So, mice have gotten into the engine compartment of my 2009 Ram 1500. They ate the wiring harness for the wiper motor. I took it to Dodge and $500+ later the wipers work. But they told me that they noticed it had a bad miss and I would probably need a tune-up. It wasn't missing when it went to the shop. So I picked it up since I needed it.

The miss was bad. One cylinder was completely dead. I pulled the airbox cover and the intake tube off the throttle body, then popped the pretty cover off the top of the engine. The mice had stashed acorns in there. They were about 1.5 inches deep between the heads and the intake. It's been a bumper year for acorns.

The wiring between the harness bundle and the third injector back on the driver's side was gone. So was a little of the plastic of the connector. They had started on the wiring to the coil pack on the rear driver's side cylinder, but it wasn't fully eaten through. The air box was almost packed full, below the filter, of acorns and heat shield blanket off the firewall.

I threw some poison, and snap traps in the engine bay on the way back to Dodge. Another $164 to Dodge and it runs again. They looked a little harder for signs of infestation this time. They put the pretty cover back on.

I threw more poison, snap traps, and glue boards in engine bay and parked it. A couple of days later, I hooked up to the trailer. Truck seemed good. Went inside and did a couple of things for about an hour. Came back out, fired up the truck. Check engine light came on and it's down a cylinder. Pulled the pretty cover and the third injector on the passenger side's wiring is gone. I can't afford to keep taking it back to Dodge. I spent $37 for a new connector and wiring to try to repair it myself.

I got the new connector assembled and wire nutted onto the 1/2 of leftover wire outside the harness bundle. Fired it up. It's still missing. Figured maybe the computer had disabled that injector when it saw the problem so I unhooked the battery for 10 minutes. The check engine light cleared for about 3 seconds then came back on. Still missing.

I'm fairly confident that my wire nut connection should be working. I should really make a better splice but I'm uncoordinated enough that's going to take four or five hands to keep everything together, hence the wire nuts. I'm going to take another look today in the daylight in between the Thanksgiving festivities.

Is there a procedure with a volt-meter or something that can prove that power is getting to the injector connection?

Also, does anyone have experience with running rodents out of the vehicle? The exterminator's only idea was what I've already done. I'm thinking about pulling it into a mini-storage unit and setting off a dozen insect foggers. My garage is old and barely holds the Mustang. I can't close the door with the quad cab in there. With my luck there'll be somebody trying to live in the storage unit next door and then I'll have real problems.

Does the pretty engine cover have a purpose other than to make a more rodent friendly environment?

 

Well, I did say I lack coordination. I managed to get a good mechanical joint without any chance of an electrical connection. The injector now operates and I'm back in business.