Freelander 1 There's a rat in the kitchen

Well, it was in the car actually.

It had a chew on some wires behind the passenger glove box. Now we have no rev counter, no engine temp gauge, and weirdly, only half the red LED's on the automatic gearstick display work.

I've trawled the forum with a few different search terms, but can anyone help with a handy dandy link to some info on how to take off the relevant panels, air bag and other bits and bobs to access this wiring bundle?

It's behind the passenger glove box, above the cabin/pollen filter near to the nearside front wheel


'01 Freelander TD4
Automatic
104,000 on the clock

Thanks !

Cheeky bastids them rats.

Zoneranger said:

Well, it was in the car actually.

It had a chew on some wires behind the passenger glove box. Now we have no rev counter, no engine temp gauge, and weirdly, only half the red LED's on the automatic gearstick display work.

I've trawled the forum with a few different search terms, but can anyone help with a handy dandy link to some info on how to take off the relevant panels, air bag and other bits and bobs to access this wiring bundle?

It's behind the passenger glove box, above the cabin/pollen filter near to the nearside front wheel


'01 Freelander TD4
Automatic
104,000 on the clock

Thanks !

Click to expand...

What you need is a Patterdale, they like rats ,like this one under our shed!

Patterdale eh? Interesting. Are they any good with a spanner?

Zoneranger said:

Patterdale eh? Interesting. Are they any good with a spanner?

Click to expand...

Unfortunately not, when I'm under the FL or D2 all he does is bring a ball to me, lick me face & expects me to play btw he can't weld either

Andy Warren said:

Unfortunately not, when I'm under the FL or D2 all he does is bring a ball to me, lick me face & expects me to play btw he can't weld either View attachment 224877

Click to expand...

Still using oxi/acetylene then...

kevstar said:

Still using oxi/acetylene then...

Click to expand...

Not now, I used to have a portapack which was mainly for heating up seized nuts/bolts & components which housed interference fit bearings/bushes with the odd bit of non structural welding, silencers etc but it got the bottle rental became too expensive.

Andy Warren said:

Not now, I used to have a portapack which was mainly for heating up seized nuts/bolts & components which housed interference fit bearings/bushes with the odd bit of non structural welding, silencers etc but it got the bottle rental became too expensive.

Click to expand...

My last full size bottle rental from boc was 100 quid for the year, I think its worth if if your using it.

I think I'm getting the gist of this forum. I just went down a rabbit hole looking for info about diagnostic kits and found myself learning about an airfield in Lincolnshire.

Andy Warren said:

What you need is a Patterdale,

Click to expand...

We've a Jack Russell, who is pretty good at dispatching rats.

Zoneranger said:

Well, it was in the car actually.

It had a chew on some wires behind the passenger glove box. Now we have no rev counter, no engine temp gauge, and weirdly, only half the red LED's on the automatic gearstick display work.

I've trawled the forum with a few different search terms, but can anyone help with a handy dandy link to some info on how to take off the relevant panels, air bag and other bits and bobs to access this wiring bundle?

It's behind the passenger glove box, above the cabin/pollen filter near to the nearside front wheel


'01 Freelander TD4
Automatic
104,000 on the clock

Thanks !

Click to expand...

The obvious answer is find the chewed wires and splice them together again,
That’s what a Haynes manual would say, appreciate it’s not very accessible behind the glove box
But that’s the best I can offer,

Nodge68 said:

We've a Jack Russell, who is pretty good at dispatching rats.

Click to expand...

We had a Jack Russell, murder on rats, but he was rubbish at electrics.

Europa486 said:

The obvious answer is find the chewed wires and splice them together again,
That’s what a Haynes manual would say, appreciate it’s not very accessible behind the glove box
But that’s the best I can offer,

Click to expand...

I have found the chewed wires - See photo in post What I don't know is what to take apart to get there! Wondering if there is anything else behind the glove box that someone has serviced and can tell me what bits to rip off and where!

So my shopping list for this job so far is a 2 dogs and a Haynes manual. One of those I have, the others I'm not allowed in a rental house.

Nodge68 said:

We've a Jack Russell, who is pretty good at dispatching rats.

Click to expand...

It's the first dog we've owed, had him from a pup & he's now 5 1/2 yrs. I feel terriers are the best, bred for working on quarry, so much character, you just can't wear the buggers out! Wouldn't change him for the world.

Zoneranger said:

It had a chew on some wires behind the passenger glove box. Now we have no rev counter, no engine temp gauge, and weirdly, only half the red LED's on the automatic gearstick display work

Click to expand...

Sounds like a data bus has been chewed. The Ipack (dashboard) takes engine information from a data bus, so if the bus wires are damaged, the information won't get through.
I'd remove as much trim as possible, so you can see exactly what wires are damaged, so you can effect a repair.

If it's any consolation, I've also had vehicle electrics damaged by a rat ,and we have a Jack Russell.
It took me ages to fix the wife's Astra GTG, where a rat chewed the electronic parking brake wiring, making the vehicle immobile. Her BMW convertible also suffered rat damage to the rear light wiring.

Zoneranger said:

I think I'm getting the gist of this forum. I just went down a rabbit hole looking for info about diagnostic kits and found myself learning about an airfield in Lincolnshire.

Click to expand...

Sorry, my teachers always said I was easily distracted . I've never had to work on that area of my 04 TD4 but I've just had a quick look. Can you, have you, had a look behind the removable glove box storage bit (with the g/box light in it) & see how much you can access from there if not it looks like blower/pollen filter housing will have to come out, hopefully you won't have to remove the dash/airbag. Others on here will know what's involved. Sorry I can't be of more help. On another note how did Roland rat get in there ?

Andy Warren said:

Sorry, my teachers always said I was easily distracted . I've never had to work on that area of my 04 TD4 but I've just had a quick look. Can you, have you, had a look behind the removable glove box storage bit (with the g/box light in it) & see how much you can access from there if not it looks like blower/pollen filter housing will have to come out, hopefully you won't have to remove the dash/airbag. Others on here will know what's involved. Sorry I can't be of more help. On another note how did Roland rat get in there ?

Click to expand...

Thanks - I guess it's the trim that I don't know how to remove - I have pulled out the removeable glove box, but can't access it without some sort of endoscope and some very skilfullu used long tools...
I don't know where the right trim parts to pull/lever/unscrew are. I'm going through the Haynes manual, and this forum and Youtube, I'll find something!

I think it was my own stupid fault - I had a dumpy bag of hedge clippings in the garden for a month, put it in Dusty (the FL1) and drove it to the tip. I think Roland jumped out of the bag enroute, and made himself a home out of a bunch of different materials from within the car - Insulation etc. We weren't using the car much then!

Nodge68 said:

Sounds like a data bus has been chewed. The Ipack (dashboard) takes engine information from a data bus, so if the bus wires are damaged, the information won't get through.
I'd remove as much trim as possible, so you can see exactly what wires are damaged, so you can effect a repair.

If it's any consolation, I've also had vehicle electrics damaged by a rat ,and we have a Jack Russell.
It took me ages to fix the wife's Astra GTG, where a rat chewed the electronic parking brake wiring, making the vehicle immobile. Her BMW convertible also suffered rat damage to the rear light wiring.

Click to expand...

Oooo. Nice to get some technical terms Always better to know the name of the thing you're trying to get at, now I don't have to call it the 'wiring thing behind the glovebox'!

I've bought myself some lovely car wiring reels and some little heatshrink tubes, I just don't want to break any trim trying to get in there, or get savaged by the airbag.

Zoneranger said:

Nice to get some technical terms Always better to know the name of the thing you're trying to get at, now I don't have to call it the 'wiring thing behind the glovebox'!

Click to expand...

That bunch of wiring that goes around the vehicle is known as a harness.
The data bus (possibly a CAN bus) is just a pair of twisted wires (normally thin and yellow + a different colour trace), within that harness.
I suspect Roland has also chewed some gearbox signal wires, which is why some of the gear position LEDs aren't illuminating.
Does the gear position come up on the dash LCD? I'm guessing not, as that information is also broadcast on the data bus.

Zoneranger said:

I've bought myself some lovely car wiring reels and some little heatshrink tubes, I just don't want to break any trim trying to get in there, or get savaged by the airbag.

Click to expand...

I think you'll be best off removing the whole dash, as the harness is very tricky to get to, with the dash in place. The harness is the first item installed when the vehicle is built, so some major stripping is normally required to get to it.

The airbag is completely safe, as long as the battery has been disconnected for 20 minutes, before working on or near it.