Rats Have Been Eating the Wiring in My Car

Were that my car, my options would be limited pretty much to fixing it myself or paying to have it fixed. Or tell those darned rats to "Fix it or else!" whilst making threatening gestures and hope they don't sue. Seriously, though, your choices are pretty much limited. Wish I had more to offer.

The rats have claimed it as their own....there may be a rat king living in there someplace, I would exercise caution....

You could initiate an exorcism by fire....

But they probably know where you sleep....

...and it only takes one survivor.....

R.O.U.S.es!

Buttercup: [looking at the wiring harness in despair] We'll never succeed. We may as well die here.

Westley: No, no. We have already succeeded. I mean, what are the three terrors of the Fire Swamp? One, the flame spurt - no problem. There's a popping sound preceding each; we can avoid that. Two,

Buttercup: No, that's the sound of your car on its knees begging for a tuneup.

Westley: You don't miss a thing, do you? No matter. Where was I?

Buttercup: Two.

Westley: Two, the lightning sand, which you were clever enough to discover what that looks like, so in the future we can avoid that too.

Buttercup: I'm well aware of what lightning sand looks like. You forget, I'm from Boston. Westley, what do we do about the R.O.U.S.'s? Just look at this damage!

Westley: Rodents Of Unusual Size? I don't think they exist.

[Immediately an R.O.U.S. attacks the car and rips out more wiring]

Westley: Holy Sh*t! Think I should call Guinness? Just look at the size of that thing! Do you think it might be a person in great big rat suit? It's not very convincing, you know.

Buttercup: No, call a cab. And a tow truck.

Westley: I don't think those exist either. This is the 1600's you know.

Buttercup: Here, gimme your cell phone and I'll call while you finish off this iocane powder. There's a dear.

Lol, bravo....there's another problem examined if not solved....

I can't help with the solution to the solution this time (you've already been given those options above). But when you get it fixed, may I suggest a way to keep it from happening again: Pack/tape-attach somehow, some steel wool around the wires where the rats chewed. If they do chew on the wires again, you will be able to see it at a glance (checking periodically), and chewing at or through the steel wool is sort of like us eating busted glass. Either that or fiber optic cable, seems the little buggers have a taste for the stuff, and it pretty much does the same thing.

Hey Ron, I've done several rewires for all kinds of reasons, fires, wanna be electricians, rats, squirrels and everything in between. in engine,pax compartment, head lights to tail lights. And if your up to it, the cheapest and easiest thing to do is go to the local wrecking/recycler and look for complete wire harnesses that got chewed. make sure the harness have all your accessories and options, like A/C, cruise control,and of course same year and model. the only other thing would be decent wiring schematic. It will be more reliable and quicker changing the harness out than try to make all those repairs to the old harness. you want to add some Rat poison for future visitors

Sorry Fred, I should have read all your post. GA my friend.

Bad news as most rodents love plastic, when we were storing antique and vintage vehicles we put moth balls under the hood and in the vehicle as well as the trunk area. They cannot handle the smell and do not enter. It cost me $150.00 additional to go on vacation as a mouse ate the O2 sensor wire on my car so close to the sensor that it could not be spliced. I should have taken my own advise. There may be other compounds that deter the little furry beggars but mothballs do a good job.

I agree with the idea of getting a harness from a wreck. I use dryer sheets (the smell good sheet you put in the dryer). Place them under and behind places in the engine bay where they will stay, like behind the battery, under some wires, etc. I also put some on the top of the tires and in the shock towers when I leave it for extended periods of time.

Hi Ron,

You did not say how many wires are damaged?

If you strip back the the overall covering you should be able to identify the cable covers by there coloring . To repair just take a longish piece of similar cable it does not have to be the same color and fit a screw connector or a crimp connector if you have a tool for them and join them together. don't worry about the loop of extra wire you have used just strap it down with a tie wrap.

Of course this will only work if you can physically get at the wiring.

A nicely accurate 22 rifle with silencer wont alert your neighbors that you have a rat issue and it keeps you tuned up for government overthrow some time in the future. Plus it's just fun to get revenge on the little guys that chewed your wiring. But all in all the suggestion to get a used harness it probably the best idea since it will mostly just plug in under the hood.

I have placed poison under the hood and that seems to have worked, but the wires chewed are in an in-accessible location and at 78, I know I won't be able to affect repairs myself, so I guess it's off to the garage. I also noticed the other day in my shop, rats or squirrels have been feasting on the plastic insulation stops in the roof rafters.

A practical way is to separate the wires if the copper is still there and foam everything well to keep them separated. You can experiment with the filling product: PU, rubber, latex, silicone caulk up to teflon foam. If you use a lot of foam and the rats don't to like to eat it, there might be just no space left for the rats any way. LOL

Har, har, har. Thanks for the laugh. i needed that.

Creativeness at it's best.

My condolences Ron, I would have thought those delta rats would have had plenty of better food to chew on around your area. You will have to get your shed sealed up before they destroy it.

It sounds like a bit of a plague.

Try CRC marine electronics grease, they used to have a hardening silicone one that we used of Ford Crown Vics where the insulation would shrink at the firewall. just shoot it in and it would insulate and keep the wires separated.

And here is the MSDS for the rat's safety,

Ingestion:diarrhea

Inhalation:may block breathing passages if inhaled

Neighbor had the same thing happen with a Lexus RX 350, i believe-- Was quoted $3500 to start--Got his insurance to pay for it (Don't know if it was his homeowners or car insurance)--Flatbed truck down the drive, to a Certified and Warrantied Lexus Dealer, and back in a week, with only the deductible out of his pocket, plus the down time... Maybe check and see if you have coverage..

Since I wasn't driving the car, I dropped the insurance on it. RATZ

To combat those rats, take a dozen spoons of raw (crude) beans (don't touch the beans with your fingers), shake the dry beans in a blender (liquidyzer) device up to obtain a fine flour. Again, don't touch the product with your fingers. Put little spoons of the bean flour in places where you suspect the rats come to eat. They will eat the raw flour and die for indigestion, because they can't digest raw beans.

Get the insurance company to declare it a write-off, and replace it using the proceeds from the claim.

Sorry for your luck. We have had a problem with woodchucks eating plug wires in our CNG honda civics. Turns out the insulation on them was soy-based and very tasty.....

Try treating the wires with an emetic to make those wood chucks chuck.

As a future preventive measure, I'll bet Del can recommend some of his brethren to hang around the joint. Keep them just a bit hungry (motivated). We used to have an awful mole problem in the lawn until our kitties got themselves some humans and a comfy house in the 'burbs. It used to be I couldn't walk across the lawn without twisting an ankle. Now there is nary a bump or tunnel in the lawn. Nice kitty.

There may be an online "Camry" forum. I would start by getting a service manual, Haynes or something similar. Some automobiles have complete aftermarket wiring harnesses. If it is as bad as you suggest, I would seek professional help, unless you have a lot of experience and time and experience and patience and experience. Did I mention experience? If the car is relatively new with OBD2, there are bunch of sensors, all of which must be connected properly for the car to run at all. Automotive (SAE) wire is difficult to repair, it is suprisingly stiff and is not tinned. This means the splices must be soldered and then waterproofed.

Great answers from this forum, but you have to consider on additional problem. If you tried to start the car, you may have damaged some electronic components. If there is enough insulated wire left, you can try to move the bare wires away from each other, then give it a try. If it's dead, there's a good chance you fried something. Look for blown fuses - it may be helpful, but it's not a surefire solution.

If the car is dead after separating the bare wires and replacing the bad fuses, then you might have to send your Camry to the junk yard.

Send plane fare, and pick me up at airport. No cost. Just needed expenses. I need the vacation.

How bad is the harness? If the starter will not work, it might be as simple as 3-4 wires at the starter area. That would be an easy fix for most shops.

If the harness is fat, how about a local auto shop class? Wiring harness repairs are a good teaching tool. Or Ft laud to ???????

Rats in Arizona make a steady diet out of car wires. There are way too many rumors why. People just need help! I solved our problem TG with our neighbors device that he sells called a rid-a-rat. It is like a blinking light that you put into the hood and hook to the battery. It was very fast to install. Once installed it stays on 24-7 and I have been rat free ever since. It had saved me lots of money in repairs.

They sell on a web site and at local hardware stores.

Kyleaz