What is this hose and why is it cracked?

I had my '24 1794 in for its first free oil change at 5100 miles/1 year today. After picking any vehicle up from the dealer I always check the oil (which I still do routinely even when I change it myself). The last time I had the hood open, this tube wasn't cracked. What is it and I do wonder how they could have missed seeing it when they certainly checked the oil level before returning the truck to me (maybe? Ha!).

I'm no mechanic and tried looking the part up but I gave up after a while and figured I would admit my lack of knowledge and ask here. When I touched the hose, it felt very friable, like it was going to fall apart. The truck is parked in a heated and air conditioned garage and gets infrequent use. About 80% of 5K miles highway.

Thanks. The matching hose on the other side is also cracking.

 

My hybrid limited has three cracks on that wire loom side and one on the other side. It appears that Toyota wrapped the wiring looms for this truck with orange electrical tape wrap and the non hybrid side which you are showing is wrapped in a gray electrical tape type wrap. I took the fuse cover off and it appears that the gray main wiring harness for the truck is ran through a black pvc tube wrapped in vinyl grey electrical tape. With cycles that stuff will shrink and expand leading to what you see there.

It is a normal process; guess you could rewrap them with gray electrical tape if that makes a huge difference to you.

 

Just tape and it's normal

 

Regardless if this would immediately affect anything, I would have the dealer repair this if they were the responsible party. Or if they weren’t, and this just happens with a new vehicle that has 5,000 mi
I would still have Toyota repair under warranty. The loom is wrapped for a reason, to seal out any debris, moisture, etc….

 

Thanks to all above! It's disappointing that they either 1. Did it and didn't fix it after telling me what happened 2. Didn't notice it while checking the oil after changing it or 3. Didn't bother checking the oil after filling with a pre-measured amount (level was OK).

No good choices there. I had asked about resetting the AC to -2C as discussed elsewhere here and the guy said "Oh, your truck is with the oil change team. You need another appointment for a technician to look at it and we need to recreate the non-cooling when hot outside before changing that setting under warranty."
It was a new service manager I had never seen before - the old guy was much more accommodating.


This might be my last Toyota even though all brands have issues. My '08 Tundra was almost trouble free for 15 years. Oh well. I like the HUD and Apple Car Play...

 

Edit - I guess they had to open the hood to add oil. Oops.

 

These things get brittle and crack all the time. It might of even cracked from the normal vibration of driving on the road.

 

That is the oil line for the muffler bearing.

Replace immediately with OEM parts, special order.

 

the worst part is materials are now bio-degradable meaning they they degrade faster...which means wiring harness issues sooner...and they apparently taste better to rodents...oh well what ya gonna do...but seriously the wrap on a wire harness is really there to keep them together and organized...wires with intact insulation are there own environmental barrier...I hear that now passes the mouse rat squirrel taste test too

 

.........

 

It's a main engine management wire harness covered in common plastic flexible conduit material that is wrapped with grey electrical tape to help secure it. Absolutely nothing wrong with it.

 

This right here!!

 

I bet it also has an orifice for main bearing lubrication.

 

Yep had the same problem and was discussed in an earlier post anI couldn't get gray 3m electrical to stick so just used 3m +33 electrical from lowe's or home depot and no more cracks.It does look mucho better.