Rodent Attack

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MonceHys

New Member
Posts
2
Location
America
2011 Freelander 2 / LR2 / L359
3.2L DOHC MPI Petrol I6

After 14 years of parking at the same identical location uneventfully, the other night, a rodent of some type crawled up in the engine bay, and started to chew straight through the engine bay wiring harness. It didn't make it the whole way through, but did enough damage that the vehicle was rendered useless.

I went out that morning, put the FOB in the dash, pushed the button, and nothing happened. Turned the headlights on just to see if there was power anywhere, and there wasn't. So, I figured maybe a loose battery terminal that just needs shifted, or tightened down, but when I opened the hood, the pictures attached, are what I saw.

As you can see, there was more damage than just the wiring harness. And just for kicks and giggles, I looked up what Land Rover wanted for a brand new engine bay wiring harness. $1650 quid, and that would be before labor. I can only imagine what labor would be for that job at a Land Rover shop.

And since there was no power to anything, the LR2 did not give up the FOB. It was in the dash, and staying there, I couldn't get it back out.

So, I took all the pictures I had of the damage, to a local repair shop. Now granted, this local shop is no fly by night, Mom and Pops shop. The guy has a major towing service, works on Semi's, as well as regular cars and trucks. Big operation. He listened to me detail the situation, and I showed him the pictures of the damage. He wasn't very taken back by the pictures, and stated that, "Ya, we can stitch that back together". He claimed that he had seen numerous similar situations with some Semi's that he had worked on.

He had it for about 4 days before I got the call that the LR2 was fixed, and that I could come pick it up.

When I picked it up, it fired right up, and drove like its old self. He said that there had been a little more damage done than could be see topside. Claimed it needed a new AC Sensor, which he replaced, and a few other things.

Now, a day or two have passed, I went out to start it, and as you can see, and hear in the video link that I have attached, the LR2 chugged three times real slow before barely kicking over, and then it gave me the oddest readout on the dash that I had never seen before. "Reduced Engine Performance", and the engine was idling like crap. I put it in Drive to see if I could move it, and I was able to push the gas pedal to the floor, but the truck never moved.

So, I shut it off. Waited a while, and tried restarting it again. Still chugged to start, but at the last minute, it did start, and had a smoother run to her, and I could rev the engine with the gas pedal this time. Threw it into drive, and away we went.

Now, every time I start it, it's like that. It's as though, something got wired to the battery perpetually hot, to where it's draining the battery every night. A few other things I have noticed, sometimes when you do get it to start, the fuel gauge works, others times, it does not. Also, the drivers door window, used to be when I just hit upward, with the switch, the window would put itself the whole way up. Now, it only goes up, as long as you are physically holding the switch in the up position.

I have already called the mechanic, and he said to bring it back in to see if there's anything he overlooked. I just don't want this to be a, "peek-n-poke" until he finally, hopefully gets it right one day. The truck was absolutely perfect prior to this incident, and Lord knows, this human being could never afford to take this to Land Rover to have it done right.

When you watch the video that I took, be aware that while starting it, I never take my finger off the Start button. It sounds like I am, but I am not, I hold the button in, until it starts, that will show you how rough it starts now.

Just wondering if anybody has any such experience in this, to the point that, perhaps I could even pass your information on to the mechanic when I return the LR2 to him shortly.

Thank you.





https://1drv.ms/v/s!Ap3B_baQ0hg2iAP3jTbjekwXh2no?e=oHRgnU
 
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Sorry to hear of your problem, hope you get it sorted.
Just as an aside, why do rodents chew wiring? As a source of food I would have thought it pretty tasteless.
 
Sorry to hear of your problem, hope you get it sorted.
Just as an aside, why do rodents chew wiring? As a source of food I would have thought it pretty tasteless.

There is veg oil in the plastic to keep it flexible I believe...
 
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