PSA: Rodent proof your engine before it's too late! (P0333 - DIY Knock sensor harness repair)

I did this last week, took about 8 hours but I took my time and did some PM work while I was there….

added two altoids cans with moth balls! Mounted on fender wells.

 

Bringing this thread back ! I am looking at a p0333 code. it was there after the truck sat in the driveway for 2 days so take preventative measures if you can.

 

Sorry to hear that slossboss. FWIW I do quite a bit of camping and parking at remote trailhead and I keep a box of laundry linen sheets in my bed and I put 4 of them in my hood at each corners when I'm camping or hiking. Been successful at keeping those critters at bay

 

need to do this. Happened again to me about a month ago also. Filed an insurance claim and took about a week for me to get my truck back. Keep your head up Sloss.

 

I appreciate the sympathy. I have wiring harness and rodent repellent on the way and I’m ready to dive in!

Used a cheap borescope. Check out the photos !




Gross ! Hope this is the correct harness.

 

Try This


Not only does it deter rats/rodents it also keeps them from squeaking
https://pestcontrolweekly.com/does-wd-40-kill-rats/?expand_article=1

The lady that owned our family desert house used ivory soap bars in the car but I did see turds in the car she gave us but not many and considering there are so many rodents out there the poop was minimal. Please don't ask me to define minimal poop.

P.S. my buddy would always spray his engine compartment to keep it looking good with WD-40.

 

You have to catch them before they get to your engine. A good mouser cat that lives in your garage is good, but the better solution is a drown pail. If you don't know about these just look on U-Tube,it takes less than an hour to build and it works 24/7 with little maintenance. We catch dozens of mice every year with one.

 

Okay!



I was able to complete the repair this weekend by replacing the damaged wire. I’ve replaced my brake calipers, but this was my first time tackling something like this and I’m super glad I did. Code has vanished and truck is driving normally again.

I spent $50 on the replacement harness. And about $45 on a set of replacement manifold gaskets.
I then spent about $150 on essential tools, but you know I had to get good lighting and gold plated ratchets for Black Friday!

some thoughts:
Have a variety of ratchets and extensions. There is a very difficult to reach 10mm bolt in a recessed bracket on the rear of the plenum. I was able to use a 1/4” flex head with a wobble extension.
A shop vac with appropriate attachments really helped me clean around the air intakes to remove debris
Start early and you can be done in a day assuming you are prepared. Which was not the case for me.
There is nothing overly technical if you are fortunate enough to connect a new plug . If this was not possible for me, I very likely would’ve had to proceed with cutting the coolant pipe and all that.
Big thanks to everyone who has left wisdom here in these threads because it made this possible for me !

 

Thanks for this! Completed the job this morning, after driving the truck around for a few weeks with the code and avoiding going highway speeds. Took about 5 hours. I soldered the existing wires to the new harness plug because I couldn’t get the rest of the harness out without removing the pipes. Most difficult part was unclipping and clipping the plug and soldering without much room to move/pull on wires.

I put a bunch of peppermint oil down in the valley by the wires, hopefully that’s enough to stop future issues.

This thread was extremely helpful!

 

Well its my turn - gonna attempt this myself I think if I don't have to remove the cylinder head. Not clear on those that did it with just removing the manifold if we have same car - I have a 2006 4wd 4.0L tacoma - I can't tell if the 4wd would make this different or not. Thanks guys