flambe

Just spoke with the District Service Manager for Acura in So Cal. Acura is well aware of the problem and since I first reported it directly to Acura, the District Service Managers all across the country have reported the same problem

Also I was told that this wire is used in other luxury cars and their owners are reporting the same problem.

Acura Engineering dept is working with the manufacuter of the product to correct it

Xzinkz

what about reimburstment for the money i've already spent fixing it ? do you think they will give me my money back ?

flambe

I am hopeful that this will be included. How many times have you had the problem repair and what was the cost each time? I'm having an additional dispute with Acura over the cost of the repair. Thanks

dj5

I have a '02 TL-S and my wife has an '04 Honda Odyssey.

We were in Atlanta for the Christmas holidays when her check engine light and TCS light came on. Took it to a dealer in Atlanta, they checked the code and said it was the knock sensor and that a mouse must have chewed the wire. They said the part was on back order and could not repair it until the end of January.

We drove the van back to Chicago and had a dealer check it here. They said exactly the same thing. Sounds like the Honda and Acura dealers have the same story line. I'm not sure I beleive it until I see the actual wire. The wire cost about $3.00 and about 3-4 hours labor to repair.

ayethetiense

for about a week, my check engine light came on.

tried to reset the ecu a couple times, that didnt work....

finally, after i was able to get it to the dealer today, they check it...

i get a call later... bad news, a rodent chewed through your wires. and the warranty doesnt cover it.... o, by the way, were gona charge you 87 bucks because it was not covered under warranty....

the guy never told me this! he never said if its not covered under warranty, you get charged for it.

i dont think its fair. i didnt do anything to make it happen, but neither did acura. so i understand.... but the fact that i was never told about the 87 dollar fee for just checkin it out. thats blasphemy! its ridiculous.

just a lil over 4000 miles and a rat chews through my shit. this sucks

maybe acura shouldnt make the wire covers out of food particles!

rets

This is the terrible news. I really wonder who'd be the next unlucky guy...

ayethetiense

ok, so if i were to get pepper spray, is that safe? i mean, will it get in to the inside cabin? i will deffinitely close the vent system for awhile but how long? should i worry about it? i dont really feel like gettin tabasco, it may attract them. i duno, HELP????

pepper spray? tabasco? raid? what other type can i spray.... hopefully something that will work but not smell too much.

once its fixed, i will be spending a good amount of money on electrical tape and wrapping all the wires. then spray wutever i can find to dissuade the animals.

VADER

Those rat bastards are up to it again!!!!
2 weeks ago they ate up the outer covering of what I believe is the emergency brake cable (underneath car on drivers side going front to rear). It was approx. 2 feet in length and hanging by a thread beneath the car....the rubber covering, not the vile evil rodent. Now the latest....the other day I found 3 neat little piles of chewed black rubber like material in my garage on the floor beneath my TL. 1 behind the left front tire, 1 in front of the left rear tire and 1 in front of the right rear tire. This crap is pissing me off. Other than those piles there is no evidence of rodents in the garage....they haven't touched the dog food and i've placed some humane traps (live capture) with peanut butter in them but they haven't been touched. So now it's time to kill something....I put some poison packets down on the piles.....And if that doesn't work I'll go to Acura and buy some CO2 wires and throw them around the garage so they can eat as much as they want!

mio

emmm!!!

dj5

It seems kind of strange that the Knock Sensor Wire seems to be the only wire the mice are going after.

Here is a link to the Odyssey website where there are similiar problems.
http://www.odyclub.com/forums/showth...ck+sensor+wire

To me it seems like a defective wire and Acura/Honda has made up a cover-up story about mice.

alextclam

looks like i am the next unfortunate victim...

the malfunction indicator lit up over the weekend but i ignored it since the service dept at my dealer only take appts on the weekend. so i decide to take it in first thing this morning. i'm driving on the highway and feel the car jerk. the speedometer drops to 0 and stays there. the green light next to the 'D' on the shift gauge starts blinking and VSA indicator lights up. finally get to a stop light and thinking what to do. since i was almost there i figured i'd just keep driving. next thing you know i'm accelerating and the RPM is going close to redline. seems like the transmission is not shifting past 2nd gear.

long story short, i dropped the car off and wait for a response. low and behold the service advisor calls me and tells me the knock sensor wire and possibly speed sensor wire was chewed by a mouse. she also mentioned that they found mice droppings in the engine compartment. she tells me it won't be covered under warranty and it's going to cost me $700 out of pocket.

go_blue

Mouse: 1, TL: 1

I first posted about 3 weeks ago regarding the mouse-ate-my-knock-sensor-wire case. The wire has since been replaced. I was shown the remaining of the wire and the connectors. There was really not much wire left, only maybe 1/8 of an inch left from both connector, and I can see the "irrigular" breakage on the insulation and the metal.

Back to the mouse. While I was waiting for the part, I bought 4 of those "rodent repellant" sonic things (the ones that you need to plug in), one under the front and the other under the rear, for the TL and my wife's Volvo. I have laid out 16 glue trays all around the garage where I found mouse droppings. I also laid out a number of boxes of "DeCon", poison for rat (get the one for rat, not the one for mouse, because I think it kills better), all over the garage.

Nothing happened, for about 8 days. The TL was fixed last Friday, I garaged it, praying that the mouse/rat is gone.

Then last Sunday morning, while I was doing laundry (don't laugh), sure enough, I saw this DEAD MOUSE lying next to the dryer. It was about 5 inches long with a 6 inch tail.

I was going to hang it on the garage rafter, as a warning to all the other rodents that might be still in my garage. But it would be too much for thw wife and kids, so I throw it away.

I was happy, with caution. I still religiously lay out a bunch od DeCon around my TL every night.

The fight goes on................

ayethetiense

go blue!

sweet. how much did it cost for your repair?

mickey3c

Well now maybe acura can have a sonic rodent feature installed. Once you turn the car off the sonic defender kicks in. I have not read all of the posts, but does acura replace that wire with one made with the same material?

I would want a steel conduit for the wire if it cost so dam much to replace.

alextclam

i called Acura Customer Relations yesterday and opened a case. should be getting a call back from a case manager within 48 hours. basically if they are aware of this problem with the soy based wire then it's considered a manufacture defect in my book. they knew of this problem well ahead of time since someone mentioned they were told that other lexus and luxury car owners had this same problem. Acura took a RISK management by putting out this wire in their production cars, we suffered so Acura and the wire manufacturer should be responsible.

go_blue

ayeth,

$368, parts and labor

Stevens Creek Acura, Santa Clara, CA

(they scratched the left front lower bumper/airdam, although only 3 minor scratched, but I was pissed. Svc manager authorized the fix and was done a week later)

alex,

I hope you succeed!!

jazzpicker

Agree 100%

jazzpicker

It's great living in North Florida, we have huge eastern diamondback rattlesnakes that keep the rodent population under control. Of course there is a downside to everything, just have to be a bit careful outside at night..

dj5

I just got my wife's '04 Honda Odyssey back. $323 to replace the knock sensor wire. Dealer said looked like a mouse chewed the wire. They saved the wire for me and it looked more like something sharp had cut into the wire in a couple of places and the all the insulation in a one inch section was gone. I also call Honda Customer relations but have not heard back. I believe the wire is defective and Acura/Honda should cover the cost.

rets

It seems lots of Honda/Acura models getting this issue. Out of curiosity, does anyone know if JDM Honda models get teh similar issue yet? Or any other brands' vehicles have the same problem?

jazzpicker

Sure, Acura should cover the cost of the repair since this is such a common problem. Why is the wire routed in a manner that is so expensive to replace? Is it possible to re-route the wire to accomodate an easier repair?
If all else fails, buy a cat...

KJSmitty

Many engines today have the actual knock sensor deep in the center of block between the cylinder bores, thus underneath the intake/fuel injection system etc. Depending on the design, much could have to be removed to get to the knock sensor, connection, wire etc. Haven't seen the Honda setup but if like others I "have" seen, 2-4 hours labor is probably legitimate...

This does really stink.... My 04Navi is also sitting in storage as we speak.. I have my wife throw mouse/rodent killer stuff in their about every month.... So far so good. She pulled it out yesterday and drove it around a bit. Had been sitting for about 5 weeks - she mentioned the "check engine" light never came on... I hope it stays that way. It wont come out again till June....

You guys that are engaged with Acura/Honda keep us posted on this issue. Like many of you, I can only hope I don't have a $400 dollar repair myself this summer....

Smitty

alextclam

got the car back yesterday. dealer couldn't do anything about it so i had no choice but to pay. i got in touch with the case manager and asked him to work something out with me. he's going to talk with the review board and get back to me next week. just have to wait and see what happens. here's the damage.

KJSmitty

Alextcalm - That completely would have ruined my month.... Christ, thats darn near a new set of Michelins....

Continue working with your rep to possibly get a partial refund etc....

Damn... I thought the $300-$400 charge was bad enough..

rtremain

Just returned from my Westchester, NY dealer for the second time, with the "rodent ate your wires" service advisory.

When I bought my new '05 TL two months ago, I left the dealership not realizing that the check engine light was on. I called when home, and salesman said "probably left gas cap loose. Check, run a couple of tanks through, and if it persists bring it in. "

Back in for service a month later, and they fixed it under warranty. Yes, knock (or NOX?) sensor wire replacment. Waited four hours for the service to be completed

Two weeks ago check engine light again. Today in for service check, and tech advises of same problem. Says it's common in the winter, with rodents looking for warm area.

I kept my last '02 3.2 TL for 3 years parked on the street, and never had a problem. I park my new one in the same place, and now have same problem twice? The difference has to be design problem associated with the new one! (soy/chedder wrapping noted by others)

BTW, the sole effect of the problem has been milage down about 33%. No other symptoms.

rtremain

BTW, the hot sauce remedy was mentioned by the dealer, but I didn't see the service bulletin. I thnk they read these postings.

I mentioned armour or other wiring protection and got a wan look, and a shake of the head. I left to later schedule service. I'm thinking it's time to push for a permanent fix, as I am conviced this is a design flaw. Very curious to hear of the other forum member's progress with customer service. Please keep us advised (as I will).
Thanks,
R. T. Collins
'05 TL

ayethetiense

rtremian - your lucky that yours was fixed under warranty. every dealing ive had with a certain acrua dealership has just been a bunch of BS. they are so rude it is unbelievable. i regret purchasing this car and the only reason is the quality of the service department.

i have a question to everybody. is it only the knock sensor wire? or is it other wires as well? please, i beg everyone who has had this problem fixed in the past, are there other wires or just the knock sensor? and what do you think about wrapping it heavily in electrical tape. better then nothing and maybe they wont like the taste of it

alextclam

well until Acura gets their act together and find a permanent solution i have thought of 2 options. first one is to put one of these near my car.

http://www.pestrepellerultimate.com/...epeller_MC.htm

being that i park in a outdoor lot i'd have to find a hidden place to put it.

second is to hit the panic button on the remote to sound the horn and scare off any rodents hiding in there when the engine is still warm. do that until the engine cools off then they shouldn't have a reason to go in there. i live on the 15th floor of an apt building and luckily the remote still works from my balcony.

i'm also actually thinking of calling up my bank to dispute the charges to my card. explain to them how the problem will keep recurring and that the manufacturer is aware of the problem but is not finding a feasible solution. i'm also going to have a talk with AFHC about it too. see what they have to say about this. whatever it takes to make Acura suffer. i think everyone else should complain also. it will definitely put pressure on Acura.

you know what? it may sound stupid but i think one day i may actually stand outside the Acura dealer with my invoice and show every customer that walks in. then tell them becareful of Acura cars. they have a type of cable in the engine that attracts rodents. it happened to me and this is what i had to pay out of pocket. and tell them to speak with a service advisor and ask them if it's true before they decide to get a car. that should give them something to think about. it's like telling someone they have a 50/50 chance of it happening to them and Acura's not covering it under warranty. how attractive does that sound?

Lore

If you can find the wire, I think putting something like duct tape over it would help. Or spray it with something nasty like silicone lubricant!

jazzpicker

Agree!! If it cost me $3-400 to replace a $5.00 wire, I would put something over it for protection. There should be a simple solution to the problem.

mickey3c

I am sure acura will not admit to a design flaw. The wire functions fine and is evironmentally sound. They just did not design it to exist in the real world. Years ago I had a subaru and they way it was designed, mice would nest in the heater ducts. The dealership installed screening to prevent this from happening again. Acura needs to address the issue at the manufacturer and dealer level. Until the manufacturer fixes the problem (I smell recall), the dealer should come up with some interim solution. Or, happily go on their way charging the labor to replace the wire. I would be pissed if I had to replace the wire a few times a year.

The cost of ownership goes way way up!!! But I would say that you have warranty on the car and if the light goes on, something has to be fixed. It is not like you put rodents under your hood. Since the car is intended for transportation, you cannot control your environment and acura should be responible for this.

alextclam

acura customer relations called me today and said the only thing they can suggest for me to do is contact my insurance company and dispute it with them. since my deductible is $1000 they're basically telling me to go fuck myself.

i wasn't surprised with their answer cause they will never admit it as their responsibility to come up with a better solution. he said it was an environmental issue and was out of their control. i was going off at this guy so bad that everyone in my office stopped what they were doing. i told him if they weren't willing to work something out at least give me some advice to help protect my car from future rodent incidents. he tells me not to park at the same spot where it happened. wtf?! i said this is a private rental parking space... i pay monthly fees for it. then he goes and tell me to take it up with the building management about having rats in the parking lot. i said how can you prove the wire was chewed in my parking space and not when i drove out to the city or something?! there are 250 other cars in the parking lot why would mickey mouse purposely come eat my car?!

at the end, i told these guys (acura) to open their eyes. there is a problem so fix it.

btw, after the repairs were done my cd changer doesn't play dvd-a discs anymore. now i have to bring my car back in to fix. ridiculous! i can't wait until the survey comes in the mail. boy am i going to have some fun with these people.

ayethetiense

just got my car back. its been at the shop all day. they said it was the knock sensor wire plus a few other wires around that same area. apparently, the coating on all those wires were the same. made of cheese i guess......

anyway, the damage is 326.94 total. labor, plus diagnostic(half off) and wires (more then just the knock sensor)

labor was 260, diagnostic was 40 and wires were 25.

he wrapped all the wires up in the general area with some type of silicone tape and then sprayed a type of sealant over it all

im gona kill every rat i see

i decided not to do it at the acura dealership cause they were dicks.... pardon my french but its true. the service people were horrible. so i brought it to purrfect auto service. the guy was really cool and helpful. called me when he said he was going to and kept me updated.

so goodbye crappy expensive acura service techs and hello to my new mechanic.

mickey3c

I like the creative and non-realistic solutions that have been provided in this thread. Makes me wonder how much of the car can be eaten... I can see it now, someone leave their tl in a parking spot while on vacation and they come back to find chew marks on the bumper.

But seriously, is this the only wire in the car that attracts rodents.

I would also make a big stink with acura because you are operating the car the way it was intended. Did the warranty insist that you operate it in a non rodent evironment.

As for insurance covering it, most people have 500 deductible and even if you did get coverage, I bet your insurance company would drop you like a bad habit if you kept filing claims...

acura_service

i have heard it all, being cheap is not the way to go through life, chew marks frayed wires whatever just don't develop on there own, anyone who has seen this knows the difference between seeing a chewed wire and one that is sawed by rubbing a bracket or bolthead, so saying acura has to prove it is a bunch of shit, own up to the repair, it is your car and you are responsible for it, you can call your insurance company and claim it on comprehensive. plus if there is nothing touching it rubbing, the wires didn't chew themselves, it is quite common, animals looking for warmth when they are cold. i have seen this many times at the dealership

put a couple of mothballs under the hood or down near the framerails a couple under the car won't hurt either

and using the cai vs a headlamp problem sounds idiotic compared to what we are talking about here

dealership technicians are not stupid, we know when people are trying to scam a warranty repair. like the guy with a 6,000 custom paint job that cried warranty becuase his headlamp harness metled after using 100watt blue bulbs, doesn't mind blowing money on any mod under the sun, but when it comes time to pay for a repair especially one caused by stupidity on his part, cries rip off and warranty

you know whats warranty and whats not. use your head

acura_service

big stink with acura - get real, i guess if you crash into a lake and swamp the car you should tell them the owners manual didn't specifically state not to drive near a lake

there are good techs here and there but saying dealerships are expensive as a bad thing you don't know the whole story, the labor you pay for covers expensive shop equipment that outside garages can't even get from the factory, special tools manuals and so on, it is a large expense and has to be passed on to the public, but if you have more information you can better repair the car more quickly and the right way

i used to love the phone calls to the dealer by some outside garages - hello...yes i'm working on this car its a ...... i was just wondering where the oil filter was.....or what is the spark plug gap.........of the ever popular how many quarts of oil does this take - yes thats where i want my car going for service

acura_service

what problem, if its such a problem why is mine not chewed, clean up your parking area, you got a rodent problem, doesn't matter where it happened

defects in workmanship or materials, - rat chewing - i don't see a defect i see a rat eating your wires, it wasn't chewed at the factory

the body harness is not part of the engine harness, anything is possible, but you might have other wires chewed up in area's you can't see, you may be in for further repairs, i actually hope not, even though i think you and others are being totally ridiculous and not taking any responsibility for your vehicle, trying to pin blame on a mfg for a rat problem, but hopefully it will be a warranty repair so your not out of pocket any more. seriously if your looking to point blame, go to the building owners read up on it, it is more likely to occur where the vehicle is parked overnight than anywhere else, the rats are on the properly you pay for, i'm agreeing its not your problem, its just not acura's

acura_service

MOTHBALLS! - they work

acura_service

yes, if they decide to issue any kind of warrany repairs in a tsb or a recall save your receipt and present it to the dealer

acura_service

so what do you think? they should make up a slush fund to hire orkin to round up all the rats in your neighborhood?

while your at it, report bad drivers for me to, i think its acura's fault they are on the road, you know they sell to everyone some good some bad, they should be held responsible, i got behind a old lady in a mdx going 20 in a 45 the other day, maybe i should go for pain and suffering, mental abuse whatever

what about a good looking car being more appealing to thieves? i don't know i like the look of the tl, maybe they could have made it not as nice, that way they won't be stolen as often, put that on the list also

shit make acura responsible for anything and everything, oh i forgot most people blame bush for those things, i'm surprised that didn't come up yet