i posted a message for you on the all forum page for rwd. sorry. new to this.

Michael, Bob is right, when he advises simple electerical solutions. (I was too busy getting bent by the futility of what's already been done.)

You wrote "Now the car runs worse and will not start at all. [How can it run without starting?] Lights in dash does not come on except for Seat Belt,
Anti lock, and SRS. Headlights, taillights, inside lights, etc all work. Radio works, etc."

In a paradoxical way the wierder and more widespread the problem the better.
It shouts Basic Electrical!
The good part: anyone can do it.
The bad part: dunno... You have to pay someone $hundreds to NOT fix it? ;-)

Is the lamp plugged into the wall?

Uh, wrong setting. But, similarly...

Does that battery take and retain a charge? (Applpy a cheap voltmeter.)
Are the clamps on the battery's terminals clean? (Easily cleaned.)
Does grungy green corrosive crud extend up the cables from the battery, and show you that they are baaaad? (look)
Does the alternator produce? (Quick answer: probably. Quickly done: clean the few small connections on the back of the alternator by removing leads [wires' connections], scrub, replace.)

Finally, and FIRSTLY: Do you have goofy electrical problems with a 700/900? CLEAN ELECTRICAL GROUNDS around the engine bay. See Haynes or FAQs for their locations. (Or hunt them!) Maybe a half dozen. EASY! High yield operation!
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Gregg in MN

Michael, After carefully reading your post, it sounds like your immediate problem is the car will not even crank. Do not be fooled by the radio and headlights working. A weak battery can have enough juice to run your accessories but not enough power to crank the starter. It is even possible that your eager mechanic disconnected the battery to do his work, and then did not get the cables back on securely. I would check the connections and put jumper cables on the battery to at least see if you can get it to turn over. Good luck! MJ

go to the page. click on the left. i posted a message there for you. sorry i did not see the reply button at the top of the screen. cheers, jess

You say a very small part about the electrical in the car which is leading me to say say hey there check those fuses, when you said only half the dash lights came on when you tried to start it i would deff first off find the blowen fuse, i bet youll find one and i bet it has something to do with the running of the engine, let us know how it turns out.

If you mean the car does not even attempt to start , then you might have a problem similar to the one I had. Mine turned out to be a wiring/ grounding issue. Clean ground connections and check voltages at the solinoid when attempting to crank. I also cleaned the connections on the starter.

Ron Lynes
745 GLE 225000 km
near Brantford, ON, CAN

Michael, this looks painful when your 1990 700 will not start, and some shop charges you about $500 to NOT fix the problem.

Won't you please take 10 minutes to an hour to read the pertinent FAQs on this site. About Driveability, starting, cold start... You can make about $100 an hour reading the FAQs, it appears. No kidding.

Then, while we know that's it's typical to charge you $15 for $4 worth of oil, $60 for a $12-14 coolant temperature sensor, etc., it still hurts.

It hurts even more that these have little or nothing to do with cold starts, UNLESS you filled the crankcase with gasoline, and the oil needed changing.

The engine coolant temp sensor, for instance, typically starts to fail by misinforming a HOT engine that it is still COLD, and runs the engine rich.

4 hours? What else did they do?

Does the car start after sitting in a WARM garage, or after having a nice heater placed below the engine for a few hours? (Is this a COLD start problem or ANY start problem?)

Can you scan recent messages here about COLD START? Recently, for instance, Chris Herbst, experienced guy, said when in doubt (and in the cold) gap the spark plugs. What could be simpler?

Can you search older messages for your model? I see a message from 2 years ago about "cold start woes," which says that the 1990 740 "had a known cold start problem from the factory. There was a service bulletin [TSB] issued way-back-when to correct it. Mine had it done before I bought it so I don't know what's involved. All I know is there is a sticker in the door jamb that says it was corrected." (Your $hop should have been able to find this TSB. You can find the TSB titles for your model online, and may choose to pay a little to get the CONTENTS of the TSBs.)

The crank position sensor keeps coming up for flak, too.

You will get lots of help here on the BB soon, but please hit the FAQs, and stop paying these guys, OK? It's your dime, your call.

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Gregg in MN

Just need to know a few more things:

Did the car run after the repair work for any period of time? Did it start on any cold morning after the repair work?

I would start with the battery, then work your way outward. The battery can be weak enough that the car won't start, but strong enough to play the radio. The battery could need a charge. The cables could be dirty too.

Do you hear any clicks from the selonoid on the starter when you turn the key, or is it completely dead?