I am posting this thread so that if this situation ever happens to you, that you will be able to understand this problem that I have seen thousands of posts about. So I was driving my 2003 Acura TL-P the other day and my check engine light came on. Shortly after, the TCS light then came on. I religiously keep good care of this car, so I was wondering what the problem was. I went to my mechanic and he didn't know what the problem was. Then I went to the dealer and had to fork over $110 to those fuckers for a diagnostic test to see what was wrong. They told me that my knock sensor wire had been chewed through by a rodent. This seemed like bullshit until I saw the actual wire. They quoted me something ridiculous like $500 to fix the wire. The wire itself costs $20, but to get to where the wire is located, they needed to remove half the stuff in the engine. So just for the labor itself it was like 3-4 hours of labor. I ended up going back to my mechanic who did everything for $375 out the door. I guess the moral of the story is DON'T TAKE YOUR CAR TO THE DEALER IF THIS HAPPENS TO YOU! Sure, I found out the problem by going to the dealer, but I wasted $110 on the diagnostic test. Now you know. Stick to private mechanics, and even that is sketchy.
P.S. If you don't have to, don't park outside or near bushes or brush. Also, putting mothballs and other things to detract rodents in or around your hood isn't such a bad idea either...

 

haha good story. yes no dealer unless neccesary, also might want to acquire a cat?

 

had the same thing happen to my tl when i first got it. it has been sitting at a lot for a while, so i can see a rodent chewing through the wire.

 

I had the same issue happen years back at my old house when i had my car stored in the garage for winter. My dad stores bird seed in his garage so rodents would live in there eating the seed. A squirell was living in my engine bay and chewed thru alot of wires. I went to start the car and the squirell was still in the bay. His tail ended up getting caught in the drive belt and he was ripped to shreds. i had to go thru the whole engine bay looking for chewed thru wires with squirell guts splattered everywhere. there was even stacks of seeds stored in my bay. Fun stuff.

 

another thing i noticed was that i was running in limp mode. wouldnt go past 5k rpm