Rodent damage

I'd try taking the entire air box off before taking the intake manifold off. It looks like if you take it off it may give you enough access if you can get a little slack from under the manifold. Also see if you can pull it back toward the firewall to get a little more slack, splice on pigtails and fish it back under the manifold and complete the work.

I had some rodent take the firewall insulation off on the passenger side. Mine's a daily driver except it may sit a day or 2 on weekends. Luckily there was no other damage.

Get you a good crimp tool and some heat shrink or even solder them for a better connection. The plastic loom is easy to find at places like Advance or NAPA and available in many sizes.

 

You would need to determine:
-what gauge wire to use
-how to have it connected at terminal pin ends
-what terminal pin removal tool to buy, to use for freeing pins from the plastic connector housings

 

Thanks that’s the direction I’m thinking. As long as I can get some slack from under the manifold or pull it back and out I can do that side.

 

If you have insurance now is the time to use it.
Slicing wires are a short term fix. Replacing the harness is a better option especially if insurance pays for it.

 

While I don't recommend them as a reference for serious work, for something like pulling off the intake and associated hardware,

$36 Toyota Tacoma: 2005 thru 2015 All 2WD and 4WD models (Haynes Repair Manual)

Hayne's & Chilton's manuals are fine.

 

You will also want to check your cabin filter, mice like to crawl in through the fresh air vent and build nests on top of it. There are a couple posts on a mod to keep them out.

I’ve had good success keeping mice and rats out of my cars by keeping one or two of these pouches wedged next to the battery

 

The hardest part of taking the intake off is.... Nothing really. It's pretty straightforward. It looks like you only need to take the plenum off, not the runners to each cylinder.

After removing the air filter cover from the tube, that's only 2 bolts, the clamp around the throttle body, and a vacuum hose in back, iirc. Oh ya, unplug the MAF sensor. Lol
The other side reality isn't that bad though you really want an allen wrench in a socket base to remove the bolts securing the upper and lower manifold halves. Unplug the throttle body, remove the 2 hoses and the brackets supporting the plenum on the driver's side.

Get a table, lay everything out as it came off, take pictures... And, take your time.

You could be working on those wires comfortably in less than an hour.

As for repairing the wires, the best solution is soldering and water tight shrink tubing with the glue on the inside. If you can find crimp splices with the water tight shrink tubing, run with that. Buy a tool specifically for crimping wires. Make sure the crimp dies are not on the handle side of the pivot. Do NOT use the die with the bump inside. It'll break through the shrink tube.

They also make the 2 in 1 shrink/solder tubes, but I've not had the best of luck with them.

 

Thanks for the run down.

 

I had a marmot chew up dozens of wires ~10 years ago in my 2009. It took 10+ hours to fix by soldering, splicing, and adding heat shrink. 100k miles later, no issues. This is not something that requires a lot of skill, just time and patience. If you need experience, practice first on trial wires.

 

If you are in an area with rodents, leave the hood open overnight. Opening the space up keeps them from feeling safe and keeps them from hanging out and nesting under your hood. You can also spray bobcat urine on and around your truck. (they sell it in spray bottles) We have a lot of rodent issues in my area, they cause tons of damage.

 

I had the exact same thing happen to me in the exact same spot 2 months ago. FRUSTRATING. It took me a while to figure out a rat chewed through 4-5 wires that go to the passenger-side camshaft actuator. My check engine and one other light was on. Code P0020.

I ended up soldering new wire based on a YT video by ChrisFix (I think that's his name). I don't trust crimps in that area. He gave a good tip of lubing with a little dielectric grease under the shrink tubing to further block moisture. Always one to overdo it, I used shrink tubing on the individual solder connections, put shrink tubing over the entire repair for each wire, wrapped the entire thing in electrical tape, encased in the plastic conduit, then wrapped in electrical tape again. My goal was to minimize vibration around the solder through a nice, solid harness. So far, so good.

The repair required removing the intake manifold. It might have been possible to fix without removing it but it was pretty tight in there for soldering. Getting it off without breaking harness connectors was a bit of a challenge but throwing everything back together only took about 10 minutes. Anyone messing around with exposed engine parts should do themselves a favor and use masking tape over any intake runner (or any other hole) you expose. Dropping a bolt or wire in there would be a PITA.

Turns out Honda is well aware of these soy-based harnesses and makes a tape that's supposed to deter rats with red pepper, $60/roll. For now, I'm spraying spearmint in there once in a while.

 

LOL 60 dollars a roll...

Screw that.

 

looks the business

 

You have to wrap each and every wire run? That is a lot of work.

 

Coyote urine worked for me 10-20 yrs ago. But "critters" seem to have figured this out at popular trailheads and parking locations. They see a vehicle and they know there isn't a coyote underhood. I always leave the hood open to let out the engine heat- animals love a warm place to sleep when it's cold out. That helps, but I still had a pika harass me for hours one night trying to break into the cab from on top of the transmission to get at the food inside.

 

when you are done with the repairs, try mixing some 100% peppermint oil in water in a spray bottle, spray it in the cabin filter, under the big plastic engine cover (what the hell do you call that thing, it slips my mind) and spray the foam under it. The little bastards tend to stay away.

 

Chise the insurance route- the shop wants to change the “thermostat” for 80 bucks no extra labor cause already there. They said it often fails around my mikliage of 240k km. Any one know what this thermostat is and if I should have them do it while they are in there?

they just trying to get extra work?
Thanks in advance.

 

She said it’s the engine temp thermostat. Worth changing as a preventative ?

 

Sounds like my doctor, always suggesting that I should do this and that test. I finally told him I’m only going to fix what’s broke.