Hello; I have a 2004 Silverado WT with the 4.8 V-8. It is 4x4. About 65,000 miles. Regular cab with 8 foot bed. I have a problem and have identified the problem. Seems a rodent made a nest inside the cover of the fuse block in the engine compartment. It is the main fuse block on the drivers side. The wires are shorted out. Not sure if the wires were chewed but do know there was urine and feces all over the tops of the fuses. I could smell the burned wires/plastic as i approached the truck this morning. My first guess is the urine itself got down into the fuses and shorted them out. Second guess is wires were possibly chewed but the position of the damage makes me think the urine did it. Does not matter too much.at this point.

The damage is at the center section of the fuse block. The block itself is melted in one area. Some fuses were also melted. I got the cover and other part off and eventually removed the block itself. Most parts came off as they should but the wire harness plug in section in the middle was melted to the block itself. From underneath i found several damaged wires with the insulation melted away. I will try to load some pictures. There was sign the rodent got under the block as well.

I will need new fuse diagram. I may need a wiring diagram of the engine compartment.

That centrally located plug in was too damaged and i wound up having to cut the wires to remove the block from the truck. I took time and several pictures as I cut the wires. I will have to have the block itself and at least the one plug in part of the wire harness. I do not know if there is a better way to approach the repair. It occurs to me that maybe a partial or complete wire harness may be a way to go. I am open to suggestions. I also am curious if secondary damage may have happened.

underside of cover

all things in place

under before anything removed

with all but melted plug in removed

some wires cut

 

It's unfortunate you cut the wires at the plug. It is best to remove wires from each plug by using a terminal extractor kit. Then all you need is to buy the new plug plastic assembly and re-insert the terminals in their original locations. If your remaining harness is long enough to reach the new plastic plug housing then you just need to add new terminals to each wire and re-insert them in the plastic plug housing. The majority of electrical plastic and metal plugs used in auto's are indexed with numbers assigned to each terminal. The associated wiring diagrams will show those same numbers usually in a related connector pinout diagram. Those burnt wires in the body of the fuse block are extracted the same way however they will probably require new terminals and soldering in short lengths of replacement wire. Just Google Automotive plug repairs and wiring repairs and download some of the many guides and handbooks.

 

Hello; Thanks for the response. I see now some of the wires could have been removed the way you describe. Several were already burned and the insulation gone. Where the wires got hot the fuse block and the plug melted and bonded together. I do not have a terminal extractor kit nad plan to get one.
So far today I have found a used fuse block and a complete engine wiring harness at a local salvage yard. After looking at the damaged wires it seemed the better way to go about a repair. I will start swapping out the harness tomorrow.

I will google plug repairs and wiring repairs.

 

Hello; Learned some things. I spent some hours tracing out the wiring of a harness and while it is tedious work I was finding and charting which wires went where and may have been able to splice the replacement harness and fuse block. But i do not have to.

A friend of my brother's suggested calling my insurance. I did and the damage is covered. Made arrangements today. It will be a couple weeks before my truck can be worked in. I did not know insurance would cover that sort of damage.
I have my house and vehicles at the same company. I carry full coverage on both vehicles even tho they are old.

 

It's likely that it will be the Comprehensive part of your car insurance that will be paying for the repairs. While I have 4 vehicles, I only have collision coverage on the newest one which is required by the loan company I have the vehicle financed through. When our 1999 Silverado was stolen, the insurance payout was under the comprehensive part of the insurance policy. I keep comprehensive coverage for fire, theft, glass breakage, vandalism, etc. Comprehensive is a whole lot cheaper than collision coverage on a 10 year old vehicle that is owned free and clear.

 

Hello; An update. Got my truck back today. Took just over three months. Most of the time waiting with the truck sitting around. The insurance di cover the repair. I paid a $100 deductible. After i contacted the insurance the truck sat at my place nearly a month for a spot in the que of the body shop. After two days the body shop owner told me he could not get new parts. Something I already knew as i ahd searched for new replacement parts. So the truck had to be sent to a shop which specializes in harness repair. Truck was at the back of the line so more weeks of waiting. Once in they had it running in about two days.

One thing i did which paid off was to find a decent scrap yard wire harness and main fuse block. The shop used those parts. I had traced out the junkyard harness and determined it was a match. I do not know what the job would have cost without the insurance. Guess it pays to have full coverage.

 

how did rodents get inside of the fuse box?

 

Hello; seems there is just enough gap where the bundles of wires enter to allow them in. I found a nest made from fiberglass pulled off the fire wall. I figure mice but do not know for sure.
I did come up with a theory. I have a stick built double carport. Basically a roof on 12 - 4x4 posts. I found some eaten walnut hulls after the truck was towed away. I figure a squirrel was storing his winter feed in the soffit of the car port. I had blocked off the entrances to the soffit with fiberglass scree wire to keep the starlings from nesting. The squirrel had chewed a hole in the wire to get in, then chewed more holes apparently to get back out or to throw out empty walnut hulls.
I figure mice had smelled the food and also were using the carport, but I am not positive. Any way there was plenty of mouse type feces in and all on the fuse block plus it was sticky with what I think was urine.

While the truck was away I covered all the openings between the roof joists with various types of metal i had around. Some heavy wire with 1/4 inch openings. Some aluminum flashing and some aluminum fine wire window screening. Thought i had foiled the squirrel. One morning a few weeks ago I saw him with a walnut in his mouth climb up one of the 4x4 posts. Next day I went to check and found a squirrel sized hole in the window screen wire. So i covered those with more flashing.

 

Hello; I do have a follow up question. Seems my 2004 truck is not old enough to be a classic and have aftermarket parts available. Yet it is too old to have any factory or new parts such as the wire harness available. I like the truck and it only has 64,000 miles on it. This issue of parts hard to get is a bit of a Suprise being it is a Chevy pickup. Just never figured getting parts for a chevy would be a problem.
So, it falls to getting a new truck with even more computers and wire harnesses or getting an older truck with less or none of the new tech. Here is what I am thinking.. I want vent windows which went out in the 1990's. I would like fuel injection but more basic than the newer trucks. I also want a year for which parts will not be a problem. I would also like the AC tio use R134A coolant. I am thinking mid 1990's. Am I dreaming or is such a combination possible?

 

I don't really think you are going to have very many problems finding parts for your 2004 Silverado. Between regular parts stores, ebay for odd stuff, and local/regional salvage yards, you should be able to find just about anything. There is also LMC Truck which has lots of body parts, glass, door seals, etc, Heck a few years back I was able to find GM Genuine nut covers for where the windshield wiper arms fit onto the wiper motor transmission on ebay for the 99 Silverado we used to have.

Yes, some parts are going to be a little tougher to find than some others, but they are out there. Had it not been stolen, I would still be driving a 1999 Silverado we bought new in November 1998 instead of a 2022 Silverado. Talk about a culture shock! I'm still figuring stuff out on the 2022 Silverado and yes, it does have more computers and wiring harnesses than the 1999! However, since the thieves severely damaged the interior of the 1999 Silverado (it was recovered about a month after being stolen and they put over 3000 miles on it), there was no way I would ever trust driving it again.

Regarding the problem you recently had with the rodents feasting on your electrical system, that is a problem we all face, and it is only made worse because the insulation used in automotive wiring harnesses are soy based (meaning the raw ingredients come from soy beans) and rodents just cannot resist soy based goodies, so keep an eye out for signs of rodents and if you are lucky, maybe there are a few outdoor pet cats in your neighborhood that will prowl for food and keep the rodent population down.

Good Luck!