I have a German made car (actually my particular car was made in Finland) that I keep garaged and only drive occasionally. The other day a message informed me of a sensor failure. Not important I thought. I'll just buzz on down to my friendly dealer's "service adviser" and drop off the car for a quick repair. I could grab one of their free cappuccinos at the same time. In mid afternoon my service adviser, "tony", called me up to say that the repair was going to be a bit more than anticipated. It seems rodents had devoured a part of the wiring harness through which electrons pass between the engine and the computer that controls virtually everything. I had to ask Tony to repeat because I wasn't prepared to hear the word "rodent." So I didn't grasp the gravity of the situation until he repeated "RODENT" and tacked on the estimated repair charge, ~$4K. That would not include the extra $400 charge to have the harness fabrication in Deutschland expedited. He graciously gave me the option of otherwise waiting approximately a month for its delivery. Now in fairness, and I do want to be fair, the engine in my car is not were you would normally find an engine, and consequently my "technician" -- there are no mechanics at my dealer, just "technicians" trained by elves in Stuttgart-- would have to be young and limber because he was going to have to take the engine out to replace the wiring harness, and then, I presume, but it back in. My adviser, besides offering to work with my insurance company, also allowed as how this sort of thing is surprisingly common, and it seems my particular car, in a very environmentally friendly manner, is assembled using a soy product, a.k.a. Rat bait, as a wiring insulator, and then the whole package is served up with a dressing of peanut oil as a lubricant to aid in assembly. My insurance company, when I called them, allowed that wiring harnesses are a common epicurean delight for rodentia, but seemed a bit nonplussed when I slipped the estimated repair cost into the conversation. Later, after half a bottle of Saint Francis, old vine Zinfandel, I decided to research the matter on the net. I discovered that Rat Bait has been used as wire insulation by VW, Porsche, and Audi since roughly early 2000s and that Honda and Toyota also joined the environmental movement at some point. (Now I ask you, if you're a Rat, how lucky can you be!) I also learned that thousands of these meals are being served to mice, rats, chipmunks and squirrels every year and that the manufacturers of these dinner parties are perfectly happy with the arrangement. Only Honda, it seems, has altered the menu by offering a capsaicin impregnated outer warp as a palliative measure after serving up a second helping of your car's wiring. My Googling also turned up many a sad tale of repeat dinners being served up by the same car. Apparently the replacement wiring harnesses are just as delicious as the originals. It seems some testy dinner hosts are cooking up a class action suit, which at its heart is going to ask these tree hugging, car makers why they insist on serving such expensive fare. This could amount to billions of dollars, but in whose pockets? If you are thinking of buying a new car, particularly the brands I mentioned, may I suggest you inquire whether dinner is about to be served. Also it might be well to avoid taking an equity position in any of these companies, until they stop using edible wiring. The repercussions could approach those seen by Takata who brought us shrapnel producing air bags.
That sucks. Yeah this problem has been going on for awhile now. GM had/has it too. Couple things.... an old farm trick that will work is to gently mist your engine compartment with diesel fuel and wipe it down. OK... you have a Porche in the garage... lol... probably not an option as it stinks...but it does work on the ole John Deere put up in the barn for the winter. Rodents nest in the things and they like to chew anything, vegetable oil or not, to sharpen their teeth. Little f'rs cause all kinds of problems come spring. Diesel works like a champ. But it is a Porche. Sooo... WD-40 will work just fine. Spray it everywhere, wipe it down on the hoses and places where it pools. Keep it off the exhaust manifold or you'll smell it when you first start up. This will not only mouse-proof the engine compartment, but if you use some rags, especially if you power-wash the engine first before you spray the WD... it'll make your engine look showroom new. It also makes everything easier to work on down the road, ie frozen bolts on clamps etc. It also displaces water on all electrical connectors and keeps them in good shape too. You will have to do this probably every 6 months, but you're giving your baby some love. You'll be surprised. You can never use too much WD-40. If it were me though...I'd put diesel on a rag and wipe down the new wire harness before its installed. Shouldn't be enough to smell inside the vehicle. Good luck getting your "technician" to do that though. Way too far outside the box in this day and age of mindless sheep cow-towing the company line. *****As an aside....If you're tempted to use poison, use "one-kill" type as many types do not kill the rodents right away and can/will poison owl's, hawks, (pets!).. so be careful.
thanks for those great suggestions. I'm going to bring up the business of wiping down the wiring harness with diesel before installation with my service advisor. See if I can get them to do it.
He'll say its a fire hazard lol... "I'm sorry Mr Piezoe... we could get sued". I'm tellin ya... lawyers have destroyed common sense in sooooo many ways.
I second VZ's info. You have a Boxter or Cayman if assembled in Finland. I have a Cayman purchased for the express purpose of modifying for club racing and experienced the same problem along with other guys. Car nuts that we are we do our own builds/work and do soak the harness overnight in diesel. The harness does need to be threaded throughout the car , lights etc, and it's disturbing that they use peanut oil for this as it will attract varmints much faster than soy. We use electric wire pulling lube designed to pull wires through conduit. Your best bet is to spray the instant kill VZ recomended around the harness and undercarraige of the car, around the corners of the garage. Clean out the garage so they have no place to make nests. Wear rubber gloves, safety glasses and keep air flowing. All the petrochem products replaced with vegetable plastic compounds have this problem. The irony is that lot of food packaging is vegetable based now, mice go for the pkg then find dessert inside.
Thanks. I'm going to show these post to my "Service Advisor". Wiping the harness down with diesel seems to make good sense. (It's a Cayman)