Squirrel Chewed Through Charging Wires

[The Weatherman]

I have used a bar of Iris Spring in the glove box and under the seats of a work truck many years back. It worked!

I have also used the Peppermint Spray with success also.

PS- my mimesis was a rabbit that chewed the wires on Maverick.

I love me a good young rabbit!

Happy hunting!!

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[Lightcan]

The other day, I walked out to my truck in warmer (40 degree) rain after a week of sub-freezing temperatures. I saw some chewed up acorns on top of my rear passenger wheel. I instantly had murderous thoughts about rodents. The first few months I had my truck (Sept '22), I had found a mountain of acorns and shells on top of everything behind the access panel in the back of the frunk. A shop vac had cleaned up most of that with no adverse consequences. Well...this time was different.

I got into my truck and started driving and about 5 minutes from home, my watch buzzes at me that I have a message. It says something about powertrain failure as a message from the ford pass app. I didn't have any reduced power according to the dash gauges and the truck drove just fine. I had already forgotten about the squirrel nuts on the tire. I drove it the rest of the day with no issue other than the wrench icon and request that I take it in for service as soon as possible. So I took it in the next morning.

The service advisor told me that they wouldn't be able to look at it until the next day, but because I pointed out some recall work that it needed, he wouldn't have any problem providing me with a loaner.

NOTE: Prior to them determining whether a problem you're having is covered under warranty, they're gambling providing you with a free loaner. I think I'll save up my non-critical recalls for visits like this to ensure I have the best possible chance of being put in a "free" loaner truck.

Last night I got the email from the dealership that it's rodent damage to the charging wires. It's a little over $1100 in estimated cost for them to manually repair the damage (they're not planning on ordering a new harness and believe they can repair it). Once it's repaired, they'll run diagnostics again to determine if there are any more faults contributing to the "powertrain malfunction" and will submit them to Ford if applicable.

For some reason, I decided to overpay for auto insurance 5-10 years ago and only have a $100 deductible. They cover damage caused by animals and it's a no-fault claim. So I'm starting with that route and they don't mind me using the dealership to perform the work. I'll update here as things progress. In the meantime, I'm going to incur the ire of my neighbors by killing some squirrels.

I had similar error message , where is this cables exactly at ? I need to check them too thanks.

 

[Skidrowe]

I had similar error message , where is this cables exactly at ? I need to check them too thanks.

They chewed through my charging wires right behind the charge port. You have to remove the plastic housing around the charge port to see the wire harness behind it. Here's two pictures of the two different times squirrels chewed through mine.

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