Mouse chews hybrid wiring harness and causes $1166.79 damage

Re: Mouse chews hybrid wiring harness and causes $1166.79 damage

The same thing happen to my friend's Mercedes as well, so it is not just the Prius

 

Re: Mouse chews hybrid wiring harness and causes $1166.79 damage

You can take the SWAT approach, or you can cry and whine. I prefer both approaches myself.

Toyota owes you nothing. And your problem will not go away, although it may vary in severity, depending on the year.

Apparently, the very dry <relative term here> Spring in the Pacific Northwest has caused more mice than ever to be more of a problem than ever this year.

I have caught 100+ mice in the past few weeks next to and in my car. I have applied a horrible mix of MICE POTION #9 to the inside of my engine area, and luckily, the work seems to have paid off. NO mice in the vehicles for the last few weeks.

Indeed, I have not caught any for the past two days -- A MIRACLE. -- Either take the fight to them, or get used to paying for repairs...

 

Re: Mouse chews hybrid wiring harness and causes $1166.79 damage

I'm sorry for the OPs trouble, but on the other hand this is a nice demonstration of the fairly impressive safety systems on the Prius. This is the sort of situation that the EV/HEV nay sayers will tell you could have start a plasma fire or electrocuted your whole family while you were driving down the road. Instead, the system did exactly what it was supposed to. It sensed the problem, shut down the HV system and put up the warning lights. Pretty cool demonstration really!

Rob

 

Re: Mouse chews hybrid wiring harness and causes $1166.79 damage

Disagree. To be impressive, the system should have registered intruder alert as soon as the furry little whisker beasts cross the threshold. Then it should have zapped them with concentrated laser beams, designed to send their mousey little tails skyward, or at least back to the blackberry bushes where they belong.:nod:

 

Re: Mouse chews hybrid wiring harness and causes $1166.79 damage

Wow, glad to hear that your methods are working. I hope the mice don't figure out that there are two more entrances behind the rear bumper cover...

I agree that an aggressive approach is required to fix a vermin problem.

 

Re: Mouse chews hybrid wiring harness and causes $1166.79 damage

My two plump housecats can actually sense when a mouse or shrew is in my attached garage. They beg to go into the garage, something they normally never want to do

So I let them in the garage and wait half an hour or so. They work as a team to torture the mouse/shrew, then mangle it pretty good. I *almost* feel sorry for the rodent

If you *really* want to see catastrophic rodent damage, check out a pulp-n-paper mill. Have seen the aftereffects of rodents in control wiring and especially hv stepdown transformers.

In one case, after walking across the hv busbars, the rodent destroyed a $35,000 transformer. The surge also wiped out almost one million dollars worth of control system. The techs found the tail and part of the nice person 15 yards from the destroyed transformer

In that environment, a cat can actually do more damage. The techs adopted a stray/abandoned cat and kept him around the MCC and transformer area. The cat tried to chase a rodent across a transformer pothead and KABOOM: no more cat, no more rodent

 

Re: Mouse chews hybrid wiring harness and causes $1166.79 damage

I heard that the wire and cable coverings of some cars are soy based, which may explain why some cars' wires/cables seem more attractive to rodents. You might want to try a spray on repellant. Here's my post from one of the other threads on mice:

 

Re: Mouse chews hybrid wiring harness and causes $1166.79 damage

Pat Wong,

Are you seriuous? There are really 2 more openings to the outside to be found? In my 2005 I already screened over the 5 openings in the firewall just below the windshield behind the black plastic grill. I also screened over the open end of the engine air cleaner tube next to the passenger side headlight.

I didn't know the 2 openings (shown in post #37) existed in the rear compartment near the 2 taillights. I will have to screen over those 2 as well, & once done you say there are still 2 more under the rear bumper cover?

Are they indeed 2 more DIFFERENT entrances to the rear interior, or are they in any way connected (by ductwork or whatever) to the 2 vents that are shown in post #37 from syncmaster? Can you provide photos or a detailed description of exactly where to find the openings? Do you have to remove the bumper cover? Where would be the best place to screen over these 2 more openings (inside the car or outside---if there's access to either)? Does anyone have pix from the shop repair manual that show their location & whether or not these 2 new ones mentioned are the same as or connected to (by ductwork) the 2 pictured in post #37? Thanks for any additional info anyone can provide.

Ken (in Bolton,Ct) 2005, pkg#4 (AM)

 

Re: Mouse chews hybrid wiring harness and causes $1166.79 damage

Good luck, hope it works, doubt it will. I remember my dad tried something like you did when he bought his new Nissan in 1997. It was his first new car in about 10 years and he went wild when the mice immediately made it their new home.

I think by the time he was done, there was more hardware cloth jammed around various places on that car than sheet metal. Mice still got in. They can get through openings as small as a dime.

What you need is Boo's special Mice Potion #9. Be careful tho., it packs a punch

 

Re: Mouse chews hybrid wiring harness and causes $1166.79 damage

Hi Ken,

Yes, post #37 shows two of the openings as viewed from the hatch area once the hatch trim has been removed. Those are the same openings that I am thinking of. If the openings are screened at the hatch area there's no need to remove the rear bumper cover.

However, there actually may be at least three openings back there:

• Left side, rectangular hole covered with rubber flaps
• Right side, rectangular hole covered with rubber flaps
• Right side, traction battery ventilation hole

So the best thing is to remove the hatch trim (and you may want to download the relevant repair manual pages from techinfo.toyota.com if you need help figuring out how to remove the trim without breaking it) then look around for those three openings. Should you find more, please let us know.

The reason that I had to remove the hatch trim was because I was replacing the rear shocks on my 2004, and noticed the ventilation holes. I wasn't trying to mouseproof my car.

Once you have screened off the hatch openings and the engine cowl openings, then you should not have to worry about mice entering the passenger compartment. However this doesn't prevent vermin from entering the engine compartment, which contains lots of tasty and expensive wiring harnesses available for their dining pleasure.

 

Re: Mouse chews hybrid wiring harness and causes $1166.79 damage

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)

 

Re: Mouse chews hybrid wiring harness and causes $1166.79 damage

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/~hobbit/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-ma...sible-harness-damage-problem-04-06-prius.html

Ken (in Bolton,Ct)

 

Re: Mouse chews hybrid wiring harness and causes $1166.79 damage

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.

 

Re: Mouse chews hybrid wiring harness and causes $1166.79 damage

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

 

Re: Mouse chews hybrid wiring harness and causes $1166.79 damage

I recently bought a 2010 Prius III. I ran into a similar problem with rats. We've had a very rainy wet season here in No. Cal. Couple of weekends ago we had torrential rains. A rat (or rats) got under the hood and chewed some of the wiring covering. The worst of the damage was to the air filter cover and harness. They chewed a hole in the corner of the air filter cover. The rubber harness also has holes in it. In order to maintain my extended warranty I have no other choice than to fork out $2700 for repairs. I am hoping my homeowners insurance will cover this. Otherwise I have to pay. We have 3 other cars that didn't get damaged. Whatever compounds Toyota is using for their parts seems to be tempting to rodents. Also, the harness design is flawed if you have to replace the whole piece which is the most costly.

Does anyone know how I can file a complaint with Toyota? Otherwise I love the car! I am thankful all the electronics still work.

 

Are there no rodents in Japan? It would be nice if cars were not susceptible to them.

 

Re: Mouse chews hybrid wiring harness and causes $1166.79 damage

Sorry to hear about your loss. From Toyota website:
Toyota Help

Good luck!

 

Re: Mouse chews hybrid wiring harness and causes $1166.79 damage

I also live in N. California and in the mountains, lots of rain this year. My wife has a 2008 Prius and yesterday ABS light comes on and she has no brakes. Had car towed to Toyota dealer they found a rodent has chewed wiring harness at rear firewall, right up on top. Estimate to repair over $6000. Three thousand for part and three to install entire harness, they have to remove the engine. OUTRAGEOUS. Car is paid off so no comprehensive insurance. Will try myself to repair harness, I am electronic tech by trade. I have two other cars parked outside and no damage to their wiring.

 

Hi Tg,

I am not sure why you do not have Comprehensive insurance? That was a pennie-wise-pound-foolish decision.

And the Dealarship is trying to gouge you by installing a harness which is 90 % intact, to fix the 10 % that has been chewed.

Being an Electronics Tech, you should be able to splice in a portion from a salvaged harnes. Autobeyours.com comes to mind as one place that might be able to supply the portion needed. Remember to use that adhesive lined heat shrink, to get a waterproof seal in the splices.

 

Re: Mouse chews hybrid wiring harness and causes $1166.79 damage

Yeah everyone says that after the fact. But realistically with a fully payed off car it's a reasonable risk for many people. I mean of course you'd still have 3rd party insurance, but you know that with comprehensive that if the premiums didn't cover the average cost of claims (and then some) then all insurance companies would be out of business.