jbw

Last week I was peeking around in the engine compartment and noticed something had begun making a nest (out of the interior sound deadener material) on top of the manifold, under the throttle body. I started pulling the material out of there as an angry sounding squirrel chattered away watching me from the safety of the woodshed as I pulled his new home apart.

I thought I had taken care of the problem, but noticed my truck was running rough on start up a few days later so I popped the hood and noticed he had made another nest in the exact same spot. I pulled the material out of there again and noticed that an injector wire has been chewed, not through the metal but the plastic housing insulating the wire is chewed through, leaving an un-insulated wire. This seems like an obvious explanation why my truck is running rough on startup and smells of excess gas, the injector is probably not getting a proper signal and is probably flooding the cylinder with gas.

What should I do to remedy the problem? I've already put out poison for the squirrel but the injector wire is obviously compromised and needs to be repaired or replaced. Can I simply repair the insulating housing with a few wraps of electrical tape and call it good?

Please keep in mind this is on a $1700 truck that doesn't see much long distance driving, just short commutes and 4wheeling..long story short I want to spend as little money as possible on this thing.

muddpigg

iTrader: (1)

inspect the wire for damage then perhaps some liquid electrical tape.

jbw

Didn't even know that liquid electrical tape existed, probably the stuff I want to use.
Anyone have any other opinions?

muddpigg

iTrader: (1)

make sure to inspect the wire (copper part) really good for damage.

Red3.slow

Kill some squirrels

jbw

I'm going to pull the intake hose off tommorow so I can get a full look at the wiring in there. Am I right assuming that this is causing my injector to stick or send too much fuel and flood the cylinder with gas? It definately smelled of gas on startup and ran very rich for the first few minutes. Once warm it's fine.

Would this lead to cylinder leakdown or cylinder washout at all? I don't want to cause any damage to the engine. I checked the oil earlier and noticed it was a little higher than I expected, could have smelled of gas but could also be the EGR recirculating exhaust gases.



Hopefully the poison worked for the squirrel, they're persistent and chewing wiring is a real pita.

I had a problem bear that I fed a peanut butter and cayenne pepper (like 1 cup of cayenne) sandwhich to because he was getting into everything around my house. Woke up in the middle of the night as he was taking off after eating the sandwhich, knocking over lawn chairs. Never saw the bear again.

edeslaur

All my injector leads needed replacing. They just got cut off and new ones connected using butt connectors, then taped up to keep the dirt out.

If the wire integrity is fine, then just tape it up (liquid or otherwise).

Your truck would be running rough if the wire was grounding out, but it shouldn't get better when warm. I've had injectors stick open due to worn-through injector wires, a little tape TLC and they were fine (Cherokee, not Toy).

But.. is the running rough really new, or you're just being hypersensitive?

One more tip - get some old pantyhose, cut the feet out, fill with mothballs and place strategically under the hood. Mothballs sublimate, especially in the heat, so replace as needed. I go with at least 3 bags. Works great at keeping them away (ala your bears and peppers. BTW, Dave's Insanity Sauce works great on dogs that like to chew things they shouldn't... LOL)

I'll take squirrels any day over pack rats in the southwest... That there is cactus (not mine, but I've had it so bad you can't see the engine at all).

jbw

The running rough is new, although it's a higher mileage (170k Miles/282k Kilometers) 1990 4Runner which I bought a month or two ago, maintenance seems okay, as in oil changes done on a regular basis and parts replaced when worn out but I don't really know it well enough to say if this is a recurring problem. PO mentioned that the fuel filter was replaced not long before it was parked for 5-6 months before selling it to me.

I daily drive it around a 20 mile commute every day plus errands and a bit of exploring on the weekends, I've had it run rough on start up once or twice but 99.9% of start up is smooth with no problems.

waskillywabbit

iTrader: (-1)

Kill squirrels. Electrical tape wire.

:wabbit2:

yotarob2005

I would cut the wire at the bad spot and solider and shrink-wrap it back together. Butt connectors will eventually fail & electical tape will eventually loose it stickyness and let go. Solider and shrink-wrap is the BEST fix IMO.

duck tape

make squirrel stew
use super 33 +