[IronQQQ]

Insight wasn't running too hot this morning. sounded rough as I'd it was 1 or 2 cylinders short. Plenty of CELs.... None of them turned out to be helpful.

Was lazy didn't want to open the hood since the car is under warranty. Later being curious I plugged in my OBDLink LX reader and it had an ignition coil code.

Popped the hood. Mouse poo on the valve cover, chewed wires on the coil pack. Disassembled connector.

Gotta get back to work but will go to store later buy some supplies and solder it back together.

 

[WorldThatHeSees]

One would think with over a decade of problems Honda, and other manufacturers are having with mice they would stop using the wire with soy based insulation.

 

[insightfully]

OEM standard continues to be the soy-based insulation, yet Honda knows this is an issue and sells rodent-repelling, chili pepper infused electrical wrapping tape (part # 4019-2317) - Just a little over 6k and getting all these warnings

Sadly, the following thread also mentions rodent activity as cause for electrical error messages - Just a little over 6k and getting all these warnings

 

[IronQQQ]

So I temporarily soldered it back together, very poorly and the CELs went away. It's not yet permanently fixed. Need some advice.

Running my Bluetooth OBDLink LX it still shows error code and I can't figure how to clear it. The OBDLink only responds when the car is in run mode.

But again the car shows no CELs and it runs fine. Took it on the freeway and such.

Now the soldering this where I need some help. On the pin end, I had some aerospace grade MIL 22759, 20 AWG copper wire with silver plate. Good to 250 C, non flammable, Teflon coated jacket. I soldered very poorly to the pin but it's solid. I used acid flux for copper pipes which is all I had and this is supposed to be a big no no.

The Honda wiring harness end... That's a nightmare. It's very flimsy 22 or 24 AWG. It wouldn't tin. I tried sand paper, scraping with a blade, nothing worked and it wouldn't tin. I borrowed a higher power soldering iron 45 watts scraped it more and few individual wires finally took some 60/40 rosin solder.

It was just enough tinning to connect a few wires but it needs to be improved for a permanent fix.

the Honda wire is silver... Is it aluminum wire or something? Maybe I need electronics flux? The wire is plenty hot enough. The iron tip touches the wire and the wire is hot enough to melt the solder but it doesn't really want to draw the liquid solder and the molten solder just flows around the wire.

MaybeI need electronics flux to get it to adhere? I don't know... Help anybody?

I've googled a bunch of links and watched a ton of videos... But still not sure. The nearest electronics store is like 50 miles away.

Pin and Honda wire

My crappy soldering job

Help these Honda wires don't want to tin all the way. It's barely hanging on right now on the car end of the wiring harness.

 

[yecam]

It is unfortunate that you used that acid flux as it will eventually come back to haunt you in the form of corrosion. I have found that 60/40 rosin core solder works with electronocs solderig but my preferenc is to use silver bearing solder, similar to 60/40 but with a small amount of silver in the alloy. In a pinch you can "borrow" a bit of bow rosin from a violin player friend or alternatively, scrape some pine tree sap from a pine tree if you have one in the neighbourhood. Either one of these makes a good flux for soldering. Pine tree sap is the original flux that i learned about in public schol, way back in the last century..That might be all that you need to persuade the solder to flow as the flux that y use is critical.

 

[WorldThatHeSees]

I never use flux. Overrated, I say. Anywho, give me a few days and when I get back to work I can find you the part number for that socket if you want to change it properly.

 

[WorldThatHeSees]

Hmm, same problem I ran into with my Dodge. Looks like they changed the sockets they used in the last few years, making internet searches rather difficult. Without tearing apart my car {sorry} I am about 95% sure this is the same plug, at the very least the same sockets. Tis a bit expensive, as if I could find you the socket part numbers they normally run about 20-30 cents each.

Conversely, if you can find one of these...

... in a salvage yard, bring the wire cutters. But again, newer card usually get auctioned rather than scrapped.

Maybe bug this guy and see if he is willing to part with his harness if he still has it?

I can continue to do research, but it took me about four months to find the sockets I needed for my Dodge. I assume that is not the down time you are looking for.

 

[IronQQQ]

Hmm, same problem I ran into with my Dodge. Looks like they changed the sockets they used in the last few years, making internet searches rather difficult. Without tearing apart my car {sorry} I am about 95% sure this is the same plug, at the very least the same sockets. Tis a bit expensive, as if I could find you the socket part numbers they normally run about 20-30 cents each.

Conversely, if you can find one of these...
View attachment 6085
... in a salvage yard, bring the wire cutters. But again, newer card usually get auctioned rather than scrapped.

Maybe bug this guy and see if he is willing to part with his harness if he still has it?

I can continue to do research, but it took me about four months to find the sockets I needed for my Dodge. I assume that is not the down time you are looking for.

Thanks so much for the PN! That's the exact socket. I did repair it for now but will need to be redone again and while doing that I'll replace the socket and pin.

 

[IronQQQ]

So I ended up borrowing a higher wattage iron, getting flux, and sanding the wires. I only got partial tinning. Sand paper had more effect than flux.

It didn't tin all the way to the where the conductor and jacket line is. I think the jacket is melting and giving off vapors that prevent tinning all the way. I tend to think the wire was not meant to be soldered, only crimped? It's super frustrating as I touch the wire with iron, and opposite I touch the solder to the hot wire. The hot wire melts the solder and it just runs off.

to any extend my repair was pretty amateur and I need a second round to cut the wire back further to a straight section inside the harness raceway. My current patch is in bending and is not a long term fix. The car has been driven for the past week so it works. I was also able to clear the DTC codes by pressing the power button 2X without foot on the brake pedal. This puts it in "on mode" or whatever it's called but doesn't fire the engine. As long as the engine is not fired, you can clear DTC codes. You can't clear DTC when the engine is running or so if the car is in accessory mode.

no DTC codes have returned since.

crappy fix. Insulation jacket is melted. Not tinned all the way.

heat shrink on but patch is in bending.

i will.have to cut the wire further back to a straight section in the harness raceway and patch again and replace connector and pins.

lastly used high temp aerospace kapton electrical tape. It's not very flexible but this stuff is good for over 200 deg C.

after my crappy fix, I consulted one of the electronic techs in my plant. He recommended me to use water proof crimp and heat butt splices. That's what he uses if he can't get something to take solder. I'm not sure if it'll fit into the wire harness races in in the car, but it's worth a try.

Rat has been an absolute pain. I also spent much time sealing off the attic gaps as it was also climbing into my attic, and I set traps and bait. The rat eating the car was really unexpected. It does eat many of my veggies and fruits in the garden.

It just bugs me that this is new and has less than 12k miles yet I'm having diagnose and fix this. It's not Hondas fault but it just irks me. Perhaps if the car was at 150/200k miles I would not be irked.

Years ago, on my one of my Hondas had a mouse that kept on getting into the cabin but all it did was walk around and poop and never chewed on wires l. Mouse trap took care of that one.

 

[WorldThatHeSees]

I very much recommend the Raychem Environmental Splices... they are a bit expensive and the proper crimpers will put even more of a hit in your wallet. Plenty of other options out there.

Anywho, a couple stray cats have moved into my neighborhood. My field mouse problem will soon be over. Hopefully I will not have a chewcident before then.

 

[IronQQQ]

I very much recommend the Raychem Environmental Splices... they are a bit expensive and the proper crimpers will put even more of a hit in your wallet. Plenty of other options out there.

Anywho, a couple stray cats have moved into my neighborhood. My field mouse problem will soon be over. Hopefully I will not have a chewcident before then.

Awesome! Thanks! They have those in the EE lab with the crimpers! I'm going to ask my tech to borrow those. With access to this, this is much better than soldering.

I see from the newark link it's mil spec too! 150 C

 

[andrew28]

Honda makes a rodent tape you can possibly use to prevent it from happening again.

NEW Genuine OEM Honda Rodent tape 4019-2317 | eBay

HONDA - Rodent blocker 4019-2317.

www.ebay.com

 

[IronQQQ]

Honda makes a rodent tape you can possibly use to prevent it from happening again.

http://[URL]https://www.ebay.com/it...224943&hash=item289f3147f9:g:AjgAAOSwZTld1FGl

[/URL]

OMG that $40+ dollars!

So I decided to check on the car today and the rat came back, chewed on the wires and harness cover again, made itself a nice nest with orange peels, peed and pooped all over the place.

So I put regular foil and foil tape (high temp pressure sensitive adhesive aluminum foil tape. I use stuff for Dynamat installs and the adhesive is rated to 150 C).

As for taking care of the rat problem I put metal mesh screens in the attic (it was getting into the attic for weeks and making a ruckus), put out bait, traps and I picked up some repellent spray. Seems highly rated and people mention using it for their cars. I plan to spray the wheels, suspension and the engine bay. So we'll see... If I can eradicate this pesky nuisance.

I don't know if it has chewed on non visible parts of the car but I suspect it likes the warmth of the engine cover and block when it gets home in the evening. The car is garaged, but since the engine block is warm it prefers that over other garage stuff like fluffy microfiber towels and toilet paper packs. I'm also thinking that's why it would rather chew and nest in the Insight rather than in the Tesla as that car doesn't really get hot after driving. I'll be spraying the other car as well.

 

[IronQQQ]

So bought a bunch of junk, came home, ate dinner and vegged out for a few hours.

12 am I just went out to the car spray the repellent and guess what? The rat came back and shat all over the engine cover again! It decided not to chew on the foil covered wires though, so maybe that's working. Anyways so I sprayed wheel wells of both cars, the wheels and the engine bay. This stuff is made with peppermint and cinnamon, oil non-toxic and it smells like cinnamon.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/TOMCAT-Rodent-14-oz-Rodent-Repellent/1000763452

 

[hasarad]

Put the hood up and get a webcam on it with motion detection! You'll know as soon as he/she arrives!

Screw "repellent" - carpet bomb the garage with traps and poison!

 

[andrew28]

12 am I just went out to the car spray the repellent and guess what? The rat came back and shat all over the engine cover again!

Poor Insight... The rat is literally mocking you. 😅

 

[IronQQQ]

After baiting a snap trap, glue trap for a few days and the rat coming by eat pieces of pork fat and chicken skin I was going to discard, it managed to get a full meal each night and survive to the next day. Finally on the 4th night with some adjustments to the snap trap, the roof rat is finally caught and dead!

 

[WorldThatHeSees]

That is one way, I guess.

I prefer the method I once used...

... it did not work. 🤷‍♂️

 

[Hiro Yatamoto]

And to think that a simple plastic cover, over the engine, like most cars built in the past 10 years seem to have, would have prevented all of this

Perhaps I should be proactive and rub some silicone grease on the wires to deter rodent's from feasting on the wires

 

[IronQQQ]

[

Hmm, same problem I ran into with my Dodge. Looks like they changed the sockets they used in the last few years, making internet searches rather difficult. Without tearing apart my car {sorry} I am about 95% sure this is the same plug, at the very least the same sockets. Tis a bit expensive, as if I could find you the socket part numbers they normally run about 20-30 cents each.

Conversely, if you can find one of these...
View attachment 6085
... in a salvage yard, bring the wire cutters. But again, newer card usually get auctioned rather than scrapped.

Maybe bug this guy and see if he is willing to part with his harness if he still has it?

I can continue to do research, but it took me about four months to find the sockets I needed for my Dodge. I assume that is not the down time you are looking for.

After pausing on this for over a year, I'm going to order one of these from Amazon. It's got the pigtail already assembled crimped into the terminal. I believe if I just take apart the connector and harvest the crimped terminal and wire, I can simply splice into the the existing harness on the car. My only apprehension is the temp of wires on this pigtail. I'm not certain what temp engine wire is rated for but at only 105 C (220 F), it seems low. I suppose the valve cover doesn't get that hot, but still doesn't seem like a lot of margin for a commercial industry item. If I were to buy the terminals and then make the pigtails myself, I would use wire with 150 C rating minimum for an engine.

My EE lab at work should have those Raychem MIL Spec M81824/1 splice connectors and tooling, so it's a matter of getting the stuff from the lab.

I see a lot of these coil pack / crank position / etc etc connector for sale, so I'm thinking failure of these connectors is not so common and a way to prevent replacing an entire main harness.