What is this red chewed up wire inside engine bay?
 

http://i.imgur.com/vXbESdU.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/qALQ8Hc.jpg
Noticed on a z4m that this red wire looks chewed up inside, any idea what it is?
Thanks!

Is the wiring loom only chewed up, or is the actual wire messed up as well?

How did it get chewed up like that? That doesn't look like rodent damage...

its rodent, you can see how it nibbles section to section and the exposed wire on the left. The rodent may have been there long time ago usually they like to be in the engine during the winter as its warm

I suspect it is rodent damage as well -- the long black part immediately below the exposed wire seems to have stuff that resembles rodent droppings.

Hard to tell what the wire is for without knowing the car. Either way, inspect the wires inside for damage and if they're okay just tape it back up.

rats!

Might be you power wire for the blinker fluid?

Looks like rodents for sure. My wife's old Mini Cooper S had some wiring damage from rodents and it looked similar, albeit much more damage. Inspect to ensure it's just the loom and not the wiring itself. If wiring is good then through some electrical tape on the loom and carry on.

Thanks for the responses. It appears as though only the loom is damaged and that it is rodent damage as suspected. Does anyone happen to know what the part is, however?

THanks

BMW S54?

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/images/diag_eg5.png

01 Engine wiring harness, engine module 1 09/2004 12517831646 $709.58

For $709 bucks, just repair the wire loom yourself. It would probably cost you less than $5. If you're driving your vehicle without any dash warning lights, then the damage is only superficial. While doing the repair, make sure you put electrical tape on any exposed wires.

i see tiny bits of copper exposed,you might just save yourself 800 dollars electrical tape wrap the damn single wires and call it a day...find some plastic tubing and recover it.

Signal wire to activate the relay that controls the pump for the tach fluid. If the tach still works just tape up the wire and replace the cover so as to prevent further deterioration.

No sane person would replace the entire engine harness for a couple of damaged wires, you'd remove the loom, replace the damaged section of wire with the correct type of wire (hell you can even find the right coloured wire online), and wrap it back up.

Change it to a blue wiring loom, then when everyone asks what it is.. Its just NOS..

If you know you have a rodent problem, do not wrap the wiring loom/wiring with normal electrical tape. Use a rodent-proof electrical tape (has chili pepper in the tape, which the rats hate). We used to a few cars a month that comes in with C.E.L. due to rodent damage.

and if your hardcore,have no pets in the house (for safety reasons)
lay out some rat poison and watch those little bastards suffer in the car garage
:devil: teaches them to bite wires in the engine bay.

Personally, I am very much against using rat poison. Different people have different reasons to be against it. But for me at least, the problem with rat poison is, you can't control how much of it the rodents will eat, and you can't control how soon they will die after eating it. What this means is, when your house has a rodent infestation problem, the rat / mice could be crawling anywhere in your house -- usually at some dark, hard to get places. So when they die, guess what? They are going to die in those dark and hard to get places. When the body starts decomposing...

Well... good luck and have fun cleaning that stuff out...

I agree here. If the rodents die in the walls, you are going to smell that decomposing smell for weeks and months.

possibly years...
Or your cat eats the rodent that has ingested the poison and it travels up the food chain

the wiring looks as tho its for a FPR or some type of vac actuator