Squirrel damage (wiring)

[Tex]

Got in my Bronco today and was greeted by every single warning message imaginable. I hadn't done anything to it for months and it's been 100% reliable, so it was a shock to say the least. Did some troubleshooting and code clearing, checked fuses, etc. All I came up with was a blown ABS fuse and a wire that had been broken for some reason unknown to me. I was disconnecting the battery to check it for voltage and reset the computer, that's when I saw the little footprints on my intake tube. Suddenly the broken wire made sense, and I noticed more of them with distinctive teeth marks. The running theory now is that some really important wiring has been damaged, but I've yet to see anything other than the wires I've found (which are just to lights and my other accessories, nothing factory).

So I've been all through it looking for damaged wiring, to no avail. I have no idea where to look. What I do know is that the fuel pump, evap system, and ABS/parking brake are all affected, as well as all the features they control like traction/stability/etc. She won't stay running much past five seconds before stumbling and dying. Is there a specific area that I should be looking to find all of these wires together in a bundle or loom, like on top of the fuel tank or something where I can't readily inspect? Where would you look? Any kind of wiring schematics that would show actual routing locations rather than just a diagram? At the moment this was the only vehicle that we had to use, the wife's is in the shop for an indefinite amount of time so I'm certainly interested in any help or ideas. The squirrels will soon be an endangered species around these parts, I have that much covered at least

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[Baja Bronco]

Thinking it’s actually mice / rodents. The wires / harnesses are made from a plant based material so car manufacturers can get Government breaks by going “green”.

 

[swooshdave]

Packrats.

 

[Tex]

Ordinarily I would agree, I've had issues with mice and packrats with vehicles before, but since we've been living here I haven't seen a single packrat yet. I have, however, seen squirrels run out from underneath my Bronco when I walked out, and the prints more closely resemble squirrels than packrats (they're way too big for mice).

 

[denneyt]

As a dealership tech this is quite common rodents mess up vehicles bad, they really like fuel injector wiring for some reason. Most likely the evap, and other codes are just co codes that come one with the main code. 5 seconds and dying sounds like the fuel pump will probably be the main issue, if you know anyone with access to all data local to you they can print out the vehicles wiring diagram for you.

 

[JohnnyBronco]

Have it flatbedded to a dealer. Rodent damage SHOULD be covered by your comprehensive portion of insurance. If it isn't then it's time to call Jake from State Farm.

As I posted earlier today in a different thread I had a Bimmer 335xi that stopped running due to rodent damage of wiring. Stste Fsrm covered portions of wiring plus new ecm plus all 6 ignition coils AND injectors. It is best to have a garage look at this with sufficient computer diagnostics

 

[Ducati1098]

Post the DTCs you have. I may be able to help you narrow down a location to look for.

 

[j_marinelli]

Had a buddy with a Tundra that had squirrels do a number on the main harness. His insurance did take care of it though he was out the deductible. Either way it sounds like you need to trap the squirrels and "relocate" them....permanently....

 

[Antimatter06]

Had a buddy with a Tundra that had squirrels do a number on the main harness. His insurance did take care of it though he was out the deductible. Either way it sounds like you need to trap the squirrels and "relocate" them....permanently....

Take them to the Train Station.

 

[BigFootie]

Had a buddy with a Tundra that had squirrels do a number on the main harness. His insurance did take care of it though he was out the deductible. Either way it sounds like you need to trap the squirrels and "relocate" them....permanently....

Rodent Heaven or the other side would be considered permanent, yes?

If you relocate them to somewhere non permanent, marking them with a touch of spray paint will let you know if it’s far enough.

 

[Caltec]

Just got my Bronco back this past Friday from over 5 weeks at the dealership. Squirrels ate through the wiring harness on top of the engine. Harness was backordered all over the country and that was why it took 5 weeks to get it repaired. The good and bad news is the cost was over 3200 dollars for the repair. Lucky that my insurance covered 2600 of the cost. My cost was 500 plus tax. I contacted the Ford rep on this forum a few weeks back and gave them the information that they requested. Got a call after I got home with my Bronco from Ford saying they are working on some type of compensation for the long wait for the repair of my vehicle. Have never had this problem in the 40+ years I have been living at this address and over 30 vehicles I have purchased and parked in my driveway. Now using a mixture of peppermint oil and water to spray the wheel wells and the engine bay until I figure out a better solution for winter time.

 

[soupcansam]

I ran into a similar issue a few months back. Squirrels/rodents ate through my fuel line, specifically the part that was directly above my engine. I never got an error code, i just started to smell a very bad fuel smell from my engine while driving and through the HVAC system.

Took it in and the techs essentially said my car was unsafe to drive and it took about 3 weeks, 666 dollars (lmao) to fix.

I bought this peppermint-based rodent spray and so far haven't had any other issues. I also bought this honda rodent tape, but haven't had a chance to apply it yet.

I also managed to get a garage for about 90 bucks a month, a few minutes walk from my apartment (I was parking outside before that), so that definitely helped out tbh.

 

[JONNEE]

Darned mice/ground squirrels/rodents

I live right against a city desert park preserve, there's every variety of animal, and I have only a carport, so I've had my challenges with critters. This is with my 14-yo Tahoe, so different materials and YMMV.

A few years ago, found my truck smelled like popcorn after a few minutes running, and then starting stalling after driving any distance. Some investigation later, the corn smell was due to a pile of stuff from a quail block that'd I'd been buying to attract the birds in the neighborhood, a hundred feet away from where the truck was.

Some small critter(s) had built a nest, loaded with seed from the quail block, in the engine compartment, and fortunately hadn't chewed through any/few things in the engine area. However, the stalling was due to someone chewing through the wires to the fuel pump, right at the connector to the fuel pump, which of course was atop the fuel tank. It was an intermittent connection, mostly not.

Tank was freshly filled, so my buddy (my mechanic) had to empty the tank, drop it, replace the fuel pump (it was the second, and was now over 150k miles old, good preventive maintenance), repair the wiring, then put it all back together again.
No more quail blocks for me

 

[Tex]

Post the DTCs you have. I may be able to help you narrow down a location to look for.

Okay, here's what I got


P025A-65, -50
P0453-AF
U0415-6D, -2E
P0403-28
P0418:86-AF
C2007:13-AB
C0031:01-AB
C0037:01-AB
C003A:01-AB
B1533:08-08
C05D9:99-6C
B148E:31-48
B115E:31-48
B15F1:15-48
B1165:15-0A
B10AD:08-2F (I wasn't aware I had a rain sensor lol)

 

[BigFootie]

I used to enjoy watching the squirrels and gophers. Not anymore. There are plenty of places for them to nest naturally and not inside my attic or vehicles. I have no mercy anymore. But, they are very prolific and no where near extinction where I live but I’m working on it!

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