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E23 wiring harness HELP!!!

From:	NAME: Thomas L Pappenhagen          
	FUNC: CR&D                            
	TEL: (609) 540-3613                   <PAPPENTL AT A1 AT JLCL01>
To:	"BMW-DIGEST@domain.elided"@ESDS01@MRGATE

the other driver in our house (who shall remain nameless but who 
killed my '02 two months ago and argues that she was merely with 
the '02 at the moment of its death) called this afternoon and 
said the 735i died on a hill.  I hustled the kids into the 528i 
(a real one, an E12 - to start another mine is better than yours 
thread :>) ) and went to rescue her.  When I got there she told 
me there was a poof of smoke from the steering wheel.  I opened 
the hood and almost cried.  The wiring harness is toast.  It 
appears that the lead to the coil shorted to ground and took the 
engine harness and part of the main harness with it.  The current 
symptom is that the engine cranks with the key in the off 
position and nothing happens with the key in any other position.  
Does this mean a relay was toasted too?  No fuses blew.  

So, my questions:

1) the engine harness is toast, anyone have one for a 1984 735i 
euro-spec car with an OBC? (if the latter matters, it does for 
everything else I try to order)

2) if the larger harness is toast (the thick dark green lead that 
went to the coil has melted it's cover completely off and fused 
the wires into a nasty mess), is it practical to just figure out 
which leads are gone and run separate wires for these, or should 
the whole harness be replaced?  This is the thick mass of wires 
that goes to the interior.

3) does it sound like a relay was toasted too?  Or am I grounding 
the car through the starter and that's why it cranks the engine 
when the key is off?

Any advise would be appreciated (also if you have any wiring 
harnesses please let me know).

...Tom

pappentl@domain.elided

'75 02 still dead in the driveway, '84 735i dead at the shop, and 
luckily an '80 528i which runs and runs and runs... 197k...