Has anyone had a squirrel(s) total their truck??? - Answer is YES!!

Well...I'm waiting to hear from my insurance agent....but, I think some squirrels may have totalled my Tundra!
So, it all started when I had some lights on my dash for a couple of weeks. When I went to hook the Techstream up to it, I was outside the truck with my laptop on the drivers seat hooking up the cable and turned the ignition on and the fuel pump sounded "loud".....but, the truck ran fine. So, a few days later, I needed to move the truck in my driveway for another project I had going, so I went to start it and it fired up and immediately died (several times). So, I "listened" for the fuel pump and didn't hear anything, so I figured that was it. I jacked the truck up, because we had to manually push it out of the way and I noticed thru the wheel well a 'bunch' of leaves, etc and figured some mice made a nest. Much to my surprise, the nest was squirrels!! At least 4 baby squirrels were "squirrled away" on the passenger side of my engine compartment. They did NOT want to come out either. I guess they have been riding around with me for at least 2-3 weeks (based on the lights on the dash) until I guess they chewed through another wire that ended things.
the nest was HUGE! Took me 2 hours (after evicting the squirrels) to clean it out and seeing the main wiring harness with chewed up wires
Here are a couple of pics....wish I could upload the video of the little rodents refusing to leave (a grab of some tails and a pitch into the air did it for the few I could get).

 

Ouch. I hear peppermint oil is the trick for the usual rodents. You can always check out EDgun Leshy on youtube for some vicarious revenge...

 

I saw a picture where a Smart Car was totaled by a squirrel. The squirrel left the scene.

 

If already established, peppermint oil won’t deter them.
I am so grateful my red squirrels are well fed and appreciate chin scratches, they stay out of our vehicles

 

That's crazy! I'm sorry that happened to your truck.

 

Squirrels are a-holes. They chewed up my parents pool furniture, tore a hole in the soffit twice. They destroyed by old kayak seat and at my house have tried to get in the attict twice.

I used to use a Have-a-heart trap, but now I pick them off with a 22 air rifle.

FWIW, I've had mice issues in our Sequoia and RAV4, rodents just love that soy wiring and eating the dang tubing for the window washer fluid.

 

Spent last Saturday compacting a cubic yard of loam into what was chipmunks underground tunnels network. I confess a 22 air rifle is my answer now.

New wire harness wouldn't total a few years old truck, which keeps its value pretty well.

 

Well damn, I have had squirrel and rat shit on my engine cover a few times. They haven't done any damage to my truck. Messed up my neighbors house and taunt my dogs but I think THIS IS WAR!!!! Enough is enough!

 

Pine sol soaked rags and bars of pink Dove soap wedged into the areas around the perimeter of the engine compartment. Better screen the HVAC fresh air intake that's under the windshield cowling too or else mice will be in there.

 

Sorry to see the carnage that they inflicted.

I opted for a truck battery powered deterrent, been rodent free ! SO FAR !

 

I have a Sequia in the shop right now that needs the same harness. Parts alone are $4498.27 add labor of $4680 and its a nice bill. Insurance is taking care of it but still a pretty penny.

 

How on Earth a wire harness can cost $4498.27? And does it really take like 4-5 days to replace it?

 

Its the body harness that goes into the vehicle on both driver and passenger side. Has the whole fuse box on it and airbag wiring is involved.
Insurance paid 26 hours R&R. Gotta pull dash bumper, headlights ect. And on the sequia we have it needs to have safety systems recalibrated since it has all the TSS stuff on it.

Prices are getting pretty crazy

 

Like mentioning a fuse box connector or airbag wires does serve any other purpose but scare the customer... I've been replacing the harness in a car of similar age/technology. Took me only a few hours. Safety calibration was a mouse click and driving 40 minutes in specific pattern. I had to pay $75 for 3 days subscription, yes.

For sure.

 

If not already done, change your comprehensive deductible to zero folks. There's very little difference in the premiums. In my case, it's about an additional $7 every six months.

 

Oh i know very well what goes into the work as i do it for a living. However anytime any airbag wiring is compromised, Toyota does not allow a repair for liability reasons. If you are doing repairs at home then do as you please. If we repair airbag wiring and the car gets into an accident and say airbags malfunction then Toyota is on the hook.

Oh and a good tech will knock a harness like that out in about 6-7 hours but insurance will pay more of course. Techs get paid for experience not how long it takes. Just like the book says 3.4 hours on a V6 waterpump. Wether it takes him 1 hour or 10 he gets paid the same

 

All part prices are pretty astronomical and I can't argue that but the timeframe is pretty accurate. We have a 4Runner in the shop now with a rodent damaged harness and with this harness we have to drop the frame for access to the full harness. Some vehicles require the removal of the dash, depending on how deep the rodent went.

4-5 days is a good date IF the harness doesn't go on back order...which is extremely common now. We have been waiting 3 weeks for a replacement harness on the 4Runner so far with the ETA for 04/11.

The reason for the vast amount of rodent damaged vehicles is due to the soy based plastic that Toyota uses to wrap their harnesses in. Rodents love it.

 

What people need to understand that home repairs are not always the approved and proper way that the manufacturer requires repairs to be completed. I have seen so many lot repairs on bumpers with safety sensors that should absolutely NOT have been completed due to safety. Especially the rear bumper cover repairs over the BSM. That is a no-go.

 

Shoot them - Squirrel soup (made properly) is utterly delicious - I've had one damage two of my vehicles but not so badly - I use fire ant poison - powder is all over engine compartment and especially around tires on ground - they have to climb up thru there - Luck

 

Oh man I see shady small body shop hackjobs all the time. Just had an avalon with the front distance sensor mounted in a way that the senor thought you were going left while going straight and fenders/hood were aligned in a way that i could stick my finger into the hole on one side and not a toothpick on the other. Guy drops it off and goes i don't know what we did wrong LOL.

I digress. OP i hear that coyote urine works pretty well. Amazon sells it.

 

Same here.......with how advanced these vehicles are nowadays it is not worth it to just have anyone that's unqualified or uninformed repair them anymore. Of course there will be people that say "oh that's not needed" but when the front sensor is misaligned and the pre-collision system is shooting in the opposite lane and applies the brakes for you to prevent a non-existent collision...well....you might just get rear ended on the roadways.

But people will do what people do until there is a big enough lawsuit.

 

I'm with you 100000% on that.

 

I wasn't doing any splicing, I unplugged all the connector of the old harness, removed it, put in a new harness, plugged all the connectors back.

 

Hey Bammer.....what type of battery powered deterrent do you use??? I have a classic car in the garage that I'd like to protect as well. I use the 'smell bad' packets they sell at Tractor supply (that people use in their RVs) for that car, but maybe your 'device' might be more effective.
Thanks...George

P.S- just talked to insurance adjuster and they want me to 'take it to a shop'.......I asked if I could get an estimate and a check if I do the repairs myself and he's requiring part numbers etc.....I don't know part numbers until I dig into it.....its like 'give me a number, pay me' and I'll fix it myself'......but I guess they are "suspicious" or something.....

 

Mouse Blocker Pro 12V – Mouse Blocker

Doing the trick for well over a year.

 

My neighbor's cat hunts and kills squirrels with ruthless precision.

When we have baby chicks in the yard, she ignores them. No sport in slaughtering baby chickens. She only goes after the big game.

 

This looks interesting. I may go this route.

 

No. That sucks.

 

Well...just heard back from insurance company and the answer you were all waiting for is YES.....they just totaled my truck. Almost $5000 for the wiring harness plus the labor to fix it all back. They totaled it. I'm going to buy it back and sell to a friend. (insurance company/CoPart want for $4500, so going to sell to a friend for $4250 (I'm eating $250 just because)....hoping he (we) can just solder together all the eaten wires and get it running again (of course it will have a salvaged/rebuilt title)
So CRAZY! The insurance company told me that "it happens more than you would think"

 

Former auto claims adjuster here for USAA. I've handled dozens of claims due to rodent damage to Toyota vehicles. The most popular claim is a Highlander wire that requires removal of the intake manifold to replace. $3k repair back in 2010.

Toyota switched to soy-based wire insulation in the mid 2000's, along with other manufacturers. Cheaper and more "ecologically friendly" than the regular petroleum-based insulation used for decades. Rodents loved the new insulation and acquired a taste for it. Millions of dollars in repair bills were foisted upon owners and insurance companies. Toyota was sued, naturally, but was found innocent.

The good news is that it is covered under your comprehensive coverage and is considered a "not-at-fault" claim.

All comp claims require an appraisal by someone associated with the insurance company; either a field adjuster, or a body shop in the insurance company's network.