Hi everybody. The original starter on my 92 740 non-turbo was shot.I turned the key and it spun. Had it tested just to make sure it was dead and bought a 'new' rebuilt which tested good. Popped it in and now when I turn the key I either get a click or there is a kinda sickening grinding sound coming from the starter. We put a jumper box on the battery and that didn't help. I'm dreading having to take the starter back out and get a different one. But I'm wondering if my battery cable is bad. One of the positive wires leading to the post broke recently and I had to buy a copper lug and crimp it on. The dash lights all light when I turn the key. The battery is 4 months old but it had been sitting in the car a few months, disconnected. That's about all the info I can tell you. Where do I go from here? Hope someone can help. Thanks a bunch!

 

what voltage is the battery at when its been resting awhile? if its not like 12.6V or something, put it on a charger overnight.

the big thick red cable goes directly to the starter. the other smaller red wires go to the positive terminal, and stuff like that, to supply power for everything else.

 

Thanks for the quick reply. I don't know what the voltage is but I think I will take your advice and charge it up,and make sure the thick red wire is getting juice to the starter.I suppose it is, since the starter makes a noise when I turn the key. Hopefully it's just a drained battery.I'll hold off taking the starter out for now. I'll let you know what happens.....

 

one possible problem is too much voltage drop on the power cable when the starter is cranking... you can measure that with a volt meter at the big B+ wire on the alternator to engine block ground while a friend cranks...

if this drops too low, that suggests a problem with either the ground wire or the main positive cable.

to figure out which cable, try reading the voltage from the battery negative terminal to the alternator B+, if thats significantly higher than the first reading, the negative/ground cable is a problem. otherwise, try reading from the battery plus terminal to the engine block ground while cranking, if THAT is significantly higher than the first reading, then the positive cable is the likely problem.

but, the battery really should be fully charged before messing with any of this. a battery thats sitting at 11.X volts just won't have the pookah to run the starter motor.

 

thanks again...I took the battery to my local A.Z. and it's being charged right now. I'll pick it up in a couple hours...hope that works!

 

Battery is nice and hot-everything in the car lights up.No start! Just a click. Almost dark now. I think I'll jump it tomorrow with my other car and see what happens. Sigh.................

 

If the battery is charged and you get a click it sounds like you may have a bad solenoid on the rebuilt starter.

 

Thanks for the reply. I thought that might be the case.I still am not sure about my battery cable though.I've read a couple other posts from folks who had a similar problem that was corrected by getting a new battery cable. I guess I have some testing to do.

 

the volt meter tests I describe should identify or eliminate that in short order.