Squirrels decided to feast on my wiring

OP that sucks, I agree though this is a repair best handled by the dealer.

I have fruit trees so I get rats occasionally. About a year ago they ate some wiring in a project car I had covered in my backyard. After that I hired a local pest control company. They placed and maintain three bait traps in my backyard monthly or more often if needed. They were out twice last month as this time of year Rats (and probably other rodents as well) tend to be more active.

 

Oh wow, I dont think I have seen that much wire damage done in such a short time. But as others have said, thats a insurance job. Its going to need a whole new harness, no mechanic would try to repair that.

 

Toyota reliability has sure gone down hill, stupid 3rd gens!

 

Contrary to popular belief, rodents don't eat wiring. All rodents, squirrels included, must constantly gnaw to keep their front incisors from over growing. Plastics provide a good density for such a thing.

It's likely it was attracted initially by the warmth and security of the engine compartment. Then nature took over

 

Yeah it blew my mind how fast it happened. Literally in the span of less than 24 hours. And yeah as soon as I saw it I was thinking it's a new harness job

My semantics aside, yes they didn't eat eat, and there's also also the theory floating around the internet about soy-based wire insulation that attracts chompy critters. How valid that theory is I have no idea but it's been happening forever.

 

First time i ever saw squirrels chew wires. Been always mice here. Squirrels usually go after nuts and seeds. At any rate hope those little bastards get indigestion.

 

I worked for Honda for a bit, so I got it there, but this stuff is the same stuff(or at least was 2 years ago).

 

This guy has a bunch of videos on traps and deterrents
https://mousetrapmonday.com/category/mousetrap/

I think he has a video of using hot sauce

I sent him the idea of see if rodent tape works never heard back

 

All of the squirrels and rats around our house have disappeared, before causing any damage. Tree rats (squirrels) did over $2500 damage to our neighbors house. The pest control company charged $500 to trap them and let them go somewhere else (near someone else's house).

 

Well Tacoma’s are pretty tasty ...

 

She's off at the dealer now, should have some more info this afternoon. Poor truck has had a rough, short life. 2 insurance claims now since summer 2019.

 

This is why I'm glad I had my rodent deterrent system installed. It only works in spring/summer/fall though, but not many rodents around for a Minnesota Winter anyways.

 

had this issue with rodents earlier this year. Got it fixed in Jan, literally 1 month later same thing happened again - thankfully insurance covered the damage otherwise it wouldve been 3-4k+ of repairs.

For me the solution was to park my truck in the garage which meant i had to re-arrange everything to make it fit. But if you don't have that option, you'll need to clean the engine bay - set traps out around the truck/outside where you park. Maybe get those flashing light rodent deterrents, but none of that is a guarantee. Good luck, as someone who just went thru this its a huge pain in the ass

 

Yeah hopefully the 3-car garage mod will come this summer when I start a new job. For now my gf's car lives in the garage. It's a one car detached and the taco literally wont fit in there. My hoopty jeep parked right next to the tacoma has been so far un-munched.

 

apparently newer cars use soy based wiring which rodents love which maybe is why your jeep was untouched?

Good luck - i was this close to getting an outdoor cat to protect my truck lol

 

Man that is just criminal I’m pretty sure I would have have just lowered the hood and had a nice cry after seeing that.

 

Yep I've seen that theory floating around the interwebz and the adjuster also mentioned that this morning so I'm certainly not throwing it out.

That's about what I did as well as a frosty adult beverage to calm down. I have a newfound disdain for squirrels as well.

 

Sucks man..I've had my 2019 in now twice for repairs, once in December and once in March. Fortunately, it wasn't nearly as bad as yours as I noticed what was happening before they could be in there for too long. The best thing I've found is cayenne pepper. Under my hood looks like the beginnings of a meal. I bought a couple rolls of the honda tape and have slowly started to wrap everything I can get too. I got the peppermint spray and a couple of those Loraffe repellents too...so basically I've purchased everything possible...haha. From what I understand, once their scent is there they will try to come back. I just got one of those squirrel traps to throw under my truck since I don't drive it that often and will see how that goes. Would be impossible to get them all out of my yard but figure if I can thin them out a bit or get the one or two that seem to now think my truck is a home that might help. It's pretty maddening always having to spray down or sprinkle pepper all over my truck, not to mention having to take a Tacoma with only 12K miles in to get wiring repaired all the time.

 

Yikes that's rough. I may go to town with a power washer after I get it back and try to get their scent out and then douse it all in peppermint oil and cayenne. I'll probably end up doing the honda tape as well but damn that stuff is expensive.

 

The tape is pretty expensive, but I've already spent $700 on repairs so there's that. We use cayenne in our garden to keep them out and it works well. Same for the truck, especially on the tops of the tires. My girlfriend saw one jump up there one day and freak out, jumped down and stuck it's face in the snow...haha.