Just took my 91 740 wagon to the store. Went in. Came back out.
Starter will not work. Nothing happens when I turn the key. A few
gauges jump when I turn the key, but nothing else. The door chime rings
with the door open, so I guess the battery did not die all of a sudden.

Could this be a fuse?

I tried it in park. I tried it in neutral. I jiggled the shifter around.

Any ideas?

On Sun, 08 Jul 2007 12:47:04 -0700, doofy <nope@notme.com> wrote:

>Just took my 91 740 wagon to the store. Went in. Came back out.
>Starter will not work. Nothing happens when I turn the key. A few
>gauges jump when I turn the key, but nothing else. The door chime rings
>with the door open, so I guess the battery did not die all of a sudden.
>
>Could this be a fuse?
>
>I tried it in park. I tried it in neutral. I jiggled the shifter around.
>
>Any ideas?

Jiggle the battery terminals. The have to make a GOOD contact.



Regards,

Boris Mohar

Got Knock? - see:
Viatrack Printed Circuit Designs (among other things) http://www.viatrack.ca

void _-void-_ in the obvious place



--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

Boris Mohar wrote:
> On Sun, 08 Jul 2007 12:47:04 -0700, doofy <nope@notme.com> wrote:
>
>
>>Just took my 91 740 wagon to the store. Went in. Came back out.
>>Starter will not work. Nothing happens when I turn the key. A few
>>gauges jump when I turn the key, but nothing else. The door chime rings
>>with the door open, so I guess the battery did not die all of a sudden.
>>
>>Could this be a fuse?
>>
>>I tried it in park. I tried it in neutral. I jiggled the shifter around.
>>
>>Any ideas?
>
>
> Jiggle the battery terminals. The have to make a GOOD contact.
>
>

That's possible. The radio will not come on. The power door locks
work, though sludgy. I plugged a small air compressor into the
cigarette light, and it worked, though sluggish.

I put a tester across the terminals, and it seems to have full voltage.

Why won't the radio come on? That's very low voltage.

Hi,

doofy schrieb:

> Just took my 91 740 wagon to the store. Went in. Came back out.
> Starter will not work.

My guess: starter died.

Sorry for my English (this vocabulary you certainly don't learn at
School... ;-) ), but in German it's called something like a burnt
rotor lamella.

> I tried it in park. I tried it in neutral. I jiggled the shifter
> around.
> Any ideas?

Well, in this case the automatic is a disadvantage.

With a manual tranny you can give the car a push, jump in, press the
clutch pedal, turn and hold the key to ignition and release the clutch
pedel for a (very) short time. Then the starter will work again, until
he again comes to a stop at the defective area.
btdt, very "funny" to do this exercise on a motor home on the way
home... ;-)


Roland

Roland Messerschmidt wrote:
> Hi,
>
> doofy schrieb:
>
>> Just took my 91 740 wagon to the store. Went in. Came back out.
>> Starter will not work.
>
>
> My guess: starter died.

Would that cause the radio not to work?


>
> Sorry for my English (this vocabulary you certainly don't learn at
> School... ;-) ), but in German it's called something like a burnt rotor
> lamella.



>
> Well, in this case the automatic is a disadvantage.

Automatics are always a disadvantage, unless you're smooching and
driving at the same time.

I just went and cleaned the terminals. Nothing.

"doofy" <nope@notme.com> wrote in message
news:46915055$0$14085$742ec2ed@news.sonic.net...
> Boris Mohar wrote:
>> On Sun, 08 Jul 2007 12:47:04 -0700, doofy <nope@notme.com> wrote:
>>
>>
>>>Just took my 91 740 wagon to the store. Went in. Came back out. Starter
>>>will not work. Nothing happens when I turn the key. A few gauges jump
>>>when I turn the key, but nothing else. The door chime rings with the
>>>door open, so I guess the battery did not die all of a sudden.
>>>
>>>Could this be a fuse?
>>>
>>>I tried it in park. I tried it in neutral. I jiggled the shifter
>>>around.
>>>
>>>Any ideas?
>>
>>
>> Jiggle the battery terminals. The have to make a GOOD contact.
>>
>
> That's possible. The radio will not come on. The power door locks work,
> though sludgy. I plugged a small air compressor into the cigarette light,
> and it worked, though sluggish.
>
> I put a tester across the terminals, and it seems to have full voltage.
>
> Why won't the radio come on? That's very low voltage.

I suspect the ignition switch itself is bad, it could also be the battery
cable or even the battery itself. The radio is not any more low voltage than
anything else in the car, it's all 12V nominal. It's a low current load, but
if the voltage is below a certain point it won't power up.

On Sun, 08 Jul 2007 12:47:04 -0700, doofy <nope@notme.com> wrote:

>Just took my 91 740 wagon to the store. Went in. Came back out.
>Starter will not work. Nothing happens when I turn the key. A few
>gauges jump when I turn the key, but nothing else. The door chime rings
>with the door open, so I guess the battery did not die all of a sudden.
>


I had the same type of problem -- bad battery. Under no load it was
11.5, under load of the key turning - 5.6 volts. Changed the battery (
2 days left in replacement warranty) and all better.