[Subscribe to Daily Digest] |
Members do not see ads below this line. - Help Keep This Site Online - Signup
Yes, that's right.. It is not a 9k. I don't have high hopes of getting it straightened out here. Yet I always have high regards for my fellow 9k owners' expertise and opinion. So I'll just swing away. This is a 95 540ia I bought last year in March time frame. The engine was toast. It is a Nikasil engine at 144k miles. Some of you may know this BMW specific issue in the mid 90's of Nikasil engine the cylinder wall of which being eroded away when high sulfur content in gasoline reacts with the specific aluminum alloy metalurgy. I bought a 66k M60 engine to put it in.
Being gluten for punishment, I also started the project to convert it to 6 speed from auto. Fraught with busy work schedule and frequent travels, the project dragged on. It took so long I lost track of what parts go back where even though I pride myself being very good at putting things back together what I took apart.
Last November I finally have everything together ready to start the car. I switched on the ignition, it started after a few seconds of cranking. Then I saw smoke came of of the engine bay. An electric wire was burning near the battery positive junction. I immediately shut the engine off. But wait, the engine was off. But the starter kept cranking. Now I was in a real panic. Dashed into the garage and fumbled through the tool chest. Finally found a 13 mm socket and ratch to dash back to open the rear driver door to disconnect the battery cable under the rear seat in what seemed like eternity. That was the last time the engine saw action. I was not able to start the car since then.
To provide more background info, BMW has a more complicated starting circuitry. We know our 9k starting circuit is very simple. There are only two wires to the starter. The battery cable and one wire from the ignition switch to kick open the flood gate to allow battery juice to flow when switched on. BMW's starter, at least the 95 540, has three wires. It appears during start the positive wire from the ignition switch also provides voltage to at least two other electrical equipments via the starter. Why is that I don't know. What has happened was I connected the wire which was supposed to go to those two equipments from the starter during start to ground. It resulted in the starter solenoid latching on after I switch off the ignition.
On top of this BMW has a drive away protection circuitry connected to the starting circuit. It has a starter immobilization relay on the positive wire from the ignition switch to the starter solenoid. The relay process a few pieces of info before allowing 12 volts to go to the starter solenoid. The fisaco fried the starter immobilization relay and the third positive wire from the starter which I grounded. I replaced both.
I also removed the starter to bench test it. The starter is fine. When I connected the battery cable the star gear pushes out and the starter turns. Now when I switched on ignition. Only the starter turns. I hear the distinctive starter motor spin. But it does not push the star gear out to crank the engine.
I know I need to sit back and collect myself to diagnose this problem while juggling my other responsibilities. I'd appreciate opinion on this.
posted by 69.248.10...
No Site Registration is Required to Post - Site Membership is optional (Member Features List), but helps to keep the site online
for all Saabers. If the site helps you, please consider helping the site by becoming a member.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
