All right. Enough is enough. Honda now wants us to believe that every rodent has now become aware that a Honda Pilot or some Odysseys are a great place to hang out, especially right next to the knock sensor wire harness. I find it amusing how all of those little varmints must have their own laptops and communicate with each other that this is the best place to be and also the best tasting part of the vehicle. What a joke. We took our 2003 Pilot in and they charged us $450 dollars ($4.33 for the part) The rest of it was labor. It took the mechanic exactly 50 minutes to do the work. We watched and got charged for the 3.5 hours labor. There obviously need to be a recall here!!!!!!!

 

You're kidding, right. :squint:

 

Believe it or not it's quite common. That harness is directly over the hot water passage pipe in the "V" of the engine. The rodents like to hang out on this pipe cause it's warm and ALWAYS build nests there. Once I replaced the same harness three times in one week on a Pilot on the third time we saw the rodent in the passage and he jumped out of the engine compartment and my partner whacked it to death with a large prybar. Problem solved!
Honda has an updated harness that has pepper inpregnanted tape that is wrapped around the harness which is suppose to stop it. It's gray and has a picture of a mouse on it with a circle with a line through it. I've replaced those harnesses too though but not as much as the original ones. 3.5 hours seems excessive to me, some dealerships let the advisors make the time up as they go along. I never have got more than 2 hours for the job. I always take the PS pump off and get the token asian guy in the shop to squeeze his hand through the hole and unplug it for me. Works every time.

 

I have repaired many wiring harnesses from rat chews. I have replaced those subharnesses before but most other rat chews I fix.

I also get customers who live in "Serrano". OOOOOO...

I tell them that a rat chewed on their wires causing their problems.

I laugh to myself because more than one of them has told me, "We live in Serrano, we don't have rats!"

 

ok so my dad's 2003 honda pilot keeps dying on us and we dont know why. we changed the battery bc his old one was dead. if we let it sit for a day without starting it, it wont start up so we have to jump it. anyone got any ideas? pm me and lmk thanks

 

We have a 2009 Pilot and have experienced this problem consistently. After a week and a half the lights are on again. This vehicle has been parked overnight in 3 different locations, so not buying the rat explanation... as the other cars we own have not experienced any issues. We have been told that there was a misfire code, but no explanation and no fix for this problem. Getting very frustrated and angry at the inconvenience this car has been.