[A_n_gel]

Hello CT Fam,

In need of some help. With Covid and stay at home orders in CA, I haven’t driven my car in about a week; last week I drove to the grocery store only. Today while opening my door I heard a noise like a tail hitting plastic. I freaked out and closed the door and heard it again; the car was running due to remote start. I turned off the car and popped the hood and noticed rat poop and pieces of my firewall foam missing. I followed the trail and small bites and noticed leaves and other firewall foam in a nest form underneath the brake master area. I popped the lid from the cowl and boom. The nest was there. I cleaned up the mess and noticed that the wires running into the driver side firewall were bit. The rat didn’t chew through the entire wire, but it did cut a few and are exposed.

Does anyone know what the wires running through this section is for? I followed it underneath my steering column, but couldn’t see anything further.

 

[A_n_gel]

 

[Rockster]

Does it matter what the wires are for? They are there for a reason, not just decoration.

No direct experience with rodent damage but over the years I have come across a number of cars that have suffered this. (Mainly I encountered them at the local dealer when the owner would bring the car in for some goofy error or symptom.)

Replacement of the damaged wiring harness is the solution.

And afterwards a good cleaning of the area to remove the rodent odor. While you may not smell it rodents can and it can lure them in for another round of rodent nesting.

 

[A_n_gel]

Does it matter what the wires are for? They are there for a reason, not just decoration.

No direct experience with rodent damage but over the years I have come across a number of cars that have suffered this. (Mainly I encountered them at the local dealer when the owner would bring the car in for some goofy error or symptom.)

Replacement of the damaged wiring harness is the solution.

And afterwards a good cleaning of the area to remove the rodent odor. While you may not smell it rodents can and it can lure them in for another round of rodent nesting.

I’m going to get it fixed properly, but wanted to know what those wires are for.

 

[Rockster]

I’m going to get it fixed properly, but wanted to know what those wires are for.

Who knows? With no wiring diagram or part number or no input from a Dodge tech as to their purpose they could be associated with anything from the coils to the tail lights.

Just be thankful no bare wires shorted to ground or together. In most cases I'm familiar with the cost to repair rodent damage can be quite large. In some cases the owner of the car had to fall back upon his homeowner's insurance to cover the cost to repair the damage.

One owner had to pay to have the engine dropped and so all the wiring in the engine compartment could be replaced.

In other cases I've seen SUVs with their cabin gutted down to the bare metal to get at the wiring that was damaged.

Also the damage does not have to be confined to wiring. I've seen (disassembled) the plastic tubes that carry air through the cabin chewed through. Or the thick rubber sheet which encloses the radiator of in one case a Porsche Cayman chewed up. This same car had a goofy error associated with a CEL. Turned out the rodents had chewed through a vapor line from the fuel tank -- located in the front of the car -- to the engine compartment -- behind the cabin.

In another case the rodents chewed their way through the upholstery in the back seat of the cabin on into the engine compartment. (This was a Porsche Turbo Cabriolet.)

They will even scrape the nap from the carpet to use for nesting. Thus one has bare spots in the carpeting.

If you are really curious when you take the car in you can ask what the wiring is associated with.

 

[Hal H]

some of those could be wiring to some of the engine harness or to the sensors for master cylinder, wiper motor and potentially some of the lighting circuits.

There's many harnesses running around the body.

the charging and engine / PCM and TIPM / front power module run along the right side (passenger side) of the vehicle.

I'd avoid operating the vehicle - if there's electrical shorts it could take out other modules in other parts of the system, leading to yet more items to be repaired.

its a lot of labor involved to replace the wire harnesses - due to accessing them and the tear down to get to them, remove and replace.

a friend had similar rodent damage to engine bay wire harnesses on a early 90s Mercedes years ago and its was > $7k for the insurance company to repair all that

 

[A_n_gel]

some of those could be wiring to some of the engine harness or to the sensors for master cylinder, wiper motor and potentially some of the lighting circuits.

There's many harnesses running around the body.

the charging and engine / PCM and TIPM / front power module run along the right side (passenger side) of the vehicle.

I'd avoid operating the vehicle - if there's electrical shorts it could take out other modules in other parts of the system, leading to yet more items to be repaired.

its a lot of labor involved to replace the wire harnesses - due to accessing them and the tear down to get to them, remove and replace.

a friend had similar rodent damage to engine bay wire harnesses on a early 90s Mercedes years ago and its was > $7k for the insurance company to repair all that

Thank you. It’s staying still for now till I have a chance to drop it off at the dealer for them to review. Will opening a case with insurance soon.

 

[Competition!]

Time for some rat traps.