Need help identifying wiring, please.

[Dakhath]

I just inherited this 2005 Mazda B4000 with only 34,500 miles from my Dad.
Problem was/is that due to his failing health he couldn't drive anymore.
So the truck sat and a squirrel got up into the engine bay and chewed some of the wiring and connectors.
It ate through the cruise control, windshield fluid pump motor and a/c compressor wiring in addition to the insulation batting attached to the hood.
Thankfully I was able to go down to the local u-pull-and-pay and get replacements for all the items chewed up by the squirrel.
It's all been replaced.

Trouble is this last set of wires. I have no idea what it controls.
I had thought that the wire on the right side of the picture was fine upon my first couple of inspections.
But of course when I went to splice on the new wiring the wire came up out of the engine and you could see that is was chewed on both ends.

The truck runs great and I haven't seen any codes.
As far as I can tell it is fully functional.
I just have no clue where that wire is supposed to go so I can splice it back together.
I only saw it on maybe 3 of the 15 or so Rangers, Explorers, and B series trucks in junkyard.
Your help is appreciated.

2005 Mazda B4000 4.0L SOHC v6

 

[adsm08]

I'm thinking its a knock sensor.

 

[RonD]

yes, unfortunately that is what it looks like.

Read here on replacing knock sensor: http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=353594

I doubt you will be able to splice it because other end of wire won't be accessible, and the wire itself is know for disintegrating when touched, just it's location in the valley between the heads, cause that end of the wire to get hard and brittle.

It may not have been the squirrel at all, that wire can just separate

 

[adsm08]

I was thinking that end looked a bit clean to be a squirrel bite.

 

[Dakhath]

Thanks for the replies. That's exactly what it is.
Never got a check engine light.

The pic is of the newer wire from the new connector so it is a clean cut by me.
The squirrel had chewed off the wire from both the male and female ends of the connector on top of the engine and I needed to replace it.
I was going to splice it to the existing wire but it came up from out of the engine when I gave it a tug to strip the end of it.
It was chewed on both ends. You could see the teeth marks.
Under the intake and the throttle body right in that valley between the heads there is a nice little hollow space with the remains of a squirrel nest.
I had planned on removing the throttle body to clean out the debris anyways.
I'll just have to go a few steps further and just replace the knock sensor at the same time.

The truck barely has 35,000 miles on it.
That's probably why I haven't noticed anything performance-wise yet.
I just drove it over 500 miles back to Central Florida from the panhandle and it ran great.