i had a smiliar problem with my minivan. the field mice chewed through some of the wiring under the hood and I got a check engine light. this happened last winter.

 

Add me to the list of victims. GS400 acted up on Saturday and the knock sensors were both denuded and disconnected and wire insulation was everywhere on top of the block. Rodent feces and urine were present as were foot prints. Got a loaner car from Lexus and two days later, before my GS was back, the almost new '07 GS350 had the same problem.

Orkin's coming today.

See my other recent post in another thread for details.

 

even if the backup camera died, you can replace it with eclipse reverse camera. Many toyota sienna and prius owners have used eclipse cameras as a replacement to the OEM. eclipse camera runs off the same 6V just like our OEM's.

 

Rip Off Fo Sho

 

Practically every exposed plastic part of a car (and apparently even some relatively unexposed parts) are fodder for rodents to gnaw on.

Some examples, from personal experience, of what rodents can and have done:

My niece and nephew have this fancy Outdoor Adventures play structure that has (or had, as you will soon hear) a plastic fake telescope held on by a U-shaped plastic bracket. Over one winter a few years ago a squirrel (or some gnawing creature...not the kids) took to chewing on that bracket and it was reduced to a sizable pile of plastic dust on the floor of the upper floor of the play house it didn't bite the telescope at all just the bracket.

One year, just one year and I've lived in the same house for thirty-five years some gnawing rodent took to eating the zest off the lemons of our lemon tree. There must have been thirty lemons on that tree and they were all pure white, he/she left them in place and gnawed the zest right off while they were ON THE TREE.

Lexus should not cover this under warranty.

If he pays to fix it and continues to park in the same spot and it was in fact a rodent that did this I'll bet you dollars to donuts that the little sucker shows up again to repeat the mischief. Once a rodents takes a mind to gnawing on something you can't stop them short of taking away the target or killing the offending rouge rodent.

If your wiring harness has been gnawed on then you are very lucky to find out when the problem was limited to a frivolous accessory like a rear back up camera. My recommendation is, first establish if it was, in fact, a rodent and if you are convinced that it was then start putting out traps to kill it...quickly or back up cameras are just a tip of iceberg of the electronic nightmare that lays before you.

 

Why? Warranties cover defects and failures due to mechanical or manufacturing problems....why should they cover a Rat eating away at wires? My friends Bentley started acting funny...lights going on and off randomly, running strange..took it to the dealer...Rat had chewed the harness....$7,000...NOT covered by the warranty.

 

I've heard this rats chewing on harness story before. Was told it had happened for air bag wiring also. I don't think it was BS and seem plausible, but $3500 for wiring harness is ridiculous. Since it was cause by a rat, it sure won't be covered under warranty. You should definitely go to a nicer dealer and they might repair it under warranty. Some dealers do like to screw customers if the business is slow.

 

warranty should not be confused with insurance

 

That was my experience with a rat... it lived there for a few days b4 it finally gave up.

Your warranty shouldn't cover any broken wires like that unless they were frayed by wear from the car itself. Otherwise, they're going to claim you ripped out the wire yourself. But as somebody has already noted, make sure you get rid of that rat... or you're gonna find that $3500 problem appearing again. use a normal rat trap... the rat in my car just laughed at me after I set up a $50 electronic one.

 

THAT is CRAZY!!!!!!

 

wow i woulda went on a killing spree if i ever saw that in my car... Clean out the garage and hunt and kill each rat like theres no tomorrow. I know field mice are normal in urban areas, so watch out when you leave your garage open. Do you leave your windows open?

 

i bet it didnt leave a pretty smell behind either

 

omfg that **** is hugeeeeeeee

 

i can't figure out if the deer splattered throughout the SUV i saw last year is worse than this.

how does the rat get in??

 

Yeah, $3500 out-of-pocket, screw Orkin....I'd be out there with a baseball bat and a hunk of cheese.....just for the satisfaction.