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94 2.5l won't crank but will run

Hickboii

Hickboii

NAXJA Forum User
Location
McChord AFB WA
ok trying to help a fellow jeeper. he has a 94 2 door with a 2.5 manual trans it wont crank but if you use a screwdriver on the starter it will start and run. when you turn the key you can here the relay under the hood click but nothing else. when you turn the ignition on everything acts normal all the lights on the dash come on and such just no crank and vroom.
 
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Safety switch on the clutch pedal is the first Id try. Jump it out with a paper clip. Next see if you get voltage at the starter on the small terminal when the clutch is pushed in and the key is turned to the start position.
 
i looked for a switch on the clutch pedal but i didn't see one. no voltage on the terminal at the starter. all the fuses are good and the relay is clicking but i tried it with a brand new relay just to be sure it was good too.
 
ok so i don't know if your going to believe this cause im still not sure i do but we fixed it. The rear window defrost fuse was blown (the big one under the hood) and once replaced jeep cranks and starts. things that make you go HMMM??
 
Hickboii said:
ok so i don't know if your going to believe this cause im still not sure i do but we fixed it. The rear window defrost fuse was blown (the big one under the hood) and once replaced jeep cranks and starts. things that make you go HMMM??
Click to expand...

Fuses these days seem to pull double and triple duty. You need an FSM and wiring diagram reading skills now days to find the hidden fuse! I found two oddball ones in the AC circuit in my sons 96 Ford Taurus, Liked to drove me nuts tracking that hellion down. One was an ABS fuse that kept the compressor clutch from working.
 
Hickboii said:
ok so i don't know if your going to believe this cause im still not sure i do but we fixed it. The rear window defrost fuse was blown (the big one under the hood) and once replaced jeep cranks and starts. things that make you go HMMM??
Click to expand...
LOL yup.

That's because the starter relay that feeds the starter solenoid is fed off the same fuse as the rear defrost grid. I discovered that after building a custom harness to swap a 94/95 4.0 + ECU from an XJ into an 87 YJ. Couldn't figure out why it wouldn't crank.

The wiring harness no longer even has defrost grid wiring in it, so I just relabeled the fuse socket as the starter solenoid fuse in the map on the inside of the fusebox lid and called it a day.
 
kastein said:
LOL yup.

That's because the starter relay that feeds the starter solenoid is fed off the same fuse as the rear defrost grid. I discovered that after building a custom harness to swap a 94/95 4.0 + ECU from an XJ into an 87 YJ. Couldn't figure out why it wouldn't crank.

The wiring harness no longer even has defrost grid wiring in it, so I just relabeled the fuse socket as the starter solenoid fuse in the map on the inside of the fusebox lid and called it a day.
Click to expand...

Well where we're you about 20hrs ago??? Haha thanks. It was weird but we got her figured out. And when I say we I mean the guy that work at autozone haha.
 
haha I wish I'd been around to tell you before you puzzled over it for too long, now you know the mysteries of chrysler era wiring. Or at least some of them.
 
Yeah the whole "it's a jeep thing" is starting to take on a whole new meaning. I have an 86 and I just can't believe all the wires that go NOWHERE and connect to NOTHING. Haha. As well as my mostly melted fuse box because my clutch master cylinder leaked all over it. Oh well
 
Hickboii said:
Yeah the whole "it's a jeep thing" is starting to take on a whole new meaning. I have an 86 and I just can't believe all the wires that go NOWHERE and connect to NOTHING. Haha. As well as my mostly melted fuse box because my clutch master cylinder leaked all over it. Oh well
Click to expand...

Check the firewall around the clutch MC for stress cracks (and rust) then, and check the weld on the clutch MC rod mounting shaft that hangs off the left side of the clutch peddle for a cracked weld. They are booth due to go out next judging from the rest of us with 84-86 manual rigs. There are some recent threads with photos of the problem here.
 
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