the damage? From the pictures above it appears limited to some ground wires and a blue wire. It looks like it could easily be repaired if that is all it is.

Replacement is a whole other ball of wax. Factory harnesses are typically very expensive. I had to replace the entire main harness to engine harness on a 911 a couple of years ago because of rodent damage, and that was a full strip down, interior out job.

 

[bloc]

Engine room harness on most Toyota’s can be pulled without tearing out the interior, save for the driver and passenger kick panel. Mr T is pretty good about making these modular. But still, LOTS of digging around in the engine bay and probably fair amount of disassembly to get the harness installed properly.

Shouldn’t be anywhere near 30 hours. Likely they quoted very high because they didn’t really want the job, but if someone were willing to pay enough they’d take it.

 

[bloc]

OP, ask your mechanic if he has any experience with high quality crimps vs solder. Over the long term a crimp is a much better way to join wires when there is vibration to deal with.. the relatively gradual compression of the strands coming out of the crimp spreads out the bending vs the sharp spot where it comes out of a solder joint.

I read a very long article about what a major supplier does for WRC car harnesses and it was all crimps.

 

[OregonLC]

And solder joints marginally increase the resistance in the connection vs a crimp.

In my own practice, I tend to solder < 16ga and crimp >= 16ga. I find that it's hard for the crimp to bind as securely on small wire. And the light gauge is much easier to get a quick solder joint with full penetration. But whether crimping or soldering, I always use a high quality 3:1 adhesive shrink sleeve over the joint or crimped connector end.

 

[Weedhopper]

OVERNIGHT, mice got into the Tundra, in the garage, into a closed console and had Thanksgiving dinner. I will never leave any kind of food in a vehicle again. Or maybe they went for the food instead of the wires ? Who knows.

 

[SharpeCat]

Yeah seems like they have made their demand, now pay your taxes or the wires gets it!

On a more serious note, hope you get this figured out. I was going to link you some hamster bowls and rodent food but that might send the wrong message unless you are looking to adopt them.

 

[elk]

It looks like the repair is finished. Chewed locations were by the brake booster, main fuse harness, and ground terminals. There were 5 sections of wire replaced and 3 reconnected. The wires are waterproofed, rewrapped and bundled back together. I may further put them into a plastic sheath when I get the truck back. Insurance paid for 6 hours of labor.

If this were my 100, I would have chased it down myself. I'm too new to the 200 and lack the service manuals I have for my other Cruiser. I prefer to let Toyota take the liability for a bungled connection. Thankfully I will end up paying only my deductable.

I will be paying more frequent attention under the hood after this, but I am still amazed at how quickly all of this happened.

 

[Weedhopper]

Dryer sheets stuck in crevices of the engine bay, the little openings in the sheet metal seems to work. I have a friend who stopped driving but kept his MB outside at assisted living. A year ago I thought I smelled mouse pee so I stuck the sheets in the engine bay crevices and a couple on the passengers floor. No more smell, no more little nest like I found.

I never thought it would happen overnight in the Tundra.

 

[04UZJ100]

Glad it’s all fixed. So you’re saying dryer sheets can prevent this from occurring?

 

[raynger]

My bill for wire repair was $700 at my local toyota dealer here in Orange County CA. I live in the foothills and many residents have fruit trees. Its a haven for rats and squirrels. Every two weeks or so, I've been putting drops of peppermint oil on various areas in the engine bay and that seems to keep them away.

 

[Weedhopper]

Glad it’s all fixed. So you’re saying dryer sheets can prevent this from occurring?

Seems too. I can’t stand dryer sheets in the laundry so maybe it works, LOL.

If you google it many people many times write to use “Bounce” dryer sheets. Not sure that’s true or a plug for Bounce. Generic sheets work fine for me.

 

[hkeller]

Insurance should cover this. Squirrels are the harness on my father-in-law 's Explorer, insurance paid.