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.