Tried starting my '09 fit up last night after about 3 weeks of not driving it and my the battery was dead. Ok no huge surprise. After getting it jump started I notice that the check engine light is on and the "D" light is blinking. After putting it into drive i quickly realize that there is a serious problem. There was a huge THUNK/Shudder when putting it into drive and it would shudder when shifting into second gear. DAMN!

Since I only have 33,000 miles i brought it to the dealer. I was pretty confident that all would be covered by the warranty and that I wouldn't have to fork over any cash. NOT the case. I get a call back from the dealer this afternoon and they tell me that rodent has chewed through my main engine harness and that they are surprised that the thing even runs that it is so bad! Total damage... $1300 and NOT covered by warranty!

So I called my Insurance company they will cover the damages under my comprehensive insurance. After a little bit of research online. I'm reading A LOT about HONDAS and wire chewing by mice and squirrels.

Apparently HONDA is using a soy based wire coating that rodents like to chew on. GREAT Honda.. may as well have covered the thing in peanut butter and birdseed!

What can I do to prevent this from happening again? I've never seen a mouse around my house but I have tons of squirrels.

 

Find the spiciest thing you can get your hands on and coat it?

 

Honda makes a rodent deterrent tape that has red pepper in it, the part number is 4019-2317.

 

GREAT Honda.. may as well have covered the thing in peanut butter and birdseed!

I feel your pain brother, but your comment made my laugh!!

 

I'm laughing too. All I can think of is those Jersey Squirrels. Sure sign spring is around the corner I guess.

Jonathan Never thought comp coverage, but lucky you.

 

The exact thing happened to me. No 2nd gear thunk'n and shuddering all over the place. I was so sure that it would be covered under warranty. In my case I drove it to work and it was fine I got into it to go to lunch and it was awful. Mine turned out to be mouse chews. Honda dealer wanted 600.00 to fix the wiring harness. Thank god my husband is a mechanic he fixed it and it only cost the diagnosis fee of 58.00 from the dealer. It was kind of embarrassing for him though because instead of just diagnosing at our shop he took it to the dealer just based on the way it was acting. That will teach him. Good news is that it drives and shifts as good as ever.

 

I thought this was a joke, but it s not I've never heard of it before.

 

if they have gone to the length of making a deterrent tape why are they still making wires in that coating?

 

Rodents can be a serious concern, and you need to be sure that you don't have attractants in your garage or near where you park.

My wife used to keep birdfood in the garage. She started getting a CEL on her Prius. the techs found over a pound of sunflower seeds packed into her battery cooling system. I found a similar cache in the airbox of my subaru when I went to change the filter! And when I started the 914 for the first time that spring, I noticed one of my friends laughing... I was shooting sunflower seeds out the tail pipe.

While the tailpipe was funny, both of the other problems could have been terminal if not found and mitigated. it was a very good thing that the chimpunk did not chew through my air filter, or his winter cache would have quickly killed the engine on that car.

Zach

 

It's not a honda problem, it's a rodent problem. I have a neighbor who feeds the little suckers. Thus we have way too many critters running around. Every spring the young ones need to cut their teeth on something. Instead of the twigs up in one of my 5 trees, 3 times they have chosen the wiring under one of my hoods.

I'll look into the pepper tape. Might be exactly the prevention measure I've been looking for.

 

The tape actually has pictures of rats on it... nothing is.... impossumble.

 

Now that's a opossum problem. Wow.

 

Sorry man, but I couldn't help but chuckling at this.

 

My mom had the same issue on her bmw z3 they chewed threw the windsheild wiper fluid hoses and started gnawing on her abs wires too. Dealership took care of it though. And the possum picture made me laugh so hard I woke my daughter up lol

 

Would peeing on the wires help? I heard that will claim your territory and no animal will get close to it.

 

in regards to the rodent deterrant tape, does anyone know if you have to wrap all your wires completely for it to be effective or would just the smell be enough?

might work till the smell goes away.

imagine yourself opening up your hood and finding yourself face to face with that possum

 

Just called my Honda dealer and he said 1...this is not a Honda part number, and 2...he has never seen a Honda vehicle with damage from rodents..he did say that he has seen GM vehicles with that type of damage, and 3...they have no such tape, regardless of part number.

Ok.....did my own search with the part number and found it...called the dealer back and talked with the same part salesman. He did another search and did find the part. $32 for the tape. $25 on-line.

 

I don't think it is just Honda that is using screwy wiring that rodents like to chew on.. Since splicing way too many chewed up wires on one GMC truck, one Lincoln Town Car a Volvo 760 Turbo and a silicone hose on the super card of my KWSC base kit I routinely spray under the hood of all of our cars with a rodent repelant made for use in gardens... It also repels deer... There is nothing like opening the hood of a car that won't start and finding rats or squirrels with a nest made of your wiring full of babies.

 

The only thing worse than that is starting your car and hearing a screaming howl from under the hood, then finding that the cat crawled up into the engine compartment last night to get warm, fell asleep and got caught in the fan belt.

 

A pissed off raccoon is a down right frightening thing to see in the same situation but cats and raccoons aren't prone to building nest or chewing wiring... A cat takes a long time to get it together after that kind of experience.