I installed a rebuilt starter and and attached battery cables with no electricity in any part of the car. Have voltage going to starter, nothing anywhere else. I have looked for OVD relay and have not found one. Battery shows 12.8 V. I seem to have good connections on the battery.

Things keep on occurring with new obstacles to overcome.

Any suggestions?

Again I am not sure but there are I believe two cloth covered red wires off the positive battery cable. They originate at the battery connector. Your manipulation of the battery cable may have given you an open circuit there. Had one a long time ago myself there. Not sure it was a 123 but think so. Those red wires are subject to corrosion at the ends. If what I suspect is true just trace them away from the battery and see if there is 12 volts at their far ends. One probably goes to the fuse box as they were heavy enough to carry the load if I remember. The other possibly to the glow circuit.
You are right as the heavy positive cable just services the starter I believe. Since everything else is dead in the car it is reasonable to assume a secondary feeder is out anyways. No matter how it is structured.

This sounds like a bad starter or the wires are connected wrong.
If the two terminals in red are reversed = no power to the car.
If the ground between body and bell housing is loose or broken = no power to the car.


Have a great day.

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Mr. hunters isometric diagram does not illiustrate the two wires I was mentioning in my last post. So the car I experienced the individual difficulty with was different. A 1977 mercedes 123 300d in my memory at least. The two red wires came right off the positive battery terminal.

Thanks, the top wire on the starter solenoid is red. The ground on the bell housing is attached. I tried reversing them after the first try and the engine started turning over immediately when I attached the positive cable and then immediately released. It sounded like I shorted the system. I bought the starter from the local benz dealer. Could I have damaged the unit?

Put the wires back to the original position again.

Get your test light and jumper leads out and start testing for a damaged wire.

what was the final solution?

You're thinking you can get closure on a 4 year old thread..............

Right on!!!