Rodents eating electrical wiring

Hi,
I searched in this forum related to this problem but I could not fiind much. Can you guys share your experience and what worked for you. I live in a building with a underground garage. I have never experienced that problem so far but I also never kept a car longer than 4 years. And I am planning on keeping my future 4runner Limited for as long as possible. I am aware of the options available out there but I wanted to hear from you guys. Thanks.

 

The struggle is real. I had a brand new 2020 SR5 premium get eaten up by squirrels this year. I ended up trading it in after it was fixed for a TRD Pro. For the pro i've done a number of things that (mostly) have worked. Under the hood I have some scent pouches and cotton balls soaked with peppermint essential oils. When it's parked I slide a small plastic ammo can (Plano) with a couple of moth ball pouches. This has worked for me. I now see squirrels (on my driveway camera) taking a wide arch around my truck. Every now and again they will run underneath it but they don't stay long.

 

https://www.4runners.com/threads/i-hate-squirrels-totally-destroyed-my-car-today.12448/

Here's a discussion about the subject. It's definitely a concern for many owners.

 

Thank you Drababan and Thatbassguy for your replies. So, so far mothballs and peppermint soaked cotton balls are the options. I found one guy on youtube, Shawn Woods who apparently had specialized in rats extermination methods: https://youtu.be/PW8FbXRCF9U
He claims and prooves with video that ultrasonic repellents do not work. That was going to be my next question here. Anyone with a positive experience with these? I have to admit, it is much cleaner and less stinkier method. Regards.

 

I had serious trouble when I lived in rural Az with pack rats in my RV and rabbits in my sons car, for the pack rat bounce dryer sheets worked well, the rabbits were much more of a challenge. You might try bitter apple, it is a spray made for puppies to stop the chewing, not sure whether it would work. You should be able to find it at a pet store. Ryans Pet supplies here in Phoenix has it, not sure if they will ship.
Good luck.

 

Yeah, i watched his videos too. He baits the rodents in for like a week then tries out all the different deterrents. Peppermint is the only one that actually worked BTW. The only thing you could do that is "less stinky" would be to spend a ton of time and money with capsaicin tape covering all your wiring. It's not a deterrent though and they may chew it a bit. It's too hot for them to enjoy and they won't continue. Honda sells it for $50 a roll. For me the problem was squirrels under the hood so I wasn't worried about keeping mice/rats out of the interior. That is a whole different fight that people who store their cars have to fight. Seems peppermint oil is the least offensive option. The scent packs (posted by someone else in the thread above) have a nice cedar fragrance and would be fine in the interior as well. Squirrels don't seem bothered by them though.

 

Put a natural predator dummy on your hood that’s motion activated and makes hawk sounds (or whatever) when critters run by
Maybe coil a rubber snake up where they like to build nests

 

Cats. Always feed them around your vehicles, then stop feeding them. If you get enough of them, I can bet your problem will not be rodents eating your wires anymore

 

I haven't had problems thus far. our parking area is right next to the fence...we have two Labs and a Beagle so it's like an air raid siren whenever anything comes in the yard...maybe that's helped

 

I purchase a product named "Mouse Magic". There are 12 pouches of extreme peppermint scented stuff. I open a bag of four pouches every month and set a pouch on each tire of the Shelby when it is in storage. Stuff is really strong and mice hate it.

 

Our 2020 TRD offroad limited just started throwing codes. Rodents. Dealership said. Cost- $9500!

 

I think that squirrels and mice may not nessasirily be looking for food. Rather they are sharpening their teeth since they do not stop growing. As to why they pick a certain object to chew on, who knows. I've seen them go through aerial armored fiber cable.

 

Sounds like its common on new Toyota's. They coat the cables in soy. There have several failed lawsuits against Toyota thus far.

 

I have 2020 4runner. Bought because my 2008 jeep rusted out and thought a toyota would be reliable. I've been stranded by this new 4runner twice now. Both time, car goes in to brake override function mode and wire harness chewed to shit. And after the 1st time, i placed 4 mouse traps in garage literally surrounding the 4runner with peanut butter bait, and I've even changed bait out when it dried up... never caught a mouse or even saw the peanut butter disturbed yet... they sure do like the soy based wire harness. What a joke... toyota is dead to me. I will now become the anti-toyota spokesperson until they stop being soy-cars.

 

I should add, there is an ongoing class action lawsuit on this issue, as toyota has known about it for years and done nothing to address it.

 

Toyota is not alone in the wiring deal. Put cedar under the hood and stuff. Don’t attract the mice with peanut butter, repel them with shit they don’t like the smell of.

 

I have been driving cars for 35 years. The first new car I ever bought was this 2020 4runner. I have had cars break and engine lights come on in all my years of driving, but only one car has ever stranded me on the road... now twice..my new 4runner. My 1976 Landcruiser was a rusted ugly, loud, heat coming through the firewall, burning oil car with 200,000 miles on it and it NEVER stranded me on the side of the road. NEVER. Brand new 4runner with 21,000 miles... been stranded twice on side of road. You can call me a newbie all you want, but it does not chance the fact that toyota is not the same brand it used to be.

 

https://www.torquenews.com/1083/car-talk-helps-bust-myth-soy-why-rodents-are-eating-your-car-s-wires

 

Interesting.
They don't touch our 06 tacoma or older vehicles. They sure do enjoy the 2020 4runner though. I installed a strobe & sound emitter last fall. Haven't had an issue since, but I've also gone on a 1 man mission to kill every ground squirrel I see on our property.

 

Big problem here with chipmunks; and can confirm that the ultrasonic noise maker things do absolutely nothing. Neither does the stinky commercial repellent spray stuff. Tried trapping, but doesn’t seem to make a dent in the population.

They’ve chewed up a transmission harness in wife’s explorer; chewed up two wheel speed sensors in my jeep (on top of making a big nest under the hood); chewed up turn signal wiring in SXS; Somehow the only vehicle that’s escaped their wrath so far was the 4Runner, lol.

 

no, not really. I thought buying a new 4runner would be a solid car and reliable. My family has been stranded on side of road twice now. The first time was on a sunday a hour from our house in country and it took almost 7 hours to get home (between limp mode and waiting for tow trucks, then tow truck couldn't take passengers because of covid, so had to wait for a Lyft too)... on a 12 month old 4runner with 18,000 miles. Then, after paying to fix, it happens again. So no, I'm not ok. I'm mad that toyota quality went to crap before I was able to afford a new one. I guess I missed my chance. For everyone out there that has an older model... take care of it... you won't get a better one, new. You know what else I don't like on the new ones? You can't get out of the car and lock the car with the car running. It just won't let you. and no, its not an adjustable setting, even for the dealer. The remote start is just dumb... you can start it from your house, but then when you open the door to get in, it stops and you have to start car a second time (granted, this is not a factory start, but because of the factory software, no 3rd party remote will operate normally). The stereo is not great either. Have the premium stereo option, but the front speakers and treble is not nearly as nice as older cars factory premium stereos - got cheaped-out. And what's with the stereo controls on the steering wheel? You push down to make the radio station go up, and up to go to a lower radio station? Was the button designer dyslexic or upsidedown? And scanning stations sucks too...from steering wheel, you can only scan between your preset stations. So when you are on a road trip, you have to scan using the buttons on the upper right side of the nav screen, so your arm is dangling across the dash and not on the steering wheel. Again, poor controls design. And worst of all, when a rodent is given the choice between the soy wiring harness or peanut butter, it chooses the harness. They basically wrapped the wires in mouse-food. The factory installed step-side tube rails are not placed in the right locations.. They are too far forward, near the door hinges and doors do not open that wide, so you never get a good step on them. Who designed that? Did they make a prototype before mass producing them? What's with the sparkles in the paint? What's wrong with a solid black? Its classic. But no, you can't get black, you can black with purple sparkles or black with blue sparkles. TRD colors have always been great, I'll give them that. New 4runners are not for me.

 

Sorry to hear that.
My comment was directed towards @ snickel fritz about protecting his forum from us pesky members.

 

Clothes dryer sheets also work well, I used them in my RV for years. I also caught a rabbit under the hood of my sons car chewing wires, it is not always a rodent.

 

Where do you get 'peppermint essential oil'? Embarrassingly, I don't really know what that is. What is its actual intended use?

I just found what look to be mouse turds sitting on top of the air filter and the 4R is going to be parked in the driveway from here on out so I'd like to up my protection game.

 

Wally World will have some stuff, Amazon…

 

I guess I meant where locally.

 

I've always kept some moth balls in different areas of the engine compartment. But only during the winter as rodents seek the warmth of the engine compartment during that time.

 

I had a rodent-chewed injector wire within a week of bringing home my 4R that I am 99% sure happened while my truck was enroute from the factory. Just in case, though, I got something very similar to this:

$19 Harris Peppermint Oil Mice & Rodent Repellent Spray for House and Car Engines, Humane Mouse Trap Substitute, 20oz

https://www.amazon.com/Repellent-Organic-Substitute-Peppermint-Cinnamon/dp/B07BHRRZVL?crid=29LRF7YRSP4ZY&keywords=rodent+repellent&qid=1653757074&sprefix=%2Caps%2C204&sr=8-13

and have applied it a couple of times. No issues since.

 

Unfortunate that Toyota would not strive to be better. This is a known issue apparently (new to me), I joined forum to seek out info on the problem and apparently the best people can come up with is to spray peppermint oil, stuff cedar into engine compartment, etc. I live in NE USA. I drive through snow and rain all the time and the car is often wet and dirty from road salt, etc. The idea of having to "maintain" my engine compartment with regular applications of mint oil and cedar is simply not an acceptable solution. Toyota has a stella reputation, but they seem to be getting sloppy... especially with design of new features. I'll give you another one... the 2020 model came out with some some nice anti-collision sensors and they located them on the front grill behind a flat plastic panel that looks like a license plate holder. A) it looks bad, B) it block air flow to radiator, C) when driving in snow, it gets caked up with snow and the sensors turn off (probably when you would need them the most). Triple Fail. Other car companies are either mounting sensors up high in front of rear view mirror, OR covering lower sensors with a domed/bubbled cover that allows slush to blow back/fall off. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IxYOfL19PQ

 

Replace the wiring mod.