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Girlfriend's XJ - Sanity Check No Crank Condition

shima

shima

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Hey guys, sorry to put this post here... please move it if needed. I wasn't sure where the best place for this would be.

Yesterday, my girlfriend texted me saying that her Jeep wouldn't start. It is a 1993 XJ. She had just delivered a cake to a hotel out in the Golden area.

It's a no crank condition. It clicks a single time when you try to crank. We spent about 6 hours on it yesterday and I could not get this thing to go. If anyone is willing to sanity check me on the list of stuff to check, I'd really appreciate it. We're going to head back to the Jeep in a few hours to try again.

Here is what we did yesterday:
  • Tested the battery using a voltmeter, showed 12.X volts across the terminals.
  • Checked to make sure the cables were tight on the battery.
  • Tapped on the starter with a hammer. That used to help in the past. Didn't work this time.
  • Jumped the gun and bought a new starter. Replaced it in the parking log. Didn't change anything.
  • Returned the starter and got her battery load tested at O'Reilly. They said it was good. Bought a starter relay.
  • Starter relay made no difference. Returned it. Bought these things so that we could try using the battery out of the Blazer. No dice.
Here are things I am going to try today:
  • Clean all of the ground connections. Clean the battery terminals and the cable connections.
  • Try using a screwdriver to jump the two terminals on the starter. I did some reading and some forums say this is a way to bypass the Neutral Safety Switch.
  • Try using a test light to touch various parts of the starter while cranking. Look for a voltage drop.
  • Check the ignition switch electrical connector to make sure it is snug.
Outside of that, is there anything I am missing?

Thanks for any input. I'm trying to be the hero but am falling flat on my face so far.
 
Clean and check all the cables first, look for corrosion
New started not hitting shows lack of power to the load
Once cables are clean and good, check for 12v signal to the solenoid and also the main post
 
hope I am not to late here. 1st thing see if engine will turn by hand.
Use a volt meter to do a voltage drop test. Put positive lead on on battery + and meter negative lead on starter battery + terminal. Meter on dc 20v scale, watch meter while trying to crank engine. Meter should NOT read more than 1volt, less than .5v is best. Do this same test across the negative side.

You can use jumper cables to by pass any suspect battery cable. Get it started and fix at home.
 
@Wes Harden what do you mean by bypassing the battery cables? Use jumper cables to connect battery directly to starter to jump it?
 
you can if there is enough room, and little danger of shorting the positive to ground. Ground side is easy easy
 
My first thought is that if you hear a click each time you try the key then the solenoid is trying. If that's true, then neutral safety switch would be fine, the relay should be fine so it has to be the starter, cables or engine wont turn (locked up). If you tried a starter with the same result, then its cables or the motor. Usually the starter makes more of a loud clang if it tries to start a locked up motor. So, check, double check the main power cable.
I fully support using a voltmeter, lots of info with one. This may be a good spot for a test light, its sometimes easier to see a light pop on rather than waiting for the meter to register a number. A test light would confirm that the starter relay is getting power each time you hit the key. Again, a click should also prove this but its nice to be sure. Any chance you are hearing the relay click and not the solenoid click?
 
Try putting it in neutral and turning the key to the start position. Also gently "float" the shifter around a little while holding the key in the start position.
I think I am working in town today, give me a call this afternoon if you don't get it going.
 
Capt Ron said:
Try putting it in neutral and turning the key to the start position. Also gently "float" the shifter around a little while holding the key in the start position.
I think I am working in town today, give me a call this afternoon if you don't get it going.
Click to expand...
Agree with this, I've had a few of these with bad NSS and a lot of times wiggling the shifter will get them to start.
 
shima said:
It clicks a single time when you try to crank.
Click to expand...
Do you know if the solenoid clicks or it's just a relay in the electrical center?

Speaking of NSS, are you 100% sure that the transmission is in park? Now normally it won't let you take the key out, but sometimes weird things happen. I remember a lady calling me because her Jeep wouldn't start. I climbed underneath and found the shift linkage to the transmission had popped off. I happened to notice it by checking to make sure it was in park, which she hadn't done.
 
I am sorry for the delay guys. Thanks to every one of you who replied!! We got it figured out. Pretty weird story though...
  • First thing we tried was bypassing the NSS by jumping the starter terminals with a screwdriver. Same single "click" sound.
  • After that, we went down the path of dirty or loose connections... we cleaned her battery terminals and battery cables. Tried again. No dice.
  • Next I went for the test light. I had her crank while I watched the light. The results were actually great - the light lit up when it was supposed to and it stayed lit when it was supposed to.
  • At this point I was panicking because I couldn't figure out what could possibly be wrong. I removed the dash panel beneath her steering column and checked the ignition switch connector. It was nice and tight.
Finally I decided to pursue the direct-jump approach that @Wes Harden suggested. I put jumper cables on her battery and then touched the positive cable to the "S" terminal on her starter. Again, just a single click.

So in this moment I am really confused. Remember the day prior we had pulled her starter and put in a new one from O'Reilly. It made no difference at that time. Still I am pretty sure that her original starter is bad at this point... so I pulled it out of the Jeep and we repeated the direct-jump test. The bendix(?) thing shot out but didn't spin.

Okay so her original starter is bad. We know that much. We go back to O'Reilly and have it bench tested. They confirm it is dead. So we say okay let's get another starter and let's have it bench tested before we leave. They do not have any units in stock - they did not have the one that we returned the day prior. So we ran up the road to Advanced and they had a re-manufactured CarQuest unit. We ask if they can test it before we leave and they said sure... so we did a primitive direct-jump test on the counter and we all saw the bendix spin.

We took that unit back to the Jeep and put it in. It fired right up. Emily and I jumped for joy and then we walked to the hotel bar and got a few drinks. lol

I am really confused about a couple of things:
  1. The original starter that was in her Jeep was three years old. It had just 30,000 miles on it. I just don't know why it would have gone bad so fast. The only thing I can think of is that the oil filter is directly above it. The cables running into the starter were wet with oil.
  2. The starter we bought from O'Reilly made no difference when we popped it in. Maybe it was bad out of the box, or maybe I didn't connect everything properly? That whole thing sent us down a rabbit hole (bad connections, voltage drop, NSS, ignition switch, whatever).
Anyhow the ordeal is over and I learned a lot during the process. Sincerely thank you guys for chiming in to help. You helped keep things straight and made it easy for us to talk through it all in an "if this... then that" way. We probably would have been running in circles otherwise.
 
I'm really surprised they returned a starter and the relay, usually its no return on electrical parts.

I'm not surprised you got a bad starter out of the box, I had to get 3 alternators last year to get a good one. Same with the starter that lasted 30,000 miles, stuff just aint what it used to be. Glad you guys got it fixed!
 
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