Rodents ate my Disco II...

[jm_prindle]

Hi All - This is my first post here.

The other day my wifes 2002 Disco II didn't start. It has 60K on it and has never had a hint of a problem.

The dealer came out and hauled it into the shop and after 2 days of diagnosis, they determined that the ECU (engine computer) was bad. After some further looking they found that 'something' got into the wire harness that enters through the firewall into the passenger side of the truck. The ECU shorted out and was fried as a result.

I saw it with my own eyes - teeth marks and all. The rodent ate most of the wiring so the ECU harness needs to be replaced. They are telling me $3,000 + to fix it including labor and ECU?

Any ideas on what an ECU runs for the DII? How about the harness? I'm thinking that the harness couldn't be that hard to swap out - could it? The ECU shouldn't be anything big - I have done that several times on my Audi S4.

Any thoughts suggestions are much appreciated.

 

[disco1]

That's an incredible story. I do believe you, as rats can flatten themselves out and squeeze through holes that you would think impossible, but it's a fact. I'm not sure what a new ECU or its wiring harness is worth. I do know, that a complete under dash wiring harness from LR (if you burn one out) is worth around 8,000 dollars.

 

[jm_prindle]

Here is an update.....

This morning I got some false error lights on my car, I got the Oil light, the door open light, and a headlight out light. Hopefully my not so friendly rodend didn't eat my car too.

I'm waiting to hear back from my insurance company. My Comp. coverage might take care of this issue.

The odd thing is that my garage is finished, and is always clean. There is no sign of any animals, no droppings, nothing chewed up. I'm still in shock that it showed up and decided to climb in and eat the Rover??

I'll keep you guys updated

 

[disco1]

Hmmm. It is obviously looking to nest. What could be a real problem is that it may still be behind your dash. You need to lay some poison baits inside the vehicle just in case, otherwise, the wire chewing will continue. The other real downside of this is that if it is still in your vehicle and it dies, it will probably crawl into an inaccessable place to do so.

 

[Moose]

...and then your A/C will smell like rat...

 

[jm_prindle]

Great - the wife will love that. I will tell her "Land Rovers never die - they just smell that way".

It has been at the dealer for the last 5 days - hopefully it will nest somewhere else. Based on where it chewed, I think it is probably gone - but I will be getting some nice poison to stick in the garage tonight.

 

[Jeff Discos]

I've seen full wiring harnesses in ebay shops for D1 and D2 models. Gonna pick up a spare tire carrier for my rusted out one there myself soon.