Rats attacked my Rex!

yanjarra · Post by **yanjarra** » Sun Oct 21, 2012 12:49 am

hey guys,

new user here and gunna kick things off with a doosey.

I went out to my wrx03 after not having driven it for a couple of weeks and lifted the bonnet to find what i assume were rats had attacked some wiring in there. i am not the most mechanical type but they seem to be three small wires(yellow,black,blue) which run between the alternator and the fusebox/battery. The wires have been comletely severed and they have started having a go at the the larger white wire that runs through the same housing these smaller wires were in but haven't actually gotten through the wires on this one yet. This larger white one seems to go to the red cap that enters the engine which i assume to be the spark? I am still able to start the car.

Was hoping anyone that knows would be able to view the pics and give me their thoughts and if they are able to tell which wires have in fact been severed. Also, is this something I am able to fix myself by buying a matching wire and joining the ends back together and if so what wires do i need? Is it only available from Subaru?

Really don't want to be stuck spending hundreds of dollars because of some rats- really hasn't come at a great time for me. Any suggestions to get out of this as cheaply as possible or am i stuck taking it into subaru which no doubt will be heaps$$$.

Thanks for any help.

Scoobie Doobie · Post by **Scoobie Doobie** » Sun Oct 21, 2012 7:30 am

Hi, welcome to the forum. what an unfortunate incident. i've had a rat chew its way through the rubber gromet located between the firewall and the strut tower when i left my car with the in-laws. destroyed wiring, some aircon ducting and the underside of the drivers seat in the process of making its nest under the dashboard near the glovebox. anyway my point is make sure they're still not hanging around especially on the off chance they got into the cabin cause its going to stink after a while. as to the wiring... they've chewed into your charging circuit, so while your able to start your car it'll only last until battery runs flat. i don't think its a big drama if you go ahead and splice in some replacement wires as long as they are the same gauge. use shrink wrap on the joins, plenty of electrical tape and some new cable ducting, all this stuff is available from jaycar electronics or the like. oh yeah and they've also chewed through your aircon clutch cable. good luck and make sure they're not hanging around otherwise you could be doing this again

steptoe · Post by **steptoe** » Sun Oct 21, 2012 8:49 am

Leave somethng like Centrum out scattered about the place so they can get sufficient copper supplemetation to their diet instead of your wiring.

Bloody, bloody

mr cactus · Post by **mr cactus** » Sun Oct 21, 2012 9:19 am

Now you have a RAT REX

:D:D

yanjarra · Post by **yanjarra** » Sun Oct 21, 2012 10:03 am

thanks guys. i will llay out some poison and have given the car a drive around the block to hopefully "shake them out" and am going to leave it in a differant spot which will hopefully be enough to keep them away from any further damage. not sure theres much else i can do?

scoobiedoobie- do you know what gauge in particular i would need? i suppose if i can get it too jaycar before the battery dies they should be able to look and tell me. is the ac clutch cable that bigger white one that runs to the red cap? or one of the others? it seems like they have only gotten the sheath on the white one and hopefully the wires themselves are still in tact enough.

sorrry to hear about your own rat incident- who'd of thunk it!

Gannon · Post by **Gannon** » Sun Oct 21, 2012 10:20 am

The big white wire is the charging wire from alternator to the battery, its big because it has to carry over 80A of current. The other 2 wires are for the charge light and ignition power. If you arent confident with repairing these wires, maybe you should take it to an auto electrician, a small job like this would only cost $50-$100

RSR 555 · Post by **RSR 555** » Sun Oct 21, 2012 12:44 pm

WOW.. that is huge.. I've seen them eat the red rubber off the top of the alternator but noting this bad.

I agree with others and join some extra wiring (making note to join the correct colours up) then wrap each one up individually with insulation tape and then drive down to you auto sparkie and he'll sort it out properly for ya.

BTW.. Hi and Welcome to AUSubaru

yanjarra · Post by **yanjarra** » Sun Oct 21, 2012 4:41 pm

so by the responses so far am i reading it right to say that the white wire is the alternator to battery charge and still seems in tact enough to be ok and that the 3 smaller wires are ignition power, charge light and ac power? I would have thought the car wouldn't of started if the ignition power was severed?

does anyone know anyone they can recommend that would do this on the cheap in brisbane?

thanks for the help thus far

Post by **TOONGA** » Sun Oct 21, 2012 6:32 pm

The car will start until the batery runs out of charge which it will because of the other wires which are gone.

All you need is some similar coloured wire to the ones that were eaten, a soldering iron and some solder. and a roll or 2 of black electrical tape to tape the wires up afterwards.

If you haven't soldered before practice on some stunt wires and watch this video as well

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLfXXRfRIzY

TOONGA

pitrack_1 · Post by **pitrack_1** » Mon Oct 22, 2012 1:27 am

You *MUST* disconnect the battery before doing any soldering. The wires to the alternator are usually live even if the ignition is off- at least on my other cars. So any inadvertent touching between the wires and/or ground (metal) and/or other bits, even possibly through the soldering iron, is likely to (literally) give you a shock. And possibly damage you, the car and the alternator.

YOu should also disconnect the wires before soldering, if there's any current in the soldering iron tip (eg through a fault) this could damage the alternator and/or car electronics.

If the white wire itself (not just the insulation) is damaged, i.e. the copper strands are damaged, it is very important you fix this wire too. The heat generated by the damaged spot (this wire carries a large current) could cause a fire. I've had a burnt out alternator main cable before, it's not pretty.

Gannon, can you confirm the above bits?

This may mean you need your security codes handy for the radio, disarm/silence your alarm, etc. Also on first startup after you reconnect the battery it's likely the car may have 'forgotten' its previous settings, and take a while to settle the idle.

As for correct gauge wire, that simply means get matching wire- same size, thickness, strands, material.

You need to do a careful inspection to make sure nothing else is damaged, eg wires underneat the engine, inside the cabin. Also plastics such as intake piping, rubber hoses, etc as rats will chew anything to wear down their teeth.

PS sure you didn't leave the bonnet open and it was cockatoos, or perhaps you've imported keas...?!

Gannon · Post by **Gannon** » Mon Oct 22, 2012 5:20 am

Yes you must disconnect the battery before you attempt to repair these wires because the white wire and the blue/red is live all the time and if you short it to any part of the engine, you will fry it and possibly any number of important things.

You cant really disconnect the wiring because one end is attached to the rest of the loom, but for soldering I use one of these, just dont overheat the copper wires because they will tarnish and the solder wont flow

My diagrams for both a 2002 and a 2005 WRX only show 2 wires to the alternator, Blue with a red trace that goes back to the fuse box with constant power, and black with a white trace for the charge light. I have spliced a loom before where the alternator had a 3rd wire that went back to the ECU so that the ECU could turn off the alternator at full throttle. It appears that these later alternators dont have an ignition supply.

What part of Brisbane are you from?

yanjarra · Post by **yanjarra** » Mon Oct 22, 2012 10:18 am

i am in north brisbane- pine rivers area.

the car didnt start today- the battery has gone flat. i guess i could put it on the etec just to get it started to get in to an auto elec but like some have said maybe not the best idea to drive it until fixed?

might be hard to know that the wires are matching without taking them in- i guess i could just snip a short piece off them....

wonder how much it'd cost for an mobile auto elec to do...

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Mon Oct 22, 2012 5:14 pm

yanjarra wrote:the car didnt start today- the battery has gone flat. i guess i could put it on the etec just to get it started to get in to an auto elec but like some have said maybe not the best idea to drive it until fixed?

If you need to drive it somewhere to have it checked out I'd recommend fully charging the battery over night (disconnected from the car - have the negative terminal removed at the very least). Tape up any exposed wires, but not together, individually, then take it where you need to go to have it repaired.

The only way to find out how much an auto sparky will cost is to contact one or more and get a quote on the job. If you've got something like RACQ total care or something of the like you could call them (when the battery's flat) and see what they do for you

Cheers

Bennie

The AUSubaru.com.au Forums

Rats attacked my Rex!

Rats attacked my Rex!

Disconnect battery before soldering