Hi, I am driving a Land Rover Freelander 2 from 2008, Diesel, Manual - or rather I was driving it until today in the morning, when I, while driving offroad, loosened the fitting connecting the back part of the exhaust to the front (the one in the middle of the car, it was rough terrain). Being on a mountain with no tools, we jerry-rigged it together again using wire and the back of an axe, and were able to drive back to pavement with that (about 30 minutes). During this time, the exhaust hissed audibly, probably from leaking exhaust gasses.

A few hours later we wanted to continue driving to the nearest big city to get it to a repair shop. Immediately upon starting the car, it had less power, and after about 3 minutes driving the dreaded message "reduced engine performance" came up. I was only able to drive about 40 kph after that. Then after about 10 more minutes it gradually over about 5 minutes lost more power until I had to pull to the roadside, with it dying as I parked.

I started it later again as a test while waiting for the tow truck, and it started no issue, but had barely any power.

Could anyone give me some insight into what is happening inside the car? Will a mechanic be able to just replace the fitting, clear the cache and all is fine or did I damage something more severe? Is the complete power loss a protective measure or a failure of something (God please no)?
Any insight would be welcome!

First step - check for error codes with an OBD reader Jules

Possibly whilst the exhaust was disconnected whilst off road, dust and debris clogged the rear part of the exhaust.
Then when you reconnected it the exhaust was completely cloggged causing the engine error due to excessive back pressure

Just an idea

@jimbowats……..

Good idea & most feasible explanation for problem……. FL2 SD4 HSE Lux Auto MY 2012— current
D2 TD5 HSE Man MY 1999 470kmls….gone 2014 ….lovely engine..chassis rotten
D1 300TDI Man MY 1996 56kmls….gone 1999…D2 much better
Wife’s FL1 1.8P MY 2001 32kmls …gone 2007…has Mini since.

Thanks for the input!

Seems to be true as well. Started it again today and nothing comes out the back, even when giving it throttle for a few seconds. But it does give off the fearful hiss from Jormungandr right in the middle where it leaks exhaust gasses from the McGuiver-wire-fix. Seems to all indicate a blocked back end..

Connected a laptop to it, and these are the error codes it gave me:
- P252 permanent
- P253F Deteriorated quality of engine oil, permanent
- P0299 permanent
- P2454 in progress
- P2453 Unknown
- P244A Diesel particulate filter differential pressure too low (block 1) Occasional

Seems that a few of these are connected to oil quality and I'll be honest I may have forgotten to change it for a bit... Will be doing that as soon as I get it running normal again.
For now the plan is to disconnect the exhaust, clean it, put on a new fitting, clear the error cache again and see how he behaves then..