Rodent damage

Wanted to make a comment, but nope…

 

Fluid Film the frame and suspension. The smell/texture should help keep them away. Put traps out, shoot them, etc..

 

I would buy a doggie, keep him close to your garage maybe, or buy a cat. Other than that, prob have to kill rodents, also maybe traps. As far as warranty, I don't think it will cover it, but insurance company might have something for you.

 

Here is an update on the Toyota soy based wiring lawsuit.

https://www.carcomplaints.com/news/2021/toyota-soy-wiring-lawsuit.shtml

There is a famous quote that may apply here. “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”

 

Gotta love that class action. You’ll get $2.18 and the liars will get 50 mil a pop. Oh and the mouse is going to mouse.

gotta love the fact that you’re not addressing or care to address the root cause (mice) and are attempting to blame/sue the truck manufacturer.

I also haven’t seen the air intake tube with damage as such. Bizzare

 

If you can leave the hood up on your truck. This time of the year the rodents love the dark warm area of your truck when you park it. Moth balls or Irish spring soap in fabric bags placed in your engine compartment and undercarriage. Watch your air intake ,I placed a metal screen around the intake because rodents got in and started to chew up my air filter. The intake for your cabin air should also be screened as you will find them nesting on your cabin air filter. The next thing I'm going to do is shoot a coyote,cut the tail off and tie it up in the engine compartment.

 

If you’re a hunter, this won’t bother you. Others it might. You can buy urine for different predators. Coyote urine is intense and absolutely stinks for months. Fox urine on the other hand smells for about 2 days but keeps those jackass mice away for months. Just my 2 drachma

 

I don't use poison because the local cats will eat the rats and become sick if the rats ingest the poison.

The last time this happened to my wife's car, I set up a game camera to determine how many rodents and where and when they were entering. I also put out non-poisonous traps like an

$21 OWLTRA Indoor Electric Mouse Trap, Instant Eliminate Rodent Zapper with Pet Safe Trigger, Black, Small

electric trap or a

$20 Feeke Rat Trap, Large Mouse Traps, Mouse Traps Indoor for Home, Instant Kill Traps for Mouse Rat Chipmunk, Quick Set Up and Reusable - 6 Pack, Black

Jaw rat trap. Leaving the engine open seems to be popular around here. I also put 1/4" wire mesh over the air and cabin intake as @Hunter gatherer suggested.

 

Read your policy before filing a claim. Some policies exclude damage caused by vermin. Rodents are vermin. At least make it look like raccoon damage before filing the claim.

As far as calling Toyota to complain and threatening to sue...

 

the “part out” comment is still up for grabs!

 

I feel for you OP, this sounds like a frustrating situation that many others including myself have had to deal with. Your situation definitely sounds worse then mine was but in the end I think it will be best to try and control the little critters, I really don’t think you’ll get anywhere with Toyota as this issue is nothing new with many manufacturers

 

Here is another thread with pictures of rodent damage and lots of suggestions.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/effing-mice.461226/

 

Still no mice and scares the crap out of the service guy ... coyote tail

 

IIRC the 3rd Gen Tacoma does not have any soy based wiring insulation.

 

Set up traps on your front tires (I assume the rodents are climbing the tires) and possibly sticky traps in the affected area in the engine bay
Good Luck

 

I got 3 cats, there is no way a mouse will make it more than a hour in my house.

 

Unless we park inside a house with cats, we are all vulnerable to this, especially those of us who have to park outside and probably more so those of us who have kids and like to eat and leave food residue in the truck.

We can do things to deter rodents, like trying to spray smelly stuff in the engine compartment (my favorites are cayenne pepper and anti-cribbing spray from a feed store). I especially worry about getting stranded due to rodent damage when we are camping in remote areas, so I don’t park near shrubs with pack rat nests in them, and I try to leave the hood up overnight.

 

Squirrels do it here. Several times, skip a generation, then at it again.
Not much success shooting the squirrels but anyone caught feeding them will be a bigger target!