Ken1997TL

Apparently the Germans have huge problems with rodents getting into their cars and chewing up the wires. That would explain why BMW and M-B have so many electrical issues.

VADER

With our newly designed euro looking cars the mouse must have mistaken my TL for my bosses 7 series......

Steveb

Hi, please read a PM I sent you. Thanks!

Ron A

From the famous 3G Garage: https://acurazine.com/forums/showthread.php?t=86162

Alan Barreuther

Here in the great southwest desert, pack rats build their nests under the hood of your car. Best thing to do is leave you hood open(?), place a light under the hood, or set traps around the car. You know you are on the road to ruin when you start finding purple pickly pear cactus fruit around your car. They are packing their dry goods away for the winter. They like ALL wire including the fabric on Little British Cars! They like high voltage wire too, like plug wires!

Curvebal33

I heard the rats in NY are as big as small dogs!! Must've been a tight fit. j/k :-)

matelot

Is there some kind of device that emits rodent-repelling sound ?
or maybe chain a cat next to front wheel will take care of the rodent problem ?

matelot

wow beside doot dints, scratches, rock chips, falling coconuts....now this !

J RIDE 81

Damn thats some crazy luck, Good thing everything is ok now!

havokgroup

I've heard of this several times.

SidS1045

I once had massive problems starting my 1979 VW Rabbit, and once I got it started it ran terribly. I tried everything except my air filter, because it had just been replaced. Finally, in desperation, I opened the cover and removed the filter.

Field mice had crawled up the air intake and built a nest inside the box, right below the filter. The box was full of their nesting material, which had choked off the air flow through the filter. Curiously, they had not chewed the filter element at all.

Car ran perfectly once I removed the nest.

BrandNewTL

Wires are generally coated with PVC (polyvinyl cheddar). Mice just love the stuff.

VADER

go_blue

Took my TL in this morning to Stevens Creek Acura, since the CHECK ENGINE light came on yesterday. I was told that a RODENT ate about 6 inches long of a O2 sensor wire. I mean the insulation, the wire, and everything....

I guess I am being punished for garaging my TL. The replacement part is $10, the labor, however, will be about $350.

Gotta get me some DE-CON. The rep. told me he has seen about a dozen of similar cases. But here in the Bay Area????

wolftag

This is starting to sound like a scam to me.... Would be interesting to contact other bay area dealer service centers and see if they agree.

rets

In Garage, you may see this... https://acurazine.com/forums/showthread.php?t=86162


You ain't the only one, we have cases in Atlanta, Seattle, LA, and Long Island, NY so far...






(Your thread would be MERGED after a few days... )

mrsteve

iTrader: (1)

You are getting whored if they are charging $350 in labor to replace the 02 sensor wiring. Unless they are removing it completely and replacing the entire wiring. It could easily be repaired in the section where it was damaged in about an hour.

go_blue

I think it's true. My wife told me the other day that she saw some "droppings" along the cabinet in the garage, and the svc tech showed me the bare red wire under the manifold that leads to no where, since the rest was chewed off.

mrsteve

iTrader: (1)

I'm sure it is true. But $350 in labor is highway robbery.

That is like 4-5 hours of labor.

Acuraluvr

iTrader: (2)

this is soooo wrong; mice in ur engine??? wow

Novice

Is the O2 sensor wire that yummy?!

mrsteve

iTrader: (1)

Not in the engine. Underneath the car near the downpipe and/or cat converter.

miiipilot

Unfortunately this is a reality.

A few years back, I had purchased a new '99 E36 BMW M3. After a few months, with less than 5000 miles, my moonroof had stopped working. It was halfway open too :-( I was furious with BMW.

I made an apppointment and took it in. A few hours later, the service advisor called and told me that the something had eaten through the wiring and made a cozy little nest. I was even more furious. I immediately drove back to the dealership to see it for myself since I didn't quite believe him.

SURE ENOUGH.............And even more funny, I knew it was serious when I saw about a cup of my Lab's dog food being cleared from the headliner. LOL

I paid @300.00 for the re-soldering and cleaning.

My solution: Moth balls in the trunk and garage. ohh...and a cat. no further problems with rodents.

miiipilot

Lore

Who was your service advisor?

EmuMessenger

It is the new cheese flavored wires that have caused this increase in rodent wire chewing.

Ron A

A lot of the questions raised here about this topic would be answered by reading the link in Post #3 above. Reprinted here for your convenience and edification.

lrvace

What the??????
I was a little concerned when I first read this, as I do park outside next to some shrubs. Noticed today that what i believe is an o2 sensor, (attached to header right in front of the motor when you open the hood) has the wire insulation chewed. Wires are not broken but copper is exposed on 3 of them. Anyone come up with a usable solution. My car is only 3 months old. Now I'm thinking about how to mount one of those ultrasonic rodent repellers in the engine bay.

SMF-TLS

In two separate Acura vehicles, my 1998 Integra and my 2003 TL-S I have had a field mouse build a nest during the winter in my heater fan. (it happened twice on the integra.) Each time the dealer fixed it out of good will but told me the next would be on my coin. After I brought in my TL-S the tech told me that this is also a common problem as they just crawl right up and in.

Behold, the power of cheese.

NFLblitze1

they drive well....they look amazing...i guess they taste good too lol

LessisBestmakingendsmeet

Where do ya'll live? This is sad. Rodent problems? Incredible!

kcg70

I have experienced the roden eating the wires problem too. With 584 miles on the car, my check engine ligh came on. At first I thought it was because the gas cap had not been put on tight but after a few days the light was still on. My car lives in the garage.

Took the car to Acura and was told a rodent had eaten the check engine ground and the #1 piston sensor among other things. The service consultant said I was the "6th car this month" and lucky because the majority of these came in on tow trucks. Cost $600 to fix.

flambe

I have been dealing with Acura on this problem. They have turned it over to engineering to find a solution. Wondering if your car was fixed at Acura 101 West?

Xzinkz

today is by far the worst day. this is the second time that my check engine light has come on and the second time that these rats have eaten my wires.i spent the last half hours looking for the photos i took of the sensors i got back from the first incident. to describe what i got back was nothing but the connection joints. the wires were all eaten up. last time the repair cost me about 480 after tax. i made an appointment at a different dealership this time and they quoted me for 600 dollars and told me that rats have eaten the wires again. i'm going to call the dealer and ask if they can do something to add extra protection so the rats can't chew through them again. man this is real frustrating. i was praying to god that it was just a loose wire from the first repair or something. but man these rats are really getting on my last nerve. i've tried everything. i've rigged the entire garage with rat traps and what not. but so far nothing has been successful in keeping them from eating my wires.

LessisBestmakingendsmeet

R U being sarcastic or serious?

kcg70

Yes, I did take the my TL into Acura 101.

Xzinkz

i'm being very serious. today was the second time those damn rodents chewed through my wires. i also asked the technician if there was anything he could do to add extra protection to the wires and all he said was he'll try and see what he could do. basically all he did was clean up the rat piss and clean the inside a little bit. there is no escaping these rodents. i parked inside and the rats ate it. now i'm parked out side because the technician said that they like it warm. well i'll see if they like the car out in the icey cold.

lazeboi88

I have the same problem too. I always park my TL in the garage, and the engine light recently came up. Took it to Acura of Pasadena and they charged me $80 for looking at it and offered to fix it for $300.

lazeboi88

actually, i took my TL to my uncle, who's a mechanic. He checked it out and found MOP STRANDS in the engine!!!! it seemed like the rat was building a nest in the engine of my TL!! my uncle's apparently going to remove the engine cover to repair the knock sensor

Xzinkz

someone mentioned that in order to get the the wires you have to remove the intake manifold and other parts to get to the sensor wires. as of right now i have my car back and i think this problem is going to occur again. i'm hoping for the best as of this moment. acura really needs to step up and amend these flaws. i mean what were they thinking when they used soy bean plastic coating ? well i hope someone brings this to their attention. i don't really know what to do except when it happens again i'm just gonna have to bring it in and have them fix it.

zexi

This happend to my car , last winter . Does anyone know if the wire covering has since been changed? If this happens again , I would like to know if the coating has been changed so that this will not be a continous propblem in the winter !