Main Engine Wiring Harness - $5,400 replacement

Thanks I'll keep that in mind if the repair shop says something similar after taking a look at it.

What was the fault with the harness, did you ever find out what was wrong with it?

 

Hmm that's a good idea. We have a cat so definitely looking for a non toxic route.

 

I haven't no, surprisingly because I also own a 1992 Jeep Cherokee and of anything would give me electrical trouble I'd expect it to be the Jeep.

 

Think the entire dash has to come out in order to replace the harness ,that's why $$$$$$

 

There was short somewhere in it. Not sure how it was damaged. Showed up as an airbag light on the dash. I didn’t get too much more info since they decided to cover it.

 

I installed something similar in a car and had good results. A mouse was chewing the washer fluid hose and there hasn't been any damage after the install.

https://www.whateverworks.com/itemd...Z4wCaTWD5LAVCEziQj5Zggj-LpZPWDfBoCR00QAvD_BwE

 

No unfortunately we're still in move in mode, the garage is full of boxes so I've had it parked in the driveway or on the street since I bought it.

 

I wouldn’t let that dealership touch my truck again, try another dealer sounds like they caused more damage. Unless they can prove rodent damage I would push for a warranty claim and contact Toyota corporate if I had to.

 

Here u go op

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Genuine-Ho...Proof-Electrical-Tape-4019-2317-/321316218722

 

That looks good but spendier than some other options I'm seeing. I'll bookmark it!

 

Well this is 100% not rodent damage so push for warranty repair.

 

Agree with others, that doesn't look like rodent damage in any way. There is not a single mark in that picture that looks like rodent teeth. Are there chew marks on anything else in the engine bay? Also, what is that wet looking residue all over the wires? It's common to use dielectric grease to lube the wires when pulling new, but I don't see a wire in there not wrapped into the factory harness.

Be careful about how you approach this, the dealer is saying it's rodents, insurance will likely want a look and will conclude like we here did that it's not rodents. So then the finger pointing starts, meanwhile you are left with a dead truck. If nobody claims it, it's on you. Hopefully one or the other steps up for you.

As to deter rodents, I keep traps around, and my hoods up all the time. Check on them daily for any activity. If I see something, I ramp up extra deterrents.

 

Thanks for the response. I'm not sure what you mean by something looking wet, are you talking about in that mess of wires? If so it looks to me like the wire coating is melting but I don't know. And I worry you are right about the finger pointing. All the dealership tech said was usually this kind of wiring damage is caused by rodents, call your insurance and see what they say. I just need it fixed so I am starting the hoop jumping process to see what my options are. My concern is that if insurance doesn't agree with the cause of damage, then there may be some other issue that caused this and that's going to open a new can of worms.

I'm thinking about trying to mount a trap somewhere under the hood in the short-term, but I'll defintely be checking things frequently in the short-term.

 

Maybe I just can't make it out from that pic, but I don't see any damage? Just looks like adhesive residue. They said something about hot wires? It wouldn't be there at the grommet unless something is grounding out/shorted and it looks like insulation is intact. Connectors, points of possibly increased resistance is where you could get heat.

Sounds to me like a tech that doesn't know wtf is going on stabbing around. If it were me, and the only symptom I was seeing was loss of cruise control, I'd have started there looking at the print. Hopefully they didn't cause any more damage than was already there. At any rate, take the truck somewhere else...

 

Thanks for the reply. The truck is currently at another shop being evaluated for possible comprehensive claim. You may be right, maybe that's just adhesive or something? I couldn't get in good enough to take a look before it got towed, just what the tech showed me at the shop. No idea if they took anything apart to get a better look, he showed me essentially what is in the pic.

 

By the wet looking stuff, I meant the the black residue on the the white wires for example. It looks like that black stuff would be a wet sticky goo, almost like grease - dielectric grease is clearish white though. Could be the adhesive from the wiring wrap, but it's embedded into the bundle which seems odd.

When wire insulation gets really hot, it melts and balls up, but when exposed to elevated temperature over a long period of time it gets brittle, cracks, and flakes cleanly off the wire. I don't see either of that in the picture.

 

That is a thought I have increasingly had with people saying it doesn't look like typical rodent damage. Truck was about a year and a half old and had ~21k miles when I got it at the end of 2019. It seemed like it was in good shape but I unfortunately don't know much about it's history.

 

Not sure if these 3rd gens have a clock spring, ribbon cable like the 2nd gens. But loss of cruise control was the first symptom of that nonsense

 

Yeah that was certainly my hope, though the code was something voltage related, literally no other issues I could find other that Cruise control not working. Unfortunately it very much appears that was not even the beginning of my issues.

 

Ok. Was just throwing it out there. As others have said. Totally a weird place for the harness to get eaten.