Damaged wires in engine compartment, still runs

[i_m_jon]

The mighty X5 sits around a lot these days, I generally use it in poor weather and for other undignified tasks. It’s a 2001 3.0 that’s never had a problem I couldn’t figure out browsing this forum. The last few times out it seemed low on power. It was also making a faint whirring type noise. Having no idea if the two were related, I finally opened up the hood for look and found this looking down at the front of the engine passenger side. Looks possibly like a varmint chewed on the wiring going to whatever these connectors are. It starts fine and runs, you wouldn’t even know there is a problem except the power is reduced. What are these two connectors connecting? I can’t imagine they are just wired to each other so what is going on here? Is there a piece missing? Did something get caught in the fan? I’m really stumped and would appreciate any advice. Thanks.