More squirrel damage - Battery Management System?

[CATX]

Hello -

Was checking under the hood today and I found some new rodent damage.

Something has been making a nest out of the battery insulation material, and chewing on a wiring harness exiting the current/temperature sensor for the battery management system at the negative terminal.

Several of the wires have damaged insulation, but there is an orange wire that is chewed clean through.

I attached a picture, but it's not very good.

There are no noticeable problems with the vehicle. I am surprised that the techs didn't mention this at my oil change a few weeks ago.

I'm going to try and do some more rodent proofing in this area but my question is - do i need to fix this? Is this effectively the same thing as disabling battery management, which from what I understand is not ideal but not really a big issue and probably won't cause any big problems down the road? Also, anyone know where the orange wire connects?

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[Chris M]

Hello -

Was checking under the hood today and I found some new rodent damage.

Something has been making a nest out of the battery insulation material, and chewing on a wiring harness exiting the current/temperature sensor for the battery management system at the negative terminal.

Several of the wires have damaged insulation, but there is an orange wire that is chewed clean through.

I attached a picture, but it's not very good.

There are no noticeable problems with the vehicle. I am surprised that the techs didn't mention this at my oil change a few weeks ago.

I'm going to try and do some more rodent proofing in this area but my question is - do i need to fix this? Is this effectively the same thing as disabling battery management, which from what I understand is not ideal but not really a big issue and probably won't cause any big problems down the road? Also, anyone know where the orange wire connects?

Dayum!!!!

 

[RangerBill]

Hello -

Was checking under the hood today and I found some new rodent damage.

Something has been making a nest out of the battery insulation material, and chewing on a wiring harness exiting the current/temperature sensor for the battery management system at the negative terminal.

Several of the wires have damaged insulation, but there is an orange wire that is chewed clean through.

I attached a picture, but it's not very good.

There are no noticeable problems with the vehicle. I am surprised that the techs didn't mention this at my oil change a few weeks ago.

I'm going to try and do some more rodent proofing in this area but my question is - do i need to fix this? Is this effectively the same thing as disabling battery management, which from what I understand is not ideal but not really a big issue and probably won't cause any big problems down the road? Also, anyone know where the orange wire connects?

It is hard to tell from your picture, but I believe that that wire is the battery voltage sense wire which goes to a small connector underneath the battery positive bus-work. I would repair it.

 

[TJC]

You can unplug the sensor without harm. Many of us do this on day 1 without harming anything. We do it for multiple reasons.

1 - It Disables Auto Start Stop (ASS - The perfect acronym) 80%+ of engine wear occurs when you start your car. If you want your engine to last, don't keep needlessly stopping and starting it.

2 - It uses the charging parameters of the 4G Rangers, but at 0.2V higher charge rate to support the AGM batteries in the 5G. My battery is original in my 2020 Ranger with no signs of degeneration and the sensor has been unplugged since I purchased it except for short experimentation periods.

If you like replacing your Ranger battery every 18-30 months, and don't mind slowly destroying your engine, repair the sensor wiring and leave ASS on.

That said, I would repair the wires to insure you have no possible shorts. It doesn't have to work, just makes sure the wires are isolated from each other.

The above is my opinion, but there is much supporting evidence behind it.

If I may use official Ford terminology, Opinions are like "ASS"es, everyone has one!

See what I did there!

 

[CATX]

Thanks for the replies. I think I'll clean up the wires and see how things go with the battery over the next few months.

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