Hi all. I know some of you saw my previous post located Here (brought GLE in for check engine light because of knock sensor, car sat for 5-6 days straight, when tech finally looked at it they saw engine wiring harness was chewed and they are charging me $750 to repair it and come connectors) and I did provide an update Here, but I wanted to get opinions regarding the situation because my BS meter is going off higher than usual. At first I was like ok fine, but after thinking about it for a while it seems suspicious. Also they said they had to order parts which should arrive tomorrow and it should be fixed by tomorrow afternoon.

I have multiple cars at home and I have not had a rodent problem at my home in years and there is no rodent problems or trees near my office. Additionally, the other vehicles at my home do not have any issues. I drive my GLE multiple times a day and it has not sat for more than 24 hours because it is my daily driver. When I dropped my GLE off at the dealership, it sat for about 5-6 days (from Thursday to yesterday) until I got a notification via Mercedes Me that my vehicle was unlocked and then they are telling me that rodents chewed the wiring harness today, after my GLE sat for so long. This is the longest time my GLE has ever sat in one place.

Does anyone else find it suspicious that the wiring harness happened to get chewed by rodents the one time my GLE sat in the same spot for such a long time?
How common of a problem is this? The service advisor told me it is very common, however I would think Mercedes would have secured the wires or covered them with something when the car was built so they could not get eaten easily. I get if a car sat for a month or longer and rodents found a way in, but for a car that is used very often, that is only 4 months old and with 2,677 miles on the clock (my trips are pretty short) it is very hard to believe unless it happened while it sat for so long at the dealership.
Also, anyone have any similar experiences? If so, what was the outcome and how much was the dealership willing to help?

I have a feeling the dealership parked my GLE under or near trees and because it sat there for so long the rodents found a way in.

 

I'd be upset too. Although it seems probable that the rodents chewed the wires at the dealership, it is going to be very hard to prove. I would try to plead the case to the service manager and tell the same story you did above. You should also check to see if there were any immediate signs of rodents near where your vehicle was parked, especially any wire wrappings that may have fell to the ground.

 

No, if that was the case (that the rodent was in your residence), they should've noted that on Day 1 of your vehicle being dropped off at the dealer. I think your BS meter is reliable; ask them why didn't they diagnose it and inform you last Thursday.

I know VW's are notorious for rodents issue due to their corn-based material on their harness, but I personally never came across this issue on my 9th year owning my current VW TDI. And it is garaged.

 

Good idea. I think you'll have better luck with the Service Manager than here on the forum.

But to the point of rodent damage - it's more common than you might think. They can get through pretty tiny spaces. The question is "where did they come from."
A more common occurrence at my New Mexico dealership, was rodents storing dog food that was left outside, in air cleaners.

 

Thank you for your responses. @mikapen I plan on speaking to the service manager when I physically go there to pick up my GLE but I wanted input from the community as I never had something like this happen before, especially with Mercedes. In the meantime I have my salesman trying to help me out (I have a fantastic working relationship with him and we buy most of our Mercedes through him) so maybe they can lower there bill or drop it altogether. If that ends up not working, I will just have to negotiate with a service manager myself and go from there. My advisor told me yesterday that the parts were supposed to come in this morning and the car is supposed to be done by this afternoon so who knows.

@djer I have a feeling that the dealership took my car in on Thursday and then on Monday they did took the OBD thing to check the code (which is what I did prior to going to the dealership) and then they just ordered the part without going into the car to check everything out. I am not sure what the typical process is that techs follow, but I would think they would check everything first before ordering parts?

@MBguy013 I checked the areas where I usually park my GLE at home and at my office and I have not seen any. Also I have opened the hood a few times (just to wipe down/clean whenever I washed my GLE) and I have not seen any indication that rodents got into the engine bay. It will be very hard to prove especially since there has been a lot of rain in the Tampa Bay Area lately so I feel like whatever would have been around would have been washed away.

 

I was just reading your dilemma and am thinking, if the wiring harness was indeed damaged at the dealership, your problem will not be solved by this replacement as the issue started prior to this harness being chewed. I think that would be perfect evidence for your case.

 

Possibly. I asked the advisor if the actual knock sensor was defective and he told me he would not know unless they repair the wiring harness. My thinking is if they come back and say that the knock sensor was in fact bad, then I may have a case that the wiring harness was not the defect and had nothing to do with the sensor and was not the issue prior to bringing my car to the dealership. But if they say the sensor is good, then I feel like it would be the wiring harness causing the issue even though I have not had any rodent issues. Or they could lie to me and say they tested it and it was good and not even test it.

I did get a call back from my salesman and he said I should talk to the service manager after he talked to the manager on my behalf. I am still waiting to hear back if my GLE is going to be ready today or not.

 

Update: I picked up my GLE last night. When I arrived at the dealership I spoke to the service manager. After talking for a while the service manager decided to cover the repairs that were outside of warranty under MB Select because it is so new (today marks 4 months). I am very grateful to the service manager for helping me out with this.

 

Great outcome! I drive one of my car daily (honda) as well and found rodent droppings on top of my engine cover couple of years ago. I would've never guessed a rodent living in my engine bay as I drive that car on daily basis. Only damage that was done, luckily, was that the hood covering was chewed up a bit.

 

Great! I guess your multi BS Meter posts weren't deserved after all.
What will you do to prevent recurrence?

 

It is crazy how exposed the wires in the engine bay are on the GLE. I would think that for a 65K SUV Mercedes would protect the wires a little better. My prior 2017 E300 was better protected than my GLE.

The dealership did not have any advice on how to prevent something like that from happening, but after googling a bit I decided to use peppermint oil since that is supposed to keep rodents away. Also if I need to have my GLE serviced, I will try to set up same or next day service if doable so it does not sit for so long.

 

"Exposed" or not, they can still get to wires. I've seen mouse droppings inside of fuse boxes, when on service calls. They must transport themselves to the goodies.

THIS actually works it it becomes chronic. https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

Not in Florida, but we have two cars we leave for 7 1/2 months over the winter, one in a garage and one out. Both Lexus vehicles, which are infamous for using soy insulation on wiring. Out in a rural area adjacent to 300+ acres of preserve land, so there are mice. I've had good luck with moth *****, peppermint oil, shavings of Irish Spring soap and dryer sheets. Mothballs in the engine compartment, the other stuff in the passenger compartment. Also glue traps on top of the engine. And duct tape over air intake and exhaust. Last winter, the outside car was totally fine. The inside one had a bit of foam of some sort chewed, apparently by one who got caught in the glue trap. Might be too much effort for an overnight.

 

Wrap it all with Honda's rodent deterrent electrical tape: https://www.collegehillshonda.com/pr...4019-2317.html

Just Google "rodent resistant tape for cars"