you do not need all the gimmicks on a multimeter, mostly Ohm and volts are checked.
If you can read wiring diagrams, you almost have won the game.


"have the Bentely manual which lists some of the electrical properties of each connection. Is this all I need to get started?"

very good, plus the wiring diagrams I linked above.

"This morning I cleaned the contacts in the engine harness connector but this did not help. I did notice, however, the cable running down from the connector is wrapped in tape. Is this normal? Perhaps someone has gone digging here before..."

Could be, but could also be done just to protect wires. The old dheath get very hard, I also removed a lot of the outer ones and then used better one which is nowadays available and new flexible spiral protection hoses.

"I also noticed one of the pin sockets was missing a connector, is this normal?"

Also possible. Can't say now if that specific one is correct, but to save on many different plugs, there are plugs of same design but not all the pins are connected.

E32 750iL 11/88, E32 750iL Highline 03/90
7 series Tech tips URL:http://tinyurl.com/3486c

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