Hello everybody, I'm looking forward to participating in the great discussions here.
I recently obtained a 2006 LR3 that was sitting in a barn, not driven, for about 7 years. It was free, and in good enough condition to warrant putting in the work to get it back on the road (it has about 100,000 miles on the odometer).
First, the good news - with a new Optima AGM battery installed it started after a few tries. No engine oil leaks, and no transmission, differential, or gearbox leaks. No coolant leaks. Brakes work well. White paint is good overall, you'd never know it was brown when I found it. The tan leather is in great condition. It drives and shifts smoothly, although I've not driven faster than about 45MPH.
Now the bad news - it has some rodent damage in the engine bay and interior. I removed mice nests in the engine bay, lower glove compartment, air vents, and at the doors under the carpet. The navigation and radio do not work. The A/C does not work. Scanning with an iCarsoft V3 for Land Rover, I get invalid data from the transmission control module, among many others related to suspension. The suspension will have to be entirely replaced for safety and peace of mind, in my opinion. The engine is hard to start, and has a slightly surging idle. The exterior temperature reads -40, probably due to the temperature sensor and wiring being eaten by mice. I've found 2 long-dead mice in the interior, one beneath the shifter and another under the center carpet.
I've decided to find and repair all wiring damage first, and clean the rodent remnants in the process. I've pulled the front and middle row seats, center console, and front and center carpets so far. I'm deep cleaning as I go. I've found damaged wiring in the engine bay on two sensors attached to a bracket on the passenger side fuel rail. I'd like to rewire and repin the connectors properly, I'll need to unpin them as the damage is too close to the connector to solder. The only other wiring issue I've found so far is a single gray wire, a stray, in the passenger foot well. It's part of a twisted pair with a similar gauge red wire up until the red one diverges and is factory-spliced into another set of red wires. It doesn't look damaged by rodents, but I'm uneasy leaving it hanging.
I believe the nav screen and audio issues are related to rodent droppings that have ingressed the top of the radio.
I'm in for a lot of work, but as a mechanic and former avionics technician I'm not overly concerned. So far this vehicle has been remarkably easy to work on. The main questions I have at the moment are regarding the wiring damage in the engine bay and the hanging gray wire. Pictures are attached, enjoy.

Wiring damage.

This connector has a part number.

This connector does not have a part number visible.

Up-close of connector part number.

Stray gray wire.

Stray gray wire's twisted-pair partner.

Passenger front interior current state.

Passenger rear current state.

Console current state.

 

the hard start is prolly because the car thinks its -40 not whatever texas is right now... the wires that are chewed off right at the connector id just cut the other side off and splice the wires together unless you have access to another wiring harness.
also big question why did someone just leave it in a barn for 7 years? what was their reasoning for leaving it sit?

 

It belonged to an elderly woman who parked it when it had issues with what she thought was the starter (turns out it was the battery), and the suspension subsequently collapsed (was probably on the way out). I've seen it around for years, and gave her an honest quote to fix it (suspension, battery, possibly starter), but the price was too high so it sat. I've been eyeing it for a while, the navigation worked about 2 years ago but sitting in a barn with mice finished it off. I've done work for her recently and in exchange she gave it to me about a week ago to replace a car I lost in a highway accident.
Long story short, she didn't want to afford the basic maintenance when it needed it, so it's been sitting.

 

Looks like you have a rescue rover on your hands. It won't stay free or cheap for long as I a finding with mine, but every little victory feels pretty darn good, and better than writing out a check to the bank every month.

 

writing out a check to Atlantic British or British parts of Utah each month.... in the first year of ownership i spent on avg 300$ a month in repairs. and that is at 0$ labor since i do all my own repairs.. that is just replacing parts that were actually broke, like left front strut. not both front struts cause only the left one was leaking. plan on buying the other one this spring to have a new set on front.
point being i would not go repairing expensive items on the rover until you know you need them.

 

I've got a decent budget for this project, and am taking my time sorting out everything out. It doesn't need to be on the road tomorrow. Once the QuickJack arrives I'll be doing Arnott air suspension, an upgraded compressor and drier (suggestions welcome!), new air lines and maybe air blocks, any sensors related to the suspension, upgraded control arms front and back (suggestions also welcome!), and ball joints. All fluids and filters will be changed with Amsoil products, upgrade to a metal transmission pan/filter, kevlar steel braided brake lines and speed bleeders, frozen rotors and hawk pads. The timing chain guides aren't noisy yet, but I'll do those down the line I imagine. First order of business is passing all electrical system checks and having no CANBUS communication issues. The gauge cluster seems good, time will tell. I'll need to examine the TCM for corrosion, but I might just have a wiring issue. I'm wrapping the known good interior wiring with self adhesive silicone tape after thoroughly cleaning the harnesses. I'll upload more pictures, if anybody wants specific shots of any components just let me know - I'm not sure how often someone disassembles these this far. If there's interest I'll document the rest of the restoration here.

 

I believe I've solved the mystery behind the stray gray wire. Oddly enough it's not supposed to be connected to anything. It's a LIN bus wire described in detail here: https://landroverforums.com/forum/lr...ire-cut-84978/ and here: https://www.disco3.co.uk/forum/topic131361.html
Given that's the only issue I've found on that harness I'll finish wrapping it and zip tie it back into place this weekend.

 

If you need connectors, I've had great luck with getting replacement connectors and pigtals for Land Rover and Jaguar applications from Ballenger Motorsports, https://www.bmotorsports.com.

 

I do, thank you for that!

 

I need to replace at least the corroded pins in this connector, but can only find them in bulk. Worst case I'll use another connector type or cut/splice the harness from a donor vehicle. I've already obtained the wiring and connectors for the damaged wiring in the engine bay. So far the passenger side interior harness has been inspected and wrapped, but this connector found in the passenger foot well under the kick panel near the common grounds was thoroughly corroded.