No power, won't start. no clue....

I know there are many problems people have wth starting issues, but please bear with me, as although I've learned a lot about my '90 XJ, there's still a lot I have no clue about, and this is one of them.

I've got an '89 Laredo 5spd. We drove it here no problem. Just had to jump it to my '90 to get it started. The steering column was kinda screwed and problems with the electrical ie. radio, wipers etc. If I jiggled the key a bit and moved it forward, I could get it to work. The column was messed with at some point and the cruise control was taken out and a stock one was put in.
So I got a new steering column to put in, did a degreasing of the engine, started to remove inner trim parts, console etc as I slowly started to tear down what I needed to. I don't want it to just site as the engine is in amazingly great shape [no blowby, no pison slap, no noise other than a smooth running engine] Well, for some reason it wouldn't start, turn over or anything. Not even getting the starter relay to click. I have another alternator so switched that to see if that made a difference. No go. The original one I had tested and comes up s good. Thought maybe the the column was totally screwed now. Took me having to literally cut the old one out to be able to put the new one in, but got it done, wired ti up. Same thing. When I have my '90's battery jumpered, I get power. Courtesty lights, headlights, dash lights, and hazards work. No signals, radio, wipers, defrost, and when trying to start, get nada. Getting gas to the rail.

At this point I have no clue what to try to look for to get this thing running. There's nothing else I've done than described above so no clue what could be causing it, what I should check/how to check etc. I'm into an area that I don't know much about right now.

Any and all help is greatly appreciated of how to trouble shoot this and narrow down where the problem is. Thanks!
Ended up putting in a virtually new starter relay as the original one in it was pretty corroeded looking,

Did you disconnect the battery while working on it? If not the fusible links (on the starter relay near the battery) may be a good place to start.
I can imagine, that the ignition switch (not the key cylinder, the switch), might be a problem, the rod could be twisted up in the wiring or something. Did you put in a new ignition switch or use the old one? Or another that came with the new steering column?
Bit it seems from your description, it may likely be, a connector or a fusible link.
I've been behind the dash to fix something and got it fixed, just to find out I caused a couple of more problems. It's real easy to knock something loose.

The battery has no power unless I jump it to mine, so that's not a problem, and it started the no start before I actually changed the column out. I'm using my original key cylinder in the 'new' column.

What exactly is a fusible link? and what does one look like?

As for the new column, everything seems to be working ok mechanically. Had a problem with the rod in the '90 when my bro was changing the ignition switch out. When the rod was swcrewed the key wouldn't turn at all and would try to bend the rod. I was carefully with the wriring when I put th enew column in not to screw anything up with it, and was careful putting in my ignition cylinder, although it was pretty easy and straight forward.

Is there anyway to bypass the key somehow to see if I can jump it somehow. I know we were able to do with the '90, running a wire to the starter I think or something? Been over a year so can't totally remember.

Just to rule out one thing at a time. Don't jump the battery, switch them. Let the other vehicle charge the battery for a few days while you are using the "good" battery to troubleshoot the XJ. I've seen too many bad cells in batteries cause wierd problems on XJ's. It is simple, cheap, and will definatively rule out one of the more likely suspects.

Now if you have been trying to start this for a while and cranking it over to no avail. There is a good possibility that you have gotten the spark plugs wet, thus keeping it from firing correctly. Get a set of $.89 Champions. They work better than anything else and are cheap to boot. Pull the plugs and crank over the engine a few strokes to try and get some air in there to dry things out. Put the new ones in and give it a shot.

Will give it a try and see what happens. Originally I switched the batteries as the other one we couldn't keep going in the '89 once we got it started. Kept stalling out, but could keep it going in my jeep. Will see if I can get it to charge up in mine over the next couple of days. Once my battery was in the '89 it really drained mine pretty bad. Not sure why that is. Thought it was the alternator, but when I switched it out with another one, [not sure but I think that it works ok] decided to have it checked out and it checks out good so don't know what the problem is with it not charging the battery up. I'm thinking of putting that one back in and checking the other one out if it's ok or not. This was all before the column switch. I did pull my battery and try it when I couldn't get it started, but didn't make a difference at all. I have extra parts, some pretty new, which is why I ended up changing out the starter relay. Figured it couldn't hurt putting a virtually new one in compared to the corroded one that was on there. Probably the original from the look of it.
As for the sparkplugs, not sure how they are, as I haven't touched them, and it's been sitting for several weeks now since I last tried to start it. The plus themselves look new, so I doubt they're causing the problem. I've read of where water can screw with the CPS. Wondering if when I degreased the engine some, mayhap that caused a problem.