Good news: it isn't the 6.0. Bad news is it is my semi-collectible pristine S2000 that was parked in my shop. Went to give him a nice bath and found a rat's nest under the hood.

Damage:
Rat ate poison in shop and is dead, somewhere. Chalk one up for me.

multiple chews through wire loom protectors where nest was. Car ran, as I brought it up to the house and that is when I discovered nest.

One loom is compromised (wires chewed) and I need some advice: one wire is completely separated, one has a few strands before being the same, but the rest have just insulation chewed. I remember I think it was Sean saying there were better ways to make wire connections than soldering, so help please?

I have to make 2 spliced wires (4 connections) and then I am thinking the "liquid electrical tape" for the wires with just insulation chewed and then re-tape over the whole loom. Is that what you would do?

I'm removing some stuff now for better access, so I might be able to take a pic later, but wanted to get the question out right now. I'll check back in awhile...

Has anyone had this happen and tried an insurance claim, auto or home? I just hate having a hack job like I'm about to do on the car, but replacing a loom could be major surgery too, so maybe this is best approach...?

 

Get a beer or a bottle of jack and have a few drinks!

For the wires that need spliced, there are varying opinions. IMHO soldering is the right way to go, others say no. You pick what you like and go with it. Heat shrink tubing is your friend here. Make the connections and cover with heat shrink tubing and you will have a nice weather tight solution.

Years ago when i wrenched we used a butt style connector that had a solder ring in the middle. Both wires were stripped and over lapped. When heat was applied to shrink the tubing the solder ring would melt and solder the wires together and seal the splice at the same time.

 

With Sean's background he is going to say crimping. He had no choice. And a good air tight crimp typically is superior for conductance.

When I splice in automotive wires, and especially if I was repairing 65-66 Mustangs, I soldered them in, staging the solder joints so the harness didn't look like a snake that ate a rat, something your gladly envisioning in your mind right now.

 

^^^^^ What he said with the heat shrink to seal and tape for looks and loom protection

 

Use a quality self-sealing heat shrink tubing slid over the wire.
Solder the joints.
Slide the hear shrink tubing over the joint and apply heat until it shrinks up and the sealant begins to ooze out. Done.

In the RV forums a lot of people use drops of mint extract through out to ward off mice.

 

Thanks so far guys -- my back is toast for the day (leaning is the hardest on it).
So here are some picts:

1st is the worst of the damage with multiple wires just having insulation chewed off in areas, but the one Green wire is a problem as it is very tight on the wrapped end -- that is a rubber piece under the tape that goes through the firewall, very little room to work on that end. This is the only wire I could shrink wrap as it is severed.




Any thoughts on the liquid tape I mentioned for the chews? Something like this:

https://www.amazon.com/Star-brite-Li.../dp/B00U2JALTE

This Blue w/ Yel stripe is tight in a zip-tie connector that is fastened to the inner fender -- how do these hold-downs work? snap in? If so I could cut the tie and find another after repair.




Last is Brake fluid Res. low level sensor -- ground is worst but the wire is actually intact:




For the wire protector chews I was just going to re-tape them. There are no wire-to-wire contact points I can find, so that was lucky (like when I drove the car to the house it didn't burn to the ground ).

So for the one green wire on the firewall end: a butt connector maybe? Something better if I can't solder it?

 

Going by the pic, I'd try cutting that rubber insulator back far enough to do the work.

 

Thanks -- I've heard moth ***** work too, but mint sounds more appealing...

 

I have seen the liquid insulator/plastic dip work on cuts in the insulation.

The plastic zip tie thingy doodad should be a push in anchor. Not sure where to buy them other then a dealer.

 

Thanks Mike! Good idea: I could cut it underneath and then when it is re-taped over you won't see the cut-line.

We have to go to some friends for dinner, so I'll mess with this more tomorrow... The drinking will be heavy tonight I think....

 

Get yourself a garage cat...rodent issue should be gone with a cat.

 

Or put a couch out there for the wife. Lol Just joking Mrs.Wildman.

 

Have one at the house but he is deaf and mostly blind and apparently a pacifist (never has caught anything).

Cats outside don't last here -- we have foxes (among other cat eaters). Now if I get dogs again, that'll take care of the foxes and yoties, and then we can have a shop cat...

What I need is to tell the foxes where the rats live

 

Wife did set some traps in the shop -- but I'll keep the couch suggestion to myself, or I'd end up with a couch somewhere I didn't want it...

 

Man, that was a Goldielocks rat. Kept tasting things until it found what it liked.

Usually I'm asked about harness wrapping tape. But this is different. Most electricians will fall back to 3M 88, but there is a better choice for this where you need to protect individual wires, and I would recommend 3M 33+. It's a little thinner and way more flexible.

When we did instrument wiring in vehicles I taught the guys to do what I called flag taping. Instead of the typical wrap you lay it over the small area at 90 degrees and let the two adhesive surfaces form a little flag off the side. You can do multiples like that and it won't increase the diameter that much. If you do a final harness or tubing over the section it won't be visible. And with the two adhesive sides mating, there isn't the normal tendency to unwrap.

Silicon tape will bond to itself and could work if there are no individual strands that could puncture it, which is easy to do.

I've never used the liquid tape, so can't comment.