Rodent chewed through wire harness, causing $7K repair (and $1650 towing)

[Feetdry]

My guy does his best hunting at night... and once he clears out an area the mice "know" there's an active predator in the area and they stay away.

Well there you go. When traveling away from home for a week say 1200 miles from home just take this guy along and he will protect the vehicle each night.

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[White Shadow]

Soy wiring is an urban myth.

No, it's not. It's a proven and well-known fact that rodents eat soy based wire insulation because it has nutritional value and they treat it as food when other food is scarce. Wire manufacturers realize this too and are currently looking at alternate materials for their wire insulation. I work for an extruder company and we've had several big manufacturers in our lab running trials on non-soy based alternatives for wire insulation. Buf in a sense, you are correct that rodents will still chew just about anything because that's what they do. The difference is that they aren't going to eat wires if those wires aren't food for them. Therein lies the problem.

 

[zipzag]

No, it's not. It's a proven and well-known fact that rodents eat soy based wire insulation because it has nutritional value and they treat it as food when other food is scarce. Wire manufacturers realize this too and are currently looking at alternate materials for their wire insulation. I work for an extruder company and we've had several big manufacturers in our lab running trials on non-soy based alternatives for wire insulation. Buf in a sense, you are correct that rodents will still chew just about anything because that's what they do. The difference is that they aren't going to eat wires if those wires aren't food for them. Therein lies the problem.

Your position is bro science perpetuated on car forums. Rodents havre eaten car parts since there were cars.

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acssuschemeng.0c05868

 

[White Shadow]

Your position is bro science perpetuated on car forums. Rodents havre eaten car parts since there were cars.

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acssuschemeng.0c05868

Actually, it's not. It's based upon what's going on in the industry right now. I explained it pretty clearly, but I'll dumb it down for you: My company makes the machines that make automotive wire (among many other things as well) and we've had several of the big wire manufacturers in our lab working on development projects specifically to address the rodent issues with soy based wire insulation. They wouldn't be doing this if it wasn't a real issue.

As for your assertion that rodents chew stuff on cars.....no kidding. I said the same thing in my last post. They are chewing machines and that means they chew just about anything. But again, they EAT soy based wire insulation and that's a huge industry problem that manufacturers want to address.

Anyway, believe whatever floats your boat. I've got inside knowledge due to the nature of my industry.

 

[R1Tom]

I tried everything in the world. I finally found the solution, 4 of these and the only mice I see are the dead ones that get dropped by the back door.

https://www.hsppr.org/barn-cats-pets-with-a-profession/

They don't bother me, I don't bother them. They don't try to come in the house, it's great. People try to say they're pets but I usually correct them. They're not pets. We just have an understanding. They're allowed to stay on my property so long as nothing else does.

Don't get Ragdoll cats for this purpose. They seem to be more inclined to make friends with mice than get rid of them.

 

[Feetdry]

Yes, my wife is a veterinarian, and she is trying to teach our Cornish Rex that it should be harvesting field mice on our property.

 

[kylealden]

Beside the other suggestions made, maybe consider getting a cat, specifically one that hunts. Ours significantly reduced the rat population around our house, and would welcome any rodents attempting to get near the house.

I've been grouchy about the neighbor cats that like to sleep on/around my R1T (which I keep in an outdoor carport). I guess I should start tipping them!

 

[thrill]

Seems like it'd be worthwhile to be able to have braided-stainless wiring harnesses similar to brake lines.

 

[thisguy229]

I also had my R1T damaged by rodents. They said I was the lucky first one. It took 3 weeks and $3500 to repair. The critter ate wires for the heating system and the airline leading to the passenger side front. I park in a barn/garage. I have traps and poison now all around the barn. I also set up a couple Google nest cams (one under the truck). I am seriously considering springing for the Grid Guard mentioned in this post.

 

[Ash]

I guess there is something good about having a 22lb squirrel eating feline in the house. Curly here only leave little bits of evidence that he's had an outdoor meal. My sympathies to the OP. That sucks. At that price, I might repair it myself if at all possible.

 

[RonS]

So it's cold. Warm charging battery is magnet for rodents. So far estimated cost replacing harness going to tailgate is $1650 towing one way plus $4000 (just got new estimate and repairs are over 7k)repairs. Harness is nowhere to be found, so it's in the shop for over 2 weeks and counting.

I have following questions:
1. Are harnesses made of gold??
2. How in waterproof truck rodents are in chewing on wires?????

Be careful about what you do to prevent this. I have been on a back and forth email with Rivian about this very issue. My wife’s Prius had about $800 in repairs due to rodents. I bought some peppermint oil pads in aluminum cups. These are said to prevent rodent damage. I asked Rivian “customer service” where to put them. I was told in no uncertain terms that any use of products not tested and approved by Rivian could result in voiding your warranty. I know this sounds crazy but I got a total of four emails that made it very clear this was exactly what they meant. We have a big rodent eating wires problem here so I am very worried. I wish I had never bought the thing.

 

[Count Orlok]

Here’s an expensive solution I found on the web:
https://www.thegridguard.com/

Not sure though if this can also be a human deterrent.

I'm going to try this at one of my properties where I store a couple classic cars.

 

[bowhunter]

I recently took off my tow receiver cover and found an unoccupied rodent nest. I don't recognize the nesting material from anything in the vicinity of where I park and hoping it's not something pulled from somewhere in the vehicle...

 

[Dark-Fx]

I recently took off my tow receiver cover and found an unoccupied rodent nest. I don't recognize the nesting material from anything in the vicinity of where I park and hoping it's not something pulled from somewhere in the vehicle...

Could be the same stuff that's on top of the fender liners

 

[Brewbud]

After 23 years in the same house I finally had a rat attack my Ram 2500. What scares me now is that it is parked next to my R1T. I had falsely assumed the R1T's wires were more protected. I got the rat that attacked the Ram. I put a blink camera under the hood and one of those battery operated electrocution traps. The culprit was almost 6" long.

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