A Story of Mice, Wires, and Coolant

TLDR mice seemed to have chewed through wires under the intake manifold and also through a coolant hose underneath said manifold

The rig:



Questions:

1. If I have a check engine light but the truck is still running, the injector wires couldn't have been chewed through, right? the truck runs and drives like normal
2. What sort of water hose could be chewed through? I can't for the life of me find a photo of the intake off with a coolant line and harness underneath it.
3. If I just get the coolant hose fixed, can I possibly make it back to Austin? I understand it's a big risk and have AAA for this case, but the place already wants to charge $700 before we get into the harness, then the service advisor said a harness is $1200+ and a lot of labor which I'd rather just have a friend do back in Austin at their shop. (Or I can get the manifold off myself and fix the wires back at home)
4. Can the harness not be repaired? The gentleman said it would just be one spot but because it's a complete harness I'd have to get the whole thing. I'm pretty sure with some extra wire, a soldering iron, and some heatshrink I could make it as good as new.

The backstory of how we got here:

Imagine this, your girlfriend and 2 dogs load up in a 2007 Tacoma with a truck camper and drive from Austin, TX to Henderson, NV with no problem. We spend about 6 days there with family and load up this morning to head back to Flagstaff to meet with her family when a pretty crappy scenario occurs.

I get up at 6AM and move the car forward so the passenger side door can swing open and not hit a bush, truck moves fine. I get out of the truck and see nothing but red Toyota coolant all on the ground.... At first, I'm thinking oh crap I blue the transfer case or something (not knowing it's coolant at the time). Later I go back out and confirm it's coolant.

From here (with my grandfather following in his car) I drive the truck 5 miles down the road to his local shop. The guys get it on a lift and tell me that mice have chewed through wires and a coolant line under the intake. He then tells me that it's probably chewed through the injector wires and a coolant hose but he hasn't taken the intake off.

So from here I think, 2 days ago a check engine light appeared before we drove up to Mt Charleston for a few hours.... maybe the mice got some electrical wires then came back last night and chewed through some coolant hose. Regardless, the truck still runs.

As always thanks to everyone here, and I hope y'all had a less stressful day than we did. (P.S. We rented a truck and got to Flagstaff but will have to drive back to Henderson NV to get the truck (hopefully fixed)

 

The most common mouse story around here is the little bastards chewing through the knock sensor wires under the intake manifold. The “Toyota way” is to pull the heads. Many people have repaired the wiring without pulling the heads. There are wire and connectors available without buying a huge harness. Check your insurance. You should have comprehensive insurance. Comprehensive insurance will pay the repair bill and they may even put you in a rental car. You will just have to pay your deductible.


https://www.tacomaworld.com/search/9436987/?q=Mouse+chewed+knock+sensor&t=post&o=date&c[node]=5

 

Bah, I'm hoping it can be covered by insurance. The wire right now is the lesser of two evils in that the coolant spewing out of the truck is the thing I'm most worried about. If I wasn't 1000+ miles away from home and could get to work I'd be in better shape, but it looks like it may be a while before I get home hah.

Are there any other coolant lines near there that could be replaced without pulling the heads?

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

 

@Tacoma Mike ?

 

If the mice caused all your problems, it will be obvious when you see the teeth marks on the wires and hoses. When that is discovered, they need to stop and get the insurance involved. The insurance company is going to want to either send an adjuster out or see pics of the carnage before the damaged parts are removed. This type of thing is in the same category as hitting a deer or getting struck by lightning or a tree falling on the truck.

 

Hey Kevin..

Very interesting.
Never have seen coolant hoses chewed through.
A new one for me.

Pull it apart one time.
Insurance or not..

 

Gotcha! I'll have them take it apart and get insurance involved. I didn't even think of that so thanks y'all for the heads up. It's at a local shop in Nevada and not a dealership, should I take it to a dealership instead?

 

I thought my Honda was going to need a new transmission. Was still driving fine, but getting codes. Took it to the local transmission shop where they cleared codes and told me to keep driving it. Sometimes they give false indicators. Two months later I get in it and as soon as I shifted to reverse knew something wasn't right. It shifted HARD between park and reverse or drive. Hard shift between 1st and 2nd, then OK. CEL on again. Was quoted $2K to rebuild.

The Honda is a 3rd vehicle not always needed and I didn't have $2k so I didn't drive it for 2 months until I saved up. Before they pulled the transmission they looked it over and found 1 wire that mice had partially chewed on. It was shorting out. They repaired the wire and charged me $50 instead of $2K. Best news I've had in a long time.

 

Thought ya might have seen before

 

Not coolant hoses.
Aggressive little suckers

 

Mice are chewing on my battery. Must be pretty hungry.

 

We really need "mouse proof" wire covering, fiberglass tube? I have painted tail light harness on my rv with paing coating used on fence posts, seem to work pretty well. bob

 

I do use this on occasion.
Especially cars that sit for weeks at a time.
Once repaired I wrap this on the repaired wires and others close to it

 

What is that stuff?

 

Mouse Blocker...

 

And D Con, kill every mouse in the neighborhood.

 

My wife had a CRV and about this time last year, packrats decided the engine of her CRV would be a good place to live. In 2 nights of her car sitting outside the packrats chewed up all of the wiring on top of the motor, and carried in half a 5 gallon bucket full of white insulation, we still don’t know where it came from. $5800 later it was fixed, thank god for USAA insurance. When we got the car home we found that the rats had also packed the ventilation system full of sticks, leaves, insulation and deer corn from a nearby feeder. The cabin air filter kept it all “outside” in the engine compartment. We got another 5 gallon bucket half full of crap from the ventilation system.

I set a couple of Rat Zapper electronic traps and caught 2 small rats and one huge rat in the next two nights, then nothing for the next 2 weeks.

Good luck OP, I hope your rig is an easy repair.

 

Start feeding a couple stray cats just enough to keep them coming around. They'll hunt all rodents 24/7. I trained one to sit on the front tire, by placing a few treats on it. He likes the residual engine heat in the winter, just like a mouse. If he smells a mouse, he will venture into the engine bay. He jumps out when he hears the door unlock.

 

If you haven't got it yet, there's a coolant line to the throttle body that a rodent could easily chew through. Pull the engine cover then you'll see the air box and throttle body are easy to remove (all 10mm bolts, too) to gain access to this coolant line and possibly the damaged wiring. Good luck!!

 

Awesome, I'll tell the shop to give it a shot! I'm in Flagstaff for the holiday but will be heading back Sunday to see what state the truck is in back in Henderson, then hopefully we can drive to Austin. If not, we'll be waiting a while for it to get fixed!