Bringing a 740 back to life

[Challo]

Hi All,

Firstly apologies for this thread as I know i have asked questions on other threads, but I thought a separate thread for my car will help me work through the problems. Also while I'm happy to service my cars, and fix issues I'm a complete newbie to car electrics and troubleshooting. As such I will no doubt be asking lots of stupid questions so please humour me as much as possible.

The car itself is a 1990 740 GLE auto with the B230F engine with 90k miles. It was running up to Dec 2020 when the MOT ran out and sat in a field for the last few months till i bought in Feb and got it back home. Apparently prior to the MOT running out it was running lumpy but that's all i have. The owner wasn't really a car guy and just ran it for 2 years with no servicing. The car itself looks clean underneath and doesn't appear to be any rust in the footwells or on the sills.

Current issue is that I cannot get it started. The car will crank but will not fire at all. I have done some reading and changed the following:

1. Battery - The previous one was flat initially and while it did charge, it kept running flat so thought bite the bullet and get a new one.
2. Bougicord HT Leads - The ones on the car looked old, and heard good things about these.
3. Spark Plugs - The old ones where black and oily. Fresh plugs installed, but I do need to re-check the gapping.
4. Fuel Filter - No history on when this was changed.
5. Fuel Pump - I know this might not be the issue, but the old one looked crusty and while changing the filter I thought might as well get a new pump on the car.

I have ordered a new Fuel Pump Relay as the one on the car is from 2005 and thought worth ordering just incase. I know it seems like I have chucked alot of parts at the car, but some I was going to change as the history is scarce and its a 30year old car. I have just ordered a new multi meter as my one is broken to test some of the electrics.

My main concern is I cannot hear the fuel pump prime when I turn on the ignition. From a post on the FB group I have been advised to check power to the pump with the multi meter, then check the fuses and power to the fuse box and then the relay. I can feel the relay clicking so I don't think its this but will check again to be sure.

I will hopefully get testing this week once the multi-meter arrives, but anything I should check at the same time to cross off the list?

Also just to add, I have checked the timing belt and all intact. The car has petrol in it, and I cleaned the MAF sensor when changed the air filter.