Freelander 2 (LR2) Fuse F15 blows when Starter pressed

Looking to confirm a few things to help me fault find my sons Freelander issue ('07 i32). The car wouldn't start on the garage forecourt but finally fired after a jump start. Since then a new battery and starter motor have been fitted (original was well fried), but F15 blows when you go to fire up. All other systems seem fine and no error when ignition only is brought live.

I've swapped the starter relay R1 for a known good one, and checked for obvious wiring shorts at the starter motor. So I'm thinking that there's a direct ground somewhere on the starter circuit the relay feeds. To help can someone confirm:

F15 only feeds R1 and hence should have continuity to R1 load supply pin.
R1 only feeds the starter solenoid circuit, hence R1 load feed pin should have continuity to solenoid starter circuit terminal.
R1 is energized by the starter button ( hence will only close if transmission is in neutral and brake pedal pressed etc.) - that seems fine.

By checking above continuity and pulling the starter solenoid feed off the terminal I'm hoping to trace the short. Which feels like it might be in the fusebox. Perhaps the starter fried to ground and cooked something before the fuse let go ? Might even wire in an external relay from R1 connector with a separate feed to the starter motor if it looks to be on the relay load side wiring.

Is opening up the box a problem, don't want to break several other "quality" plastic connectors to check it out.

Thanks for info and thoughts

I assume this is the i6, 3.2L petrol?

Fuse FE15 (FE = Engine bay Fuse) only feeds the starter relay contacts RE1 (RE = Engine bay Relay). 40 amps. What have you got fitted?

The switching contacts on RE1... one side should measure a low resistance to the battery. The other side will be low resistance to fuse FE15. You should be able to measure both of these without starting the car.

The starter motor has 3 connections. One to the battery positive. One to fuse FE15. Another to earth.

On some of the electrical diagram pages there's also an additional connection to the computer. I guess this is for later vehicles when they changed the wiring.

Do you have a copy of the maintenance manual in the link below?

https://www.landyzone.co.uk/land-rover/freelander-2-repair-and-maintenance-manual.247438/

It does sound like there's a fault in the engine bay fuse box.

Thanks for confirming. I'll be tracing it through in the next couple of days.

Are the 2 pos terminals swapped on the starter?

Thanks Guys - Just to say I ended up wiring in an external starter relay using the fusebox relay 40A feed and starter circuit connections, but with a separate wire to the starter motor. Fired up first turn. Might get around the checking the Fusebox at some point just cos I want to know what the issue is, but for now the cars back with its owner.

May be wise to look at it sooner. Ocasionally FL2's set themselves on fire. A fuse box fail could be a disaster.