P0348 - Rats chewed up harness

So my engine light came on and took it to my nearest dealership. The code was for camshaft position sensor. Apparently rodents ate up my wires and estimated fix is $1400 for labor and harness. Anyone ran Into a similar situation and have a cheaper fix?

 

It's pretty obvious what the alternative is to pulling out the entire harness.

 

It's happened to others on here, no need for a full harness replacement. Toyota sells replacement connectors and pins, sometimes even the whole connector already pinned with a few inches of wire to just splice in with.

Edit: I leave my plastic cover off as that area under the intake manifold seems popular for rodents.

 

https://www.corsa-technic.com/item.php?item_id=969

 

I believe there is a thread here on this type of rodent damage. Might be in 2nd Gen forum, you will have to extrapolate.
The threat is real:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/man-vs-mouse-vehicle-edition.728313/

 

Thank you all! Apparently my comprehensive insurance covers rodent damage and it's a $250 deductible. I rather pay $250 over $1300+.

 

These dealerships get absolutely no sympathy from me. This is a matter splicing in a pigtail or, worse case, you have to pull the harness and then install the pigtail. Why would they need to replace the entire harness? In another post, a guy was sent on his way after an oil change that resulted in lost oil pressure due to the "techs" screw up. The dealerships remedy. Put oil back in and send the guy on his way.

If a tech had broke the housing on that connector, you think he would have pulled the harness? Hell no. He'd have spliced a new one in and probably told no one. I'm not sure I'd even have a problem with that.

 

LOL what $1400? Just get a donor pigtail and splice it back on the harness. $10-20 tops

 

Exactly....tell the "tech" to go out back and pull from a donor. Pulling the entire engine harness is going to possibly create more problems.

 

Here is another thread on the topic with lots of tips.

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

 

I hope you ask for the old harness and repair it just in case it happens again

 

Repair is easy. If you’ve got full coverage insurance typically just replaces the whole harness. But yea. Repair is easy once the plenum is off

that being said I’ve done 6-7 of these for damage in the same spot, when they opt to go through insurance they throw whole harnesses in it.

 

I'm surprised the Tacoma doesn't have the rodent-resistant cover on the harness. This happened to one of my older cars, a 2004 Acura MDX. The replacement cable had a wrap that was supposed to be rodent resistant. Rat/Mouse damage to wiring harnesses is fairly common, especially on older vehicles.

Maybe I'll need to start placing mouse traps under where I park my 2022 Tacoma

 

This is happening so often now. What are they making wires out of these days, licorice whips?

 

I had the wiring harness in my Tundra get chewed at the firewall a few years ago. My comprehensive insurance covered it, otherwise that would have been ~$10k (according to the shop I took it to). Fortunately that was the only time this has happened to me.

 

https://www.freep.com/story/news/lo...8/05/07/rats-rodents-cars-vehicles/578398002/ car manufacturers switched to the environmentally friendly wire sheathing some time ago. There are steps you can take, like spraying exposed wires with peppermint oil, according to the article, apparently rodents don't like it.

 

Can someone inform me of where I can locate this picture (minus the chewing) on my vehicle.

 

go to the dealer and ask for the pigtail of that connector and splice it in by yourself. pigtail will probably be less than 30$

 

10 mins or your money back lol

 

$2.66 plus shipping on the parts for the pigtail...