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What I learned so far----I activated the battery with jumper cables and come to find out that what is happening is that the starter motor, or starter relay is not engaging. The starter isn't getting a signal.
So, follow my thinking here:
although it IS true that the back carpeting area is flooded, and it IS true that there is a power junction box there, still I can hear the fuel pump, and the lights work, and the dash lights up....so really, would BMW really take a wire from the front of the car, run it to the back of the car to a junction box, and then run it back up to the front of the car? This makes no sense, that rear seat flooding causes the starter not to engage.
Whaddya' all think?
I can't access this rear junction box without taking out (at least) the passenger seat, the console, and the carpeting. But what are the odds this causes a bad starter motor? :confuse: :confuse:
Exploding seat belts freak me out, to be honest.
Mercedes-Benz has had pyrotechnic pretensioners on some models since the early 80's, and all MB models have had them for many years. Lots of cars have them today. It's a small sealed system within the belt housing that's triggered electronically, so you want to be careful. Its not a big charge like an airbag, as it only takes the slack out of the seatbelt in case of a collision.
Your reasoning is perfectly logical.
Did it start fine right up until the point that the car was flooded?
Not sure how the water got in---that's ANOTHER issue entirely.
No matter how long I toil
I never shall afford
A 7-5-0il"
Unknown C&D author
2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '98 Alfa 156 2.0TS; '08 Maser QP; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '11 Mini Cooper S
One of my friends has a 2002 or so BMW 5-series that he bought used a few years ago. It developed a bad leak in the back seat area, and it turns out it had bad door seals. I wonder if that's a common BMW issue?
Anway, it looks like a plastic junction box, with one large fat red cable feeding a grid. About ten wires feed into this grid and then come out and are connected, I presume, by a brass plate. Each wire unbolts from the master plate, so to speak. All the nuts are corroded into piles of rust.
Something like this, but with more wires:
Next to that, are about 12 little flat black boxes, 1" X 1", mounted in a stack. They look like typical plug-in connectors, but in fact they too, are merely little junction boxes---one wire in, then a connecting jumping plate, then one wire out, each pair (or set of 3) covered with a tiny plastic box. About 24 wires, sitting in 12 plastic boxes, all snapped into a stackable holder. All flooded, green and corroded as well.
Theory? One of these circuit is the anti=theft, the fuse for this circuit being in the trunk, and thus this circuit is shorted out in the junction box, making the car thinking at attempt is being made by someone to steal it.
The car's computer does not know, of course, that nobody would be that stupid.
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '98 Alfa 156 2.0TS; '08 Maser QP; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '11 Mini Cooper S
You must be new to German cars... ;->
Audi 5000: The battery is in the back, and somehow the wire that activates the starter solenoid is wired through the trunk lid wiring harness. Open & close trunk a thousand or so times, wires fatigue, and no start.
Because of the trunk lid. Pure engineering genius. I couldn't believe it, so II confirmed with my mechanic; he knew about it.
Audi A6 (2000 vintage): Similar thing, but this time it's the passenger visor. Some wiring goes through there and if it breaks, she no starts.
That one I only read about from an internet post through an audiphile -- FORMER audiphile -- friend, so I can't swear to it.
But I think this answers your question. It ain't far from Ingolstadt to Munich.
Cheers -Mathias
Was it BMW that had some kind of computer that counted revolutions of the window regulator for power windows? No chance of failure there.
"Car in good condition except it doesnt start dont know why"
Well that's scary.
I'm thinking of this approach -- remove all the wires from the junction block (and label them carefully)....then, grabbing hold of that large red feed cable that comes from the trunk battery, and with a heavy jumper wire, clamp on to each wire (or pair of wires as the case may be), and try to start the car----if on one of these jump-connections, I get the starter to engage, I know at least that the rest is worth doing.
Their MUST be plenty of 750iLs in the wrecking yards....well not in Kansas, but surely in sunny California.
Out of curiosity, I looked at the market for clean low mileage 750s in the late 90s range, and it looks like, if you bargain hard, you could get one for about $7500.
And under all this, flat on the floor, is this critical junction box. :sick:
That doesn't make sense.
I guess I can test them with my ohm meter...perhaps they didn't blow...although, being completely underwater, one would think.....
Why put in fuses that can't be replaced???? :mad:
-Mathias
750 Nightmare
Ask for Manny, he's the one with the glasses
Aw, I already knew that the BMW 750iL is probably the worst car in the world...yer preachin' to the choir... :P
Probably because the fault they're supposed to protect against (a short in the wiring to chassis) is considered a highly unlikely scenario. Something that may only be expected to occur in a severe crash that distorts the chassis or some sort of intrusion (guard rail?) into the body. There are probably fuses further downstream, and more accessible, to protect against load faults.
I wonder who had to bribe who for our asinine and arbitrary 25 year rule.
Sure, they'll bring a premium over an ordinary '91 325, but not nearly enough to justify the expense of DOT/EPA certification, which could easily punch out $10,000 and even end quite disastrously for the buyer.
Way too risky for not a lot of gain, IMO.
Pretty sad use of my tax money, IMO - especially with so many other problems out there...but in Amerika, you get the laws you pay for, and these import restrictions were certainly bought and paid for. In other developed nations, you can bring in pretty much anything that's physically safe. Funny that boring old Canada has a more interesting automotive scene than here.
Eh, just do like what some people do when they bring in those Euro-spec Smart cars that supposedly use half the fuel of the ones we got here. Get it titled as a "1974 NSU" or whatever! :P
These aren't new cars, these are 20 year old toys.
Exactly. I don't think "fair" has anything to do with it when you're talking about something that old. And let's face it, how many people are going to buy a 20 year old M3 and use it as a daily driver? Letting that car on the road has no bearing whatsoever to the auto makers still in production.
Heck, if I wanted to, I could go buy a gas guzzling big-block, out-of-tune 70's boat that would put out a hell of a lot more pollution than that M3 would. And it would all be perfectly legal. So, how is it fair to let something like that on the but not fair to let a 20 year old M3 into the country?
What about those Porsche 959s or whatever, that were banned years ago? Can you get them over here legally, yet?
This is just a case where car nuts and aftermarket vendors "conspire" to make a bit of fun out of life, the universe, and everything on wheels. Sounds fair to me.
edit: I still think $40k is crazy money for a fun+zippy project car like that M3 but it doesn't seem to be scaring off bidders. Somebody really really likes those things! :shades:
Sounds like nothing more than another make work program for highly paid untouchable wannabe cops in the EPA/DOT. I wonder how many enforcers of this stuff bring in 6 figure salaries.
959 is 25 years old now, so they should be easier to bring in. Bill Gates tried to get one in back in the day and had to work on it for eons - he was a force in the "show and display" style rules that let a handful of freakshow cars in.