Any good detectives out there?

[Captain Muskie]

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[Trauma PA]

The difference is that there are plenty of acorns to mess with, but not that many Jeeps. Obviously a crime of opportunity!

 

[SC Doberman]

Definitely a squirrel. They do that crap to my deer cams and feeders

 

[Trauma PA]

Don’t give me any ideas

 

[Gliebig]

My neighborhood does have a ton of squirrels. But what’s the attraction over all the acorns that are available?

We have a park up here by the Susquehanna river. Vultures by the parking lot will mob your vehicle and eat the wiper blades and rubber around the glass. It's crazy to see. There are tons of them and they will fug your vehicle up in no time.

 

[Trauma PA]

Squirrel, had one cause about $800 damage to my last Tundra wiring harness, and my whole front yard is full of acorns, damn bastards don't care. Same looking marks.

Apparently a lot of the new plastic type wire looms have a soy base now? No idea if that applies to the hood latches, but apparently it's a pretty well known issue, at least in the Toyota world.

And no, warranty didn't help ha....

So, I did what any reasonable person would do.... Spent $3K and cut down the whole damn tree they lived in, tree was huge.

Reassuring. So now I have to ask myself is how important is the aesthetics of the hood latches? I guess I can buy some Amazon $32 replacement latches but if they gnaw on these too than I’m done and will just leave the hood latches on. Pisses me off though.

 

[Trauma PA]

This. Just be glad it wasn’t something more critical. Had pack rats chew a hole in the windshield washer fluid tank and then chew through the brake line on my wife’s Mercedes. Close to 1k in total damages ‍

That’s f’d up!

 

[FitfulGoat]

That’s f’d up!

The worst part was pulling out of the driveway and realizing I had no brakes as I started to roll into the street

Good luck with the squirrels! Another option would be to use some bitter spray like for dogs and douse the latches.

 

[Dryfly24]

Squirrel, had one cause about $800 damage to my last Tundra wiring harness, and my whole front yard is full of acorns, damn bastards don't care. Same looking marks.

Apparently a lot of the new plastic type wire looms have a soy base now? No idea if that applies to the hood latches, but apparently it's a pretty well known issue, at least in the Toyota world.

And no, warranty didn't help ha....

So, I did what any reasonable person would do.... Spent $3K and cut down the whole damn tree they lived in, tree was huge.

Yes, Toyota harnesses are quite delicious to rodents apparently. Ask me how I know… $$$

 

[be77solo]

Reassuring. So now I have to ask myself is how important is the aesthetics of the hood latches? I guess I can buy some Amazon $32 replacement latches but if they gnaw on these too than I’m done and will just leave the hood latches on. Pisses me off though.

Yeah, it's tough because squirrels are territorial and have their own area they stay in. I did feel a little bad taking out the tree, (of course this same damn tree totaled a previous 4Runner I loved when a branch fell during a storm), so it was already on my shit list lol.

They then were forced into the woods behind my house away from any vehicles, and it is nice no longer having acorns everywhere ha.

And for what it's worth, they've been doing this for at least a decent amount of time I'd guess, and you didn't notice until you were detailing the truck. So hopefully not too noticeable all the time.

Good Luck!

This was the poor 4Runner. Glad the tree is gone ha

 

[wchevron]

Looks like squirrel teeth. Did the same to the plastic base of my daughter's basketball net. You could trap and relocate but a local exterminator said they are very territorial. If you relocate them to an area occupied by other squirrels, the existing squirrels will kill the new transplants. He said the more humane thing to do is to capture and kill them.

 

[Dryfly24]

Yeah, it's tough because squirrels are territorial and have their own area they stay in. I did feel a little bad taking out the tree, (of course this same damn tree totaled a previous 4Runner I loved when a branch fell during a storm), so it was already on my shit list lol.

They then were forced into the woods behind my house away from any vehicles, and it is nice no longer having acorns everywhere ha.

And for what it's worth, they've been doing this for at least a decent amount of time I'd guess, and you didn't notice until you were detailing the truck. So hopefully not too noticeable all the time.

Good Luck!

This was the poor 4Runner. Glad the tree is gone ha

 

[MyRight]

Reassuring. So now I have to ask myself is how important is the aesthetics of the hood latches? I guess I can buy some Amazon $32 replacement latches but if they gnaw on these too than I’m done and will just leave the hood latches on. Pisses me off though.

I'd spend twice as much and get some metal ones.

https://www.extremeterrain.com/jeep...=shopping&utm_term=4577885386189004&gclsrc=ds

 

[joeym7]

I'd spend twice as much and get some metal ones.

https://www.extremeterrain.com/jeep-gladiator-locking-hood-catches-black-76337.html?utm_content=XT Exterior - Hood Accessories|Store Brand&T5_Var4=JG2074&utm_campaign=XTG+Gladiator+Vehicle+Medium&dialogtech=ppc&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=shopping&T5_Var2=shopping&utm_term=4577885386189004&gclsrc=ds

Those look pretty good, no varmit problems yet, ha!, but I want to be able to lock my hood.

 

[steveorama]

I'm in the it's a squirrel corner on this one. Seem like a good poll to add.

Rodents like to chew. We had a squirrel decide to chew up all of our lead roof jacks on our last house. At least the consolation is I know he got a nice unhealthy dose of lead poisoning.

The worst rodent caused automotive damage I've seen, is back in 2008 my parents had bought a brand new Lincoln MKX. A week later they parked it in the garage and went on vacation for a week. They came back to discover a rat had chewed it's way through the firewall somewhere and proceeded to chew on every piece of interior leather, carpeting, and different wiring harnesses. Total damage was around $15k. We honestly expected insurance to total it out at first since the entire interior needed to replaced more or less. Surprisingly, they didn't and fixed it instead. There were always a few weird electrical gremlins for the next 6 years they owned it.

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