Jumper Cables Backwards

The jeeps been sitting for a few mounths and I guess it was needed to be moved. Well, as the title shows, the cables were put on backwards and left on for about 30 sec. :twak:

Now the the jeep doent want to turn over in Park, but will start in Neutral.
My only guess is the NSS.



What else is on the list to check?

Ya I did that with my celica and fried a bunch of wires... Had to rebuild the harnes

If it will start and run in neutral then you probably dodged the bullet.

When was the NSS last removed, cleaned, lubricated with dielectric grease, re-installed, and properly adjusted?

JPMagazine take on the NSS: http://www.jpmagazine.com/techartic...eep_cherokee_neutral_safety_switch/index.html

5-90 has some good posts on the NSS and there are others posted here and on other forums.

joe_peters said:

If it will start and run in neutral then you probably dodged the bullet.

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That's the first thing I thought when I got it to start in Nuetral.

joe_peters said:

When was the NSS last removed, cleaned, lubricated with dielectric grease, re-installed, and properly adjusted?

JPMagazine take on the NSS: http://www.jpmagazine.com/techartic...eep_cherokee_neutral_safety_switch/index.html

5-90 has some good posts on the NSS and there are others posted here and on other forums.

Click to expand...

This NSS has not been cleaned yet on this XJ. But it has not given me any trouble until now. Last time I tried, It was seized on the shaft. From the looks of it, I'm probably going to have to break the NSS in half (Crap Plastic). I guess I am going to have to make a trip to the JY.


Do you think I fried the NSS???

C85D4x4 said:

That's the first thing I thought when I got it to start in Nuetral.



This NSS has not been cleaned yet on this XJ. But it has not given me any trouble until now. Last time I tried, It was seized on the shaft. From the looks of it, I'm probably going to break the NSS in half. I guess I am going to have to make a trip to the JY.


Do you think I fried the NSS???

Click to expand...

Probably not, I doubt it would crank and start in neutral if you had FUBAR'd it completely.

PB blaster, repeatedly over a number of days. Use a couple large screwdrivers, pry bars, wedge bars, and work it back and forth, spray it some more. Not saying it won't break, but you can probably work it off Ok.

Thanks Joe.............


..........you da Man :worship:

I did this once, except both batteries had some level of juice left in them :shocked: I was visiting the girl that I was with at the time and she lived in a, how to put it, less educated area. Well I happened across a woman and her son pulled over in front of the grocery store and they needed a jump. No problem. So I ask the son "you know how to hook these up, right?" he said yeah... well he put black to red and red to black. I went t connect my battery and got a wonderful arc/pop/flash/crazyness and started flipping out on him. The woman came over and wondered wtf was going on (she had been just sitting in the car) until I explained. Thankfully all it did was melt a chunk out of my battery terminal and didn't kill the car

Now you might ask what this story had to do with anything. Well, it has approximately nothing. Except that you're battery must have been real dead cause if it had any power left you would have known it was backwards :gee:

Well, if we're telling stories.. had a friend in high school kill the battery on his old CB750F Honda. Pretty smart dude normally, but he decided to jump it with a car- backwards. He was mumbling something about the electrons would flow into the battery more efficiently with red hooked to black. I said OK, your bike, and watched as the whole wiring harness melted.

Doh!

joe_peters said:

If it will start and run in neutral then you probably dodged the bullet.

When was the NSS last removed, cleaned, lubricated with dielectric grease, re-installed, and properly adjusted?

JPMagazine take on the NSS: http://www.jpmagazine.com/techartic...eep_cherokee_neutral_safety_switch/index.html

5-90 has some good posts on the NSS and there are others posted here and on other forums.

Click to expand...

Xwhatever. If it starts, it means all the important electronics still have the magic smoke in them... My dad fried his alternator (internal regulator), ECU, radio, and fuel pump (apparently it pumped backwards for a while and died because the seals on the output side weren't being lubricated anymore?) on his 89 Plymouth Voyager by doing this. To add to the fun, when he noticed he'd flipped the cables on one side and panicked (they were so dirty the red grips looked almost black) he hit the hood prop and the hood slammed shut, leaving two nice dents from the backs of the jumper cable clips and trapping the cables in the wrong position till we could get the hood unjammed. That day pretty much sucked.

It's very difficult to fry the NSS, since it is just some sliding contacts and wires, no semiconductors or delicate electronics in it. It probably just dried out and got gunked up while sitting there for an extended period of time.

JJacobs said:

Well, if we're telling stories.. had a friend in high school kill the battery on his old CB750F Honda. Pretty smart dude normally, but he decided to jump it with a car- backwards. He was mumbling something about the electrons would flow into the battery more efficiently with red hooked to black. I said OK, your bike, and watched as the whole wiring harness melted.

Doh!

Click to expand...

He was right, the electrons did flow into the battery quicker that way... oops.

kastein said:

and trapping the cables in the wrong position till we could get the hood unjammed. That day pretty much sucked.

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Why did which terminals the jumper cables were stuck on matter? If they were stuck they were stuck. I mean... you could just unhook the cables from the other vehicle and not have any problems other than stuck cables and a dented hood, right? or am I missing something?

We did do that, but then opened the hood to a curl of smoke coming out of the alternator anyways. It was too late

I'm just really glad the edge of the hood didn't cut into the cables and REALLY make for a bad day.

kastein said:

I'm just really glad the edge of the hood didn't cut into the cables and REALLY make for a bad day.

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That's when you go ask someone who's ticked you off recently to come give you a hand getting the hood open.

"Hey buddy, mind opening my hood for me? My Hands are all greasy and I don't want to get the hood dirty..."

We were jumping a truck on the ranch and my dad hooked his end up backwards after mine was already connected. The battery I hooked up exploded showering me in water/acid. He says, "I must have hooked that up wrong", you think? Rinsed everything off and a new battery was all we had to replace.

Thanks guys for all the great stories.