What have I done to my 328?

Is the new battery a Group 34R with the reverse terminals? In other words, are the terminals in the same orientation on the new battery as the old?

 

Here are a few thoughts.

Do you have a battery cutoff switch that is faulty?

Battery cable ends loose or corroded?

Negative cable not firmly grounded at the frame?

Does the car have an aftermarket alarm/immobilizer that is faulty (that sound you heard when you connected the battery)?

Did you connect the battery backwards? If you did and tried to start it there could be some damaged stuff.

 

Lights take a LOT less juice to shine brightly than the starter motor takes to turn the motor over. The lights working are merely an indication that the battery has some juice in it, the starter requires much more amperage.

I would first check the connections and especially the ground connections, put your charger on the new battery overnight while you are checking all the connections, just because its new does not mean its fully charged (usually does but not always). Sounds like you have already done these steps and the next step is digging deeper but I thought I should mention that just because the lights are on does not mean the battery is good enough to turn that motor over.

The fact that you had a sense something might be wrong prior to swapping would make look at the quality of the ground connections first.

 

It could be that one of those connections that appears solid is really rusty where you can't see.

The rust is an insulator, it needs to go.

I recommend that you unbolt the cable(s) where they attach and shine up the surfaces and reconnect.

I also recommend that you disconnect (at least temporarily) the wiring to the stereo.

This and a fully charged battery might just do it.

 

There is also a quick disconnect for the positive battery cable (like the one up front to disconnect the battery ground cable). I say "quick disconnect" but there would be nothing quick about getting to it and disconnecting it. It is located inside a little plastic cable tray underneath the car at the rear end not too far from the starter. I doubt this is your problem but it's worth checking. I looked at mine the other day and the metal contact areas inside looked like new and the mechanical tension that holds the contacts against each other was strong.

 

Use voltage drop testing. Clip one lead of a voltmeter to one side of a connection, the other lead to the other side of the connection. For instance, clip one lead to the battery negative (the post, not the clamp), the other lead to a solid metal unpainted part of the engine. Try the starter, there should be very little reading on the meter, maybe 1/2 volt or so. Try this on both sides of any suspect connection. The idea is that a good connection should have nearly the same voltage on either side, the meter is reading the difference of voltage between the 2 points. Most connections can have 1 or 2 tenths of a volt drop. By the way, a battery tender should be used the maintain an already fully charged battery, not charge a dead one. Good luck, Mike

 

All the relay information you need is available in this thread:

Bosch Relays
http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=112475


They pull out with some good tuggin'. You can probably use a tool to help.

There's nothing wrong with the idea of replacing all of your relays, though this is not done by most folks. I will probably do it sooner or later.


--Mike

 

I am no electrical expert, but when I know I will not be driving my car for more than a week, I pull the battery disconnect that is next to the battery under the drivers left headlight... when I connect it back up it makes the noise like the door locks are opening... I wonder if you have a faulty ground or short there? that noise I know really well... as soon as the car gets power, it makes that noise.. thats how i know I have any juice... Hope it all works out. to me I think it will end up being something small.... hope so! best of luck!

 

If you have volt meter first measure across the battery terminals and see if you have 12volts. Basically a good starting point to make sure you have a battery and that the volt meter is operational. As far as getting to some of the relays there are two screws that hold up the fuse panel. Take them out and you will be able to drop the fuse panel enough to get to the relays.

If you feel comfortable with the volt meter find a good ground near the fuse panel and there is a connector listed in the wiring diagram as "W". There are two red wires, I think 5th and 6th conductor from the top just below the biege wire that goes to the fuel pump. See if you have 12volts on the two red wires. Put the black lead from the meter to ground and probe the connector with the other lead. They apear in the wiring diagram to come from the battery to the fuse panel. The power comes in to the fuse panel through connector "A" which should be located in the bottom right side of the fuse panel, I don't have a picture of that side of the fuse panel but I imagine it should be a decent sized wire coming in to the fuse panel. You should also see the same voltage pulling the 4th fuse from the left side and touching the lower contact. I am including a pic of "W" but ignore the text on the picture it was for something else.

These points all get power from the battery and are hot all the time regardless of relays or fuses or ignition so if you don't have volts start tracing back to the battery and ground.
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There is no need to disconnect the battery under normal circumstances. The only current draw with the car just sitting should be a tiny amount for the clock and a little bit for your radio, depending on the model (maybe alarm system if installed and activated). It sounds like you have an abnormally high current draw.

If you have something drawing more than a really small amount of current you need to address that problem. Simply disconnecting the battery is avoiding the problem. Of course it's a good idea to disconnect it in the interim while you try to figure out what is going on and nothing wrong with disconnecting it if the car will not be driven for a month or more.

It's really not necessary to disconnect the battery for long-term parking either, if your battery is hooked-up to a "battery tender" (which it should be).

By the way, after removing the battery connections and cleaning them along with the battery terminals, coat the terminals and connectors with vaseline and THEN reconnect everything. This will help avoid corrosion on the terminals in the future. This applies to ANY car.

 

How about that "radio" wiring?

If you can't get it to crank you have a basic problem.

I still suspect an aftermarket security system could be the problem (I've seen it before on a 328).

You need someone who knows what is original and what is not to look at it.

 

After checking some of this stuff out let us know what is working and what is not including the clock. That will tell us something. Acording to the wiring diagram there should be two wires coming from the positive side of the bat. The smaller one goes to the fuse panel as I described and a large one that goes directly to the starter motor. I don't know how easy it is to get to the starter motor but you should also check for volts on the large cable at the starter motor.

On a truck I had a while back there was a problem inside the lead end of the cable. The battery was good, the connection to the battery was good but the conection inside the moulded conector on the end of the battery cable was bad. Only the smaller of the two wires had 12 volts on it. Also look under the panel behind the passenger foot rest. There are some connectors under there that come loose/corrode etc.

 

I'm rootin' for ya!!