Austin Area TW Chapter (all gens welcome, even T4Rs; heck, just make it a Toyota and we're good)

recently change any of your lamps out for LED instead of incandescent? All your lamps working? Check all fuses? Do you have a trailer connector? Check it for any corrosion. Sometimes simply pulling light connectors apart and back together again fix the issue.

 

This my wife's car and I've done nothing to it at all. I hardly even drive and was just putting it in the garage because of the forecast of possible hail.

It's at the dealer now and they'll start looking at it in the morning. The service writer called me and I read him the list of warning messages. He was impressed. Which I don't take as a good sign. He said it will probably be Monday before they have it sorted out. Since it's under warranty, I'm not worried.

We can get by with one car over the weekend and hopefully by Monday afternoon we'll have it back.

The good thing is that there's plenty of room in the garage for the Tacoma.

 

report back with the resolution

 

see y’all tomorrow

 

Not these particular codes (I don't think), but I've seen this stack up of codes on Toyotas when there's a low battery voltage situation. Last time it happened to me was in my Taco and a whole slew of things didn't work, including the gage cluster. I drained my battery when I was using the AC outlet in the tailgate all morning. I was able to coast start it (thank God for a manual!). Truck ran fine, but was still throwing codes. Got it home, plugged in my OBDII reader, read codes, cleared codes and was fine after that.

 

I don't know that the battery is the issue. That would be nice, though. I haven't heard from the dealer, but they did tell me it might not be until Monday. If I hear today I'll give an update at Pistons at the Park.

I'll wander around until I see a bunch of Tacomas and other Toyotas parked together.

 

The yota trucks park on the right side of the lot.



Can't make it this month. Will be heading to Omaha tomorrow for work.

 

Thanks.

 

Leading a scoot ride up to Miller's Smokehouse in Belton.

https://www.texasmonthly.com/bbq/ribs-and-pancakes-millers-smokehouse/

 

Does anyone have recommendations for a locksmith in the area?

 

Turns out that a rodent or rodents chewed through a wiring harness on the engine. $500.00 or so worth of damage which from what I read is not that bad.

It appears to be common down here, so if anyone has any ideas on how to prevent that sort of thing, feel free to share.

 

I threw 2 of these in the engine bay, so far haven't had any signs of rodent intrusion yet

$28 Ultrasonic Rodent Repellent for Car Engine – Battery Powered Under Hood Mouse Repeller with Flashing Strobe Light, Keeps Rats and Mice Away from Vehicle, Automobile, Truck, Garage, Attic, Barn, Shed

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07VKBHH15?ie=UTF8

 

That's interesting, thanks. I also tole my wife that she had to take the car out every day as that discourages nesting. It might be why my truck hasn't had a problem... yet. I go somewhere every day even if I have no specific place to be.

 

Yeah, even with those devices, still try to at least drive the car once per week, rodents might get used to the sound and not be deterred by them so I threw 2 of them so that the sound cadences vary.

 

Do some research in general. If I recall some say peppermint oil or some such also.

Maybe juice some Carolina Reapers and rub it around.

 

I told my wife that she has to take the car out once a day even if she has nowhere special to go.

 

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Mighty-...ors-Cars-Trucks-RVs-and-Boats-VS-16/316873052

 

I ordered some Grandpa Gus's peppermint/cinnamon spray. It got very good reviews on Amazon.

 

The first batch of stuff I ordered from Amazon came today. I put one canister under the hood of my truck and one under the hood of my wife's RAV4. There was no evidence of nesting under my hood, but there was under her's. The dealer did a good job repairing the injector wire that had been chewed through and cleaned out as much of the debris as possible. Some had fallen down in the area under where the oil fill is. I tried to vacuum that out, but to do that right would require some disassembly that I was not going to attempt.

I got a set of MaGill Forceps that I had left over from when I was a working paramedic and picked the nuts and shells out by hand. There's still a bit of shell down there, but it's much cleaner than it was.




The tech repaired the wiring, they didn't think that a new piece of harness was needed. I'm sure that saved me quite a bit of money. Car starts up and runs fine, no trouble codes.

I'm happy, so I'll name the dealer. Toyota of Cedar Park.

I also bought some packets of repellent to toss in the garage for when she parks in there. I'll spray the Grandpa Gus repellent under the hood tomorrow or whenever it's not raining.

 

Glad all is well with your wife's Rav4. I've repaired rodent-damaged wire harnesses before. It sounds daunting, but if everything is still "in place" and it's just severed wires, and you have access to them all, it's not too bad. Still, it's not something I would want to do again. I'm looking at a potential project car on Friday that's been sitting for a couple years. I'm a bit worried about what I'll find (or not find) under the hood.

I met one of the service advisors there, Kevin. Good dude. He autocrosses a Lexus IS-F with us in the Spokes club. Not an "ideal" autox car, but it is cool to see that big sedan being flogged! I typically don't have my vehicles serviced at a dealership, but I would consider Toyota of CP if I had to.