Hi all,

I've recently acquired a 2015 Vogue with an SDV8 engine in it. I purchased it from the auctions and repaired the minor damage it had. All was going well until I heard a knock from then engine one day and opened the bonnet to find a dead rat against the fan belt and up against the vacuum control lines at the front of the engine. Long story short, after two and a half months insurance gave me a report worded in two sentences that there is no link between the two events (rodent damage and engine failure) and offered to payout for the damage to brake booster hose, coolant return hose, coolant expansion tank and some wiring insulation. The report was effectively two sentences and did not detail any tests carried out (some photos were included) or detail what systems were inspected and found undamaged.

Obviously I know that an even like engine failure is possible to happen concurrently with rodent damage and remain unlinked however I want to ensure that any possibility that these two events are linked is fully eliminated before I accept the insurance companies preferred version of events.

What should I be asking for? How could these events be possibly linked?

Other symptoms to note;

Vehicle was within service schedule
no excessive coolant loss or overheating observed
no excessive oil loss (reading in levels) although there was a know leak likely from rear main seal
on the drive before claim made and rat found there was a slight surging/shudder under acceleration especially at lower rpm
seemed to be slightly excessive crankcase pressure on opening oil cap but no oil just vapor blowing out.

I noticed that at least one wire was exposed to copper (I think it was possibly the glow plug circuit).

Thanks