Mouse chews hybrid wiring harness and causes $1166.79 damage

[Ct. Ken V]

Hi, cyberprius,

Blow up the thumbnails in syncmaster's post #37 here & also go to the PriusOnLine link he provided in his post #35 here. Look at all the photos on all 3 pages at PriusOnLine (especially syncmaster's on pg 3). That's the same gutterguard mat'l I used & the same cutting, shaping, & fasten'g that I did. I feel fairly confident that the critters aren't going to get past that.

Because I found mouse nest evidence inside the engine air filter box, I used the same mat'l to cover the outside end of the engine air cleaner tube & formed it tightly & fastened it with screws & washers. Somebody else screened off this tube on the inside end (inside the box), but I didn't want that long weaving tube to fill up with nest'g debris from one end to the other---it would be too hard to clean out. Again, I felt safe until I saw this thread.

Thanks to "wheels" & "syncmaster" for your discovery & solutions. Now I've just got to find out where the 2 (more?) openings that Pat Wong spoke about are.

Ken (in Bolton,Ct)

[Ct. Ken V]

Hi, Pat,

Yes, I agree about the engine compartment---not much you can do there. But my primary concern was to keep the critters out of the car's interior & passageways [especially since last year I found a softball-sized wad of fluffy cloth stuff (from where?) on top of my cabin air filter along with health portion of nut shells & berry husks as well as the nest'g evidence I also found inside the engine air filter box].

So you think there are 2 openings instead of one on the right rear? Isn't the thumbnail at the right end of post #37 showing the battery box vent? That is between the right rear wheel well & the right taillight & there doesn't seem to be any leftover space for another vent open'g (or any need for one).

The left vent hole (in the middle thumbnail) would provide for flow-through ventilation of the passenger cmpartment's air. The high voltage battery vent intake is in the upper portion of the right rear seatback, goes down into the battery box, & I would think exits as pictured in the right end thumbnail. As far as the vent for the 12V battery, that's just a small plastic tube exit'g through a small tight-fit'g hole in the body near the tail light, isn't it? So where would there be room for another big vent in the RIGHT rear? Are you sure it's not just 2 instead of 3?

And while we're on the subject of damaged electrical cables, Godiva's link in her post #3 (Wiring harness potential problem) doesn't work any more. Although this cable/harness has been identified as NOT being a high voltage cable, it still could cause some serious problems if punctured by the mis-placed/unneccesary tab on the starter hole cover as identified by Hobbit in this link : http://techno-fandom.org/%7Ehobbit/cars/starthole/

It is from post #1 & 48 in a 93-post thread on the subject. My cable was start'g to be cut by this tab & the dealer after romving the tab, re-taped the cable & filed a warranty claim for the time charged to do the work. You'd think after all this time that Toyota would have done something to prevent this at assembly, & they know about it from a few of us here having had it taken care of at the dealer level. Here's the 93-post link :
http://priuschat.com/forums/care-mai...-06-prius.html

Ken (in Bolton,Ct)

[Patrick Wong]

Originally Posted by Ct. Ken V

...So where would there be room for another big vent in the RIGHT rear? Are you sure it's not just 2 instead of 3?

Hi Ken,

I'm not sure; I might be confusing my 2001 and 2004 since I had to install rear shocks on both. So, just look around carefully when you have the hatch trim removed, think like a mouse, and seal any holes bigger than 1/4" that you find!

Speaking of the 12V auxiliary battery, I suggest you take a look behind the battery and make sure that the right-side vent is not partially hidden back there.

Glad that you had your starter plate tab removed and the cable taped. I looked at my 2004 and the spacing between the tab and the adjacent cable seems adequate as-is.

Good luck.

[Rick Suddes]

[Spray Rataway Fragrance it works on squirrels, rats, mice, etc...