Electrical Problem???? Starter doesn't turn - power windows are dead, etc....

Hello

I started up my car and noticed that I did not have power windows.

I drove the car about 5 miles and seemed to hear some "unusual noises" - but
power and peformance were good.

I got home and turned the car off. Now the starter won't turn and I did
smell something that smelled like burning wires.

Taking a quick look at the fuses, it doesn't seem like any of them are
burned - but I need to look better.

Any ideas???? Could there be a relay that is prone to failure. My car has
230,000 miles.

All responses are appreciated.

- Ben

> "unusual noises"

Can you describe them (like hail on a tin roof, like a firecracker,
like sizzling bacon, like a duck when the lid of the breadbox
accidentally closes on his beak...) What part of the car did they seem
to be coming from?

Was there smoke involved? If so, where?


> Now the starter won't turn and I did
> smell something that smelled like burning wires.

That's definitely Patrolman Ohm's way of telling electrons there's
nothing here to see, move along.

First, remove the negative cable from the battery terminal. It ain't
doin' you no good, and that way you'll *know* that any flakey circuits
that are already known to emit a burning smell and then not work aren't
going to be sporadically re-energized for random reasons.

When you safely raise the car and support it on jackstands, or maybe
(with luck) you can tell enough from underhood, does the starter show
signs of overheating (paint bubbled, charred wiring) or being
mechanically busted, and is one of those things what smells? What
about the big wires that you can trace back from the starter to
wherever it is they go?

> Any ideas???? Could there be a relay that is prone to failure.

My old Thunderbird runs the power windows through a relay, but even
slightly post McNamara-era Ford wasn't perverse enough to involve the
starter in that, so perhaps your problems are higher up. What's going
on in the big fuse/breaker box underhood and its small counterpart
under dash? What about the other big wires in the vicinity of the
battery and the alternator? What make, model, and year are we
conjuring up in our minds?

Cheers,
--Joe

On Wed, 19 Apr 2006 20:51:14 GMT, "Ben Martin" >
wrote:

>Hello
>
>I started up my car and noticed that I did not have power windows.
>
>I drove the car about 5 miles and seemed to hear some "unusual noises" - but
>power and peformance were good.
>
>I got home and turned the car off. Now the starter won't turn and I did
>smell something that smelled like burning wires.
>
>Taking a quick look at the fuses, it doesn't seem like any of them are
>burned - but I need to look better.
>
>Any ideas???? Could there be a relay that is prone to failure. My car has
>230,000 miles.
>
>All responses are appreciated.
>
>- Ben
>

It sounds like you lost a fusible link due to a short somewhere.
Good luck tracking it down!


--
-john
wide-open at throttle dot info

The noise sounded like hail on a tin roof.

I didn't see any smoke.

Have not yet really looked at the starter and big wires..

I am wondering if my ignition switch shorted out and also caused my fusilbe
link to fail - maybe?

Or maybe there is some other electrical component that is prone to failure
in this make and model.

The car is a 90 BMW 325is.

Thanks for your reply.

- Ben

"Ad absurdum per aspera" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> > "unusual noises"
>
> Can you describe them (like hail on a tin roof, like a firecracker,
> like sizzling bacon, like a duck when the lid of the breadbox
> accidentally closes on his beak...) What part of the car did they seem
> to be coming from?
>
> Was there smoke involved? If so, where?
>
>
> > Now the starter won't turn and I did
> > smell something that smelled like burning wires.
>
> That's definitely Patrolman Ohm's way of telling electrons there's
> nothing here to see, move along.
>
> First, remove the negative cable from the battery terminal. It ain't
> doin' you no good, and that way you'll *know* that any flakey circuits
> that are already known to emit a burning smell and then not work aren't
> going to be sporadically re-energized for random reasons.
>
> When you safely raise the car and support it on jackstands, or maybe
> (with luck) you can tell enough from underhood, does the starter show
> signs of overheating (paint bubbled, charred wiring) or being
> mechanically busted, and is one of those things what smells? What
> about the big wires that you can trace back from the starter to
> wherever it is they go?
>
> > Any ideas???? Could there be a relay that is prone to failure.
>
> My old Thunderbird runs the power windows through a relay, but even
> slightly post McNamara-era Ford wasn't perverse enough to involve the
> starter in that, so perhaps your problems are higher up. What's going
> on in the big fuse/breaker box underhood and its small counterpart
> under dash? What about the other big wires in the vicinity of the
> battery and the alternator? What make, model, and year are we
> conjuring up in our minds?
>
> Cheers,
> --Joe
>

~^Johnny^~ > wrote:
>
>It sounds like you lost a fusible link due to a short somewhere.
>Good luck tracking it down!

BMW is not into the whole fusible link thing as much as other
automakers are. I don't have a 328 manual here for anything newer than
'86 but I think there is basically one fusible link in the whole thing,
and it's on the starter.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."