starting in cold weather...

i had this problem last year too. '95, 4.0, aw4. year old starter, year old battery. when the weather gets mildly cold it wont start unless i get a jump. last year when i had this problem, i replaced my starter and got a new battery but by then it was getting warmer again. (i live in FL, short winter.)

what happens is that it trys to start for half a second then theres nothing and it seems like theres not enough juice left in the battery to get it started as all the lights go dim and flicker. then i get a jump and it starts fine.

is it time to rebuild my nss? or can there be some other cause for this issue.

How are your grounds? Do you have a short somewhere?

i dont think theres a short anywhere and why would that happen in the cold only?

should i replace the battery cables just to eliminate that possibility?

tigerShark said:

i dont think theres a short anywhere and why would that happen in the cold only?

should i replace the battery cables just to eliminate that possibility?

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a short would happen in the cold only because everything shrinks slightly when it's cold out.

I doubt it's an obvious short, so first things first,

clean the battery terminals, get a cheapo battery terminal cleaner and scrap them til they're nice and shiny lead. if that doesn't work, I would think about replacing the battery. Try a cheapo wal-mart one- you can always use a spare, and more often than not the battery is the culprit, even if it tests good.

Did you put in a new solenoid with the starter?

Battery might be the case, I notice mine gets harder to start the colder it gets, usually takes two tries.

High-current electrical gremlins like you describe are more common in cold weather. The battery is weaker (less juice available) and the oil is thicker, causing the starter to work harder.

Cold weather will test your electrical system and usually find the weakest link, just like really hot weather tests your cooling system.

I've been running Mobil-1 in all our vehicles, 2 wranglers, XJ and wifes oldsmobile. Never a hard start with the synthetic and it makes a difference, same with the tranny and transfer case, Mobil-1 in them also, makes shifting smooth on the tranny, even that cold blooded 2nd gear. As far as the transfer case goes, slips from 4hi to 4lo with barely a bump of gear teeth. I also replace my batteies every 4 years, this time around they all got Red top optimas because they were on sale at the local AA store. This will be my 36th month with them and so far so good.
This spring will be ground cleaning and wire replacing time, going to be replacing all the power cables from the battery and removing and cleaning every ground thats in there and I might even do the red top 6 months early to cover all the bases.

my bettery terminals are very clean. the solenoid came with my new starter last year. i cant see this being a problem with my battery, as i said i bought it new last winter.

its just so weird, cause now it wont even start with a jump???? it started with a jump 3 times in one day before this stated happening.

i will replace the battery cables and switch to synthetic and then check back in with the verdict. im not too optimistic...

tigerShark said:

my bettery terminals are very clean. the solenoid came with my new starter last year. i cant see this being a problem with my battery, as i said i bought it new last winter.

its just so weird, cause now it wont even start with a jump???? it started with a jump 3 times in one day before this stated happening.

i will replace the battery cables and switch to synthetic and then check back in with the verdict. im not too optimistic...

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It really does sound like your battery to me. if yours is a year old it could have gone bad (got warranty?)

sounds like it wasn't holding a charge very well (three jumps in one day?), and now it's just totally shot.


B

my crap wont start either just the other day i charged my battery cause my alternator is shot and then i started it and it was fine. didnt drive anywhere i just wanted to make sure it would start. then just today i charged the battery for a long time then tried to start it and it didnt even make any noise or nothin. my battery meter reads like 11 v so i know my battery isnt bad but if it is i still ahve the warrenty i think (red top optima). so i dont know do you think if i install a new coleniod i got it will work? does it have something to do with the starter? its done this before but then i messed around with the shifter and it would work, i even tried jumpin it but that didnt work so what the hell is going on i want my xj back