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View Full Version : Help! Dead Starter, or Something else? ('92 525)



Dan S
11-01-2007, 12:22 PM
I’ve been scanning this board for answers for the last day, have not found one, so thought I would post..

1992 525 Touring

About a week ago, it started having issues cranking after it has been sitting for more then a day. .typical dead/dying battery sounds. In start position, the starter would engage, followed by a ½ rev of the starter, then the click, click, click, of not enough juice.

A jump-start would get it going right off the bat, and as long as it only sat for a few hours, start with no problem. Sit for a couple of days, dead battery.

My conclusion was dying battery. Nothing left on, no other modifications that would cause the battery to die. It just so happened, that a while back, I pulled the exact same kind of battery out of another car before junking it. The battery was only a couple of months old at the time it was removed.

So, put the new (trickle charged briefly) battery in, and it was too dead to start the car. Put the old battery back in (and return the “new” to the charger), car started just fine.

I let it run for a while in park, shut it off, and a few hours later returned to start the car. Interior lights came on, dash lit up as always. When the key went to start position nothing, no click, no whir (as in partially engaged solenoid) nothing at all happened. It was as if I was turning the key with the car in drive. Nothing at all.

Since then, I’ve tried to jump it, checked the one fuseable link next to the battery, checked voltage at the positive post under the hood, and all are fine, receiving voltage. The small lead off closest to the firewall on the side of the solenoid appears to receive voltage when the ignition is in the start position, could not reach/connect a multimeter to any other leads..

I also read where port 11 in the diagnostic port should be energized (in another post on this board) when the key is in the start position, and I did not find any voltage there.

So, what I am wondering, is this a dead starter? Did I accidentally trip some anti theft circuit? Is there something I haven’t checked before I pull the starter? It seems an odd way for a solenoid to go, all of a sudden like that..

Any help of advice is appreciated..

Thanks.

Ferret
11-01-2007, 12:46 PM
Sounds like you may have a compound fault :/

I'd check your starter relay first off - I dont know where it is off hand, but one of the guys on here could tell you before I can dig out the manuals!

When the starter fails like this, try applying 12v to the correct start pin on the diag connector, see if it immediately fires.

Quite frequently what happens is the coil on the starter relay starts to pack in - meaning whenever you try and start the damn car you end up half cranking then the relay drops out!

Dan S
11-01-2007, 12:51 PM
thanks.. now.. all I need to do is find the start pin, and which ones the relay.

good old Euro Relays. . use to have a volvo, and played with it's fuel pump relay way too many times!

gale
11-01-2007, 08:06 PM
Coincidence?! I just got back to the house moments ago, giving my son's e34 535i a tow. The bendix quit retracting after starting last week and let the pinion gear randomly drag lightly on the ring gear, so I took the starter out, found the inside planet gear housing business had grenaded, and installed a rebuilt starter (Checkers, bad idea!). The rebuilt was fine while it lasted -- all of 5 days. Then the solenoid took a dump this afternoon. Gonna give Checkers their junk starter back & give BMA a call in the morning for a genuine Bosch remanufactured one, you get what you pay for. :(

M20Turbo
11-01-2007, 10:33 PM
Coincidence?! I just got back to the house moments ago, giving my son's e34 535i a tow. The bendix quit retracting after starting last week and let the pinion gear randomly drag lightly on the ring gear, so I took the starter out, found the inside planet gear housing business had grenaded, and installed a rebuilt starter (Checkers, bad idea!). The rebuilt was fine while it lasted -- all of 5 days. Then the solenoid took a dump this afternoon. Gonna give Checkers their junk starter back & give BMA a call in the morning for a genuine Bosch remanufactured one, you get what you pay for. :(

I thought I spotted you going west on Indian School this evening with your flashers on. I bet Sandia has one for you........

gale
11-01-2007, 11:09 PM
Yep, bet that was us. On the up side, it only takes me 10 minutes to get the starter out now.

gale
11-03-2007, 07:40 PM
Follow-up, found the problem.

So I took the bum "rebuilt" starter back to Checkers for a return and they put it on their load-test machine. As Murphy would have it, it worked for them. Hmm?! I knew it wasn't a low battery & all connections looked good. I bench tested the starter myself and it worked for a couple tries and then died. Then I noticed some arcing behind one of the bolts on the bearing end cap:

http://www.nmia.com/~dgnrg/starter1.jpg

http://www.nmia.com/~dgnrg/starter2.jpg

Sure enough, the screw was stripped. I took the end plate off to see what it screws into and saw that it screws into the bracket for the brushes. So what to do? Take it back & demand a refund & buy a genuine Bosch unit somewhere else, or fix it myself? I scrounged some self-tapping screws the next thread size larger, drilled out the holes, & reefed them in good & tight with some permanant Loctite. Problem solved. Bench tested fine so put it back in the car. Starts 1st tap every time for a dozen starts or so. We'll see how long it lasts this time. Note to self: friends don't let friends buy "rebuilt/remanufactured" from Checkers. I knew better going into the deal but was in a hurry to git-er-done.

Edit: It's been working fine ever since, 3.5 years later.

Paul in NZ
11-03-2007, 07:46 PM
as far as the OP is concerend,are you sure that both batteries are good?