Ravenous Rodent Repair Recourse?
March 15, 2018 10:17 AM Subscribe
More on our ongoing saga with the rodent-chewed wiring in mr. jane's truck. Stay with the dealer or go?
The truck has been at the dealership (we took it back there because we thought the second chewing incident was their faulty workmanship) for over a week. The insurance adjuster has come and verified the damage and left a check for the repair, less the deductible. We get a call from the dealership yesterday, stating that the OEM wiring harness (which is still coated in the soy-based mouse-nip) is backordered for 2 months! We are thinking of towing the truck to an independent mechanic and having them install a non-OEM, non-soy-coated wiring harness which should be readily obtainable.
Complicating factors: Insurance adjuster has come and gone and paid the dealership already. We will have to pay to have the truck towed elsewhere. The dealership's service manager has been pretty non-helpful and frankly, dickish through most of this.
I did just hear from the adjuster and we will be paying for any fees incurred by the dealership so far, but we can move the truck to a different mechanic, which insurance will cover. We are able to use a relative's car for the duration of this, so we aren't scrambling for transportation.
Would you tow or stay? (Principle vs convenience?)
The truck has been at the dealership (we took it back there because we thought the second chewing incident was their faulty workmanship) for over a week. The insurance adjuster has come and verified the damage and left a check for the repair, less the deductible. We get a call from the dealership yesterday, stating that the OEM wiring harness (which is still coated in the soy-based mouse-nip) is backordered for 2 months! We are thinking of towing the truck to an independent mechanic and having them install a non-OEM, non-soy-coated wiring harness which should be readily obtainable.
Complicating factors: Insurance adjuster has come and gone and paid the dealership already. We will have to pay to have the truck towed elsewhere. The dealership's service manager has been pretty non-helpful and frankly, dickish through most of this.
I did just hear from the adjuster and we will be paying for any fees incurred by the dealership so far, but we can move the truck to a different mechanic, which insurance will cover. We are able to use a relative's car for the duration of this, so we aren't scrambling for transportation.
Would you tow or stay? (Principle vs convenience?)
Have you checked about the availability of aftermarket wiring harnesses? AFAIK there's not enough demand for them for aftermarket manufacturers to bother to tool up for them (notable exception is classic cars.) I'd make some calls before assuming anything.
How serious is the damage? If it's just a handful of wires going to engine sensors, an indie mechanic might be able to splice some new wire in (make sure that they solder and use heat-shrink tubing on the splices, NOT crimp connectors) whereas a dealer will always install a complete wiring harness to cover themselves. I would not mess with spliced repairs with any really critical systems though (ABS/stability control / airbags/ etc.) Regardless, if there are more than a handful of damaged wires, replacement is the way to go- there's too much possibility of introducing problems down the road and repairs can start getting messy. Good luck!
posted by Larry David Syndrome at 10:30 AM on March 15, 2018
How serious is the damage? If it's just a handful of wires going to engine sensors, an indie mechanic might be able to splice some new wire in (make sure that they solder and use heat-shrink tubing on the splices, NOT crimp connectors) whereas a dealer will always install a complete wiring harness to cover themselves. I would not mess with spliced repairs with any really critical systems though (ABS/stability control / airbags/ etc.) Regardless, if there are more than a handful of damaged wires, replacement is the way to go- there's too much possibility of introducing problems down the road and repairs can start getting messy. Good luck!
posted by Larry David Syndrome at 10:30 AM on March 15, 2018
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posted by cooker girl at 10:18 AM on March 15, 2018