Wire Harnesses in New Cars

[texas swede]

A friend of mine in Plano, TX bought a new Japanese pickup truck 2 years ago. Two weeks ago, the car would not start.
It's parked on the curb outside his house. Rats had attacked the wire harnesses inside the engine compartment.
This is in suburbia and very nice neighborhood. He did some investigation and found out that cable insulation in most modern cars is made of a plant-based mixture including soy. All done in the name of saving the planet. Expensive lesson for him.
Texas Swede

[gt350shelb]

common problem even in ford vehicles ....... they have added :"hot pepper" to some of newer models  harness insulation 

[Lincoln tech]

I have never seen a rat only mice and squirrels , here is one that destroyed injector harness and didn't make it .

[KR500]

Worst/most damage by far that I see is from Mice! Followed by Squirrels and Chipmunks. Most often that I see is when customers have sent their kid off to collage and the car sets for long periods of time. Kid comes home for the holidays, now car will not start, runs poorly, MIL on and or other things don't work now. Critters have moved in and set up home. Various insulation martial is their favorite nesting and chewing material.

[TOBKOB]

They don't have to be very large to create BIG issues...

TOB

[NC TRACKRAT]

Chipmunks are just as big a nuisance and can do as much damage as a mouse.  We have numerous mouse traps and a Hav-A-Heart trap set in strategic places all around the periphery of our garage.  The garage door is never left open unless someone is standing right in front of it.

[s2ms]

Mice got into my wife's Cayenne 2 years ago and did $20K worth of damage. Porsche basically confirmed the wiring harness insulation was made from Purina rodent chow.

[gt350shelb]

Had  a f150 that was totalled due to rodents . are harnesses and radiator hoses /intake manifold/ heater hoses were chewed right to the firewall flush.

[doublemyv]

Here in the SoCal desert area, we have the same rodent problem.   After my 2019 Ford Transit 250 Van had a $ 2,000 repair for a sub-harness to the knock sensors under the intake, I bought the Mouse Blocker Pro 12v edition.  I used pop rivets to mount the small unit ( about the size of a pack of cigarettes ) to the top of the fuse box inside the engine compartment.   It is designed to emit various high frequency noises, and flash small LED lights randomly.    It is ON anytime the engine if OFF.   The unit has technology that will turn it off anytime the battery voltage drops below 12v.    When the engine is on, and the unit senses voltage of 13.7 or more, the unit is OFF.      The Mouse Blocker Pro was installed 2 1/2 years ago.  Since then, no rodent damage.   I am not affiliated in any way with the Mouse Blocker product, just a Shelby owner with a Van that is parked outside for the last 5 years.   Mark