Rodent damage

[AliMc]

hi folks, I’m new here but hoping you can help. Just took the van in for its first service, and it wasn’t good news...

Garage noticed some chewed wires that are attached to the exhaust. These apparently link to two sensors, and will cost over £1000 to fix. They are saying they can’t replace the wires without replacing the sensors, which seems crazy to me. Currently there are no issues driving, but they say it could cause bigger problems later if not fixed, which I’m inclined to believe.

Can anyone advise if this is true that these sensor wires can’t be replaced without replacing the whole unit? Seems like terrible design if that’s the case, and nothing to stop the rodents chewing through them again as soon as I get it fixed!

Difficult to get a picture, but hopefully the below helps. The brown/rust coloured shape bottom right is the exhaust.

Any help gratefully received. Thanks,

Ali

 

[Dellmassive]

Looks.like the sensor wire has been chewed through...


Thing is the sensor comes with a pigtail lead of 8inches or so....

Looks like you need new sensor fitted.... though 1k sounds a bit much to me?

 

[Stigofthedub]

If it was me would fabricate something from some high temp wire. Nothing much to lose by trying and loads to save if it works. Depends how accessible it is or if you can remove the sensors to do the job.

 

[AliMc]

Thanks guys. Sounds like I’ll have to suck it up given my level of technical expertise.

Just frustrating that the wire can’t be replaced separately to the sensor.

Anyone got any tips on avoiding future rodent damage? It’s just in the street outside my house. I haven’t seen any rats there, but that must be where they got at it.

 

[Stay Frosty]

I would try wrapping them in self amalgamating tape if the sensors weren't giving any engine management lights on the dash, rodents usually stop chewing when they get through the insulation to the metal conductor.

At a grand it's definitely worth looking to see if the inner conductor is damaged at all each time then whack the tape on to prevent corrosion.

 

[Redsox]

I had this same thing on my q7 and same price taken to my local auto electrician fixed for £90 no new sensors need

 

[Stigofthedub]

As long as there's enough wire sticking out of the sensors to splice into then it can be done quite easily.

 

[Loz]

If its not showing faults, then it must only be the insulation that’s been chewed.

Personally I would use some high temperature tape and tape them up, save spending the money until a fault actually shows up.

 

[zombie_T6]

What Loz said

 

[Dellmassive]

Just for reference......

Here what a sensor can look like.... with its pigtail wire.



.

 

[BognorMotors]

IM sure we could repair that no problem, as has been said, no warning lights on its just the insulation that has been chewed. Unfortunately the dealer has to quote for replacement, rather than repair!

 

[Shaun Witts]

There is no easy way to prevent "rodents" feasting on your vehicles rubber bits. I lived in Munich for 17 years, and damage by Pine Martins (known locally as "Marda") was a common occurance. They were attracted by the residual warmth from the vehicle and liked to chew on anything rubber while basking in the heat given off by various parts. I've had CV gaiters holed by Marda, and once I had my HT leads chewed through two nights in a row!
There are all sorts of remedies, from electronic sonic repel devices to hanging a Loo Blu in the engine bay (harmless enough & what I usually did), to a wooden frame with chicken wire tacked to it about 2" off the floor. I'm not sure how well any of them work really.

So I would suggest trying to cover those wires in something less vulnerable to rodent teeth once you've repaired them?

 

[catfood12]

OP, I had a similar issue on some fibre cable in a hot and rodent infested location (grain terminal!) bought some of this and fixed it;

Design Engineering Heat Screen Matting

and Ty-wrapped it on. The furry little b'stards couldn't chew through it, and it saved the cable inside, which had initially been incorrectly specc'd for the location.

If you're not seeing errors at the moment, they've only chewed through the outer jacket, which may be soya based, and tasty to the rats;

They’re Putting Soy In Your Wires, Man
Rodents Are Feasting On Newer Cars' Soy-Based Wiring Insulation

Get some of that, use cable ties to tie on. Save £900.

 

[Grim Reaper]

Some O2 sensors use the air space in the wires as the fresh air feed for the sensor which is why any form of connector lube/anti corrosion goop is not recommended as it can close off the air feed, same if splicing wires, unless you can retain the air feed down inside the insulation for each wire the sensor may stop working correctly.
What the Home Mechanic Needs to Know about O2 Sensors

 

[Shaggy1969]

My T6 T32 is booked in to have and an oil pressure sensor error looked at this week so decided to have a bit of a look to see if anything was a miss.

Van was parked in the evening in the exact space as the morning - error appeared just at starting up to head home for the day. Stop Start stopped working at the same time.

Oil level fine etc etc then noticed this underneath, just below the anti-roll bar on the near side. Looks like it has been chewed through however the heat shield looks a bit bent and folded back to me. Loads of foxes about so one may been kipping there for a heat and decided to have a little chew? Any thoughts as to what this wire is for? Could this be my problem? Cost to fix?

 

[Phil_G]

Mice & rats can do a lot of damage... one nibbled wire could cost a fortune in diagnostics.
Shortly after I bought my Peugeot Tepee, I had an electrical failure and under a badly fitted plastic cover found a mouse nest, chopped wires, and this 'wireless' plug:



Resoldering the green & brown meant digging deep into the moulding to get a good repair - had it gone to a dealer who knows what they would have charged

Cheers
Phil

 

[Aron]

Rats most likely, they really love Vauxalls.

 

[Spaghetti]

Squirrels or mice did a similar thing to my bro in laws Golf. Ate through a turbo sensor wire. Only clue was a load of acorns under the engine cover. Looked closer and there were nibbled wires. The bloody thing did the same as on @Phil_G ’s post and ate right up to the plug! Was fun resoldering the wires.

 

[oldiebut goodie]

Mice chewed their way into the air filter and nested there and made another nest inside the glovebox of my BMW on the drive.

 

[True Romance]

Get a cat Do you live in a rural location? Niece lives in a barn conversion and they have all sorts of problems with mice damaging their motors.