No start, no clicky

97 xj, 4.0 liter stock engine bay.

It will not start. It was running last 3 weeks ago and parked inside the garage.

It has been cold enough to freeze the balls of a brass monkey here in Michigan and I started with about 4 hours on the trickle charger.

I have done the easy stuff... cleaned all of the connections at the battery

Headlights are nice and bright and the blower motor runs on high nice and strong for several minutes without being connected to any outside power source. I know the battery is nice and strong.

There are only small relays clicking. I can hear them but do not know exactly which ones are clicking. I have swapped the relays in the power distrubution box under the hood and checked the fuses in there while I was at it.

I have checked the power at the starter and the only power that I get is always on.... and that is to the solenoid of the starter on the big wire.

While looking for power to the starter I could not find one that was hot only with the key in the start positon. I think there is some relay other than the power distrubution box.

Any ideas would be much appreciated.

I have a major wheeling trip in 2 weeks and I want to solve this before then.


Thanks

Jeff

could be your neutral safety switch that is preventing it from turning. Try jiggling the shifter while in park or put it in neutral and see if it starts. When this happened to me i could get it to start by jumping the starter. turn your key to the on position then take a screwdriver and touch the ground and power wires going to the front of the starter. first time i tried this it made some sparks that scared the you knwo what outta me so watch out if you try it.

Sounds like NSS to me too.

I tried both park and nuetrual... Wiggled the shifter in both park and neutral.

I had tried that originally and I just did it again like 3 minutes ago.... No dice.

When I hit the key I can hear 2 small relays... I think they are in the fuse box... I will be digging there tomorrow.

Thanks for posts.

Ya I had the same problem, I'm pretty sure it was my NSS as well. What I did for mine, and a Grand that I helped when he wouldn't start, was put the shifter in park, and then hit it forward pretty hard. (I was mad at mine because after 2 days of not starting, I finally called the tow truck, and I went to show him and it started, then I drove to my mechanics and he wasn't there and it wouldn't start agian)

So try doing that, it worked for me.

Watch the lights when you turn the switch to crank. If they dim, your battery is most likely not that great. If they stay bright, crawl under the rig and rap the starter side with a hammer. Sometimes the Bendix sticks.

The no click sounds familiar to me--NSS. I can usually get my 93 XJ Country to fire by moving the gear shifter back and forth from nuetral to park, or by moving the shifter slightly while in nuetral while holding my key in the start position until it fires.

If this does not work look at the attached link for the nuetral safety switch diagram and jump the leads B to C which is the switch position for Park or Nuetral. It should start.

http://cherokee-jeep.com/1-2swremov.htm

Good luck.

Property Mgr

You might look at the CPS (crank position sensor) or some call it the TDCS (top dead center sensor) if this sensor goes bad it won't want to start either. I would also check all ground cables and connections not just the ones on the battery.

You know I had this problem, and after a week of arc starting my Jeep with a screwdriver because I couldn't find the problem, I just put a starter push button in. Cost me $4.95+tax from Advance Auto Parts, on wire from battery to switch, and one from switch to starter. As fas as placement goes, there is a little under dash light next to the drivers left knee, popped it out and the button threaded right in.

I know it's not fixed right, but it's fixed for now, just an option if you cant fix it before you need to go that event

murrman said:

You might look at the CPS (crank position sensor) or some call it the TDCS (top dead center sensor) if this sensor goes bad it won't want to start either. I would also check all ground cables and connections not just the ones on the battery.

Click to expand...

Just a question.... If the CPS is bad will it crank ? Just not fire... I am completly dead. Starter is NOT turning, solenoid is not firing up.

Even when I have the head lights on they do not dim. When I had the other car on it jumping I could here the load on the escort go up as I turned on the head lights and blower fan... The load went down once I hit the key..


Something between the key and the starter.

Check under your dash for any signs of wires that were taped or wire nutted together. My PO had installed then removed his own alarm/kill system, and one of the wires from the ignition switch had been cut for the kill circuit. When they removed the system, they just twisted the wires together with a little strip of tape. That came apart and the symptoms I had sounds just like what you have now. It works so well, I incorporated it into part of my own homemade anti-theft system.
Or, it could just be one of the contacts in your ignition switch has gone bad.

murrman said:

You might look at the CPS (crank position sensor) or some call it the TDCS (top dead center sensor) if this sensor goes bad it won't want to start either. I would also check all ground cables and connections not just the ones on the battery.

Click to expand...

SPOBI

The cps will not keep it from cranking.

OK...

I have done some more testing... I put the volt meter on the battery and with the head lights and blower on it is about 11V.... when I hit the key it goes up. I believe this tells me that the problem is in the cuircuit before the starter. In the PDC I have noticed that 2 of the relays had the same part number one of them was for the starter and I flip flopped them. This did not change the symptoms or the problem.

Now I have looked for this NSS or as the FSM calls it the Park/Neutral saftey switch.


[edited]

I found the NSS here http://jeepin.com/features/nss/

It is on the passengers side of the tranny
[/edited]

Thanks


Jeff

I do believe that it is the NSS... I using the link above I have the cable threaded back down to the bottom side and I can not get any continutity between any pin and the tranny case as per the FSM.... I am going to use the FSM to locate the exact pin on the NSS cable and do some more tomorrow night.

It is damn cold laying on a concrete floor under a jeep here in Michigan.


THanks all for the tips....

Jeff

Good News....

It was the NSS..... First I had no continutity as per the fsm.


Then I jumped the pins in the NSS connecter and plugged it in. THe jeep started..


Jeff

Well, your story is an encouragement to me. I am having the same problem, no clicky when I turn the key. Just the sound of the fuel pump. THe fuses work fine as I can hear them click, well at least the fuel pump one.
The battery is brand new. I used a screw driver down at the starter and topuched the two posts and the starter started maiking its noise.
I am assuming its either the NSS or a bad solenoid.......

I'm having the same issue. My jeep will start, but only by jumping the terminals on the starter. I've found the nss, and have unbolted everything. I can't get it to slide off. I hit it with PB blaster, and I'm letting it soak in. How do you get this thing off without removing the exhaust pipe and all the lines? I can barely get to it. I need to clean/test this before my friends wire up a push button to start my jeep. Help!

Well, I read one post here, maybe in this thread, where a guy got so ticked he slammed the shifter forward WHILE IT WAS IN PARK, and it turned over. I figured I had nothing to lose so I tried it and it worked!!!! Thanks!
I pushed the sifter a little further forward and turned the key, and Vavavoooom!

Begster said:

Ya I had the same problem, I'm pretty sure it was my NSS as well. What I did for mine, and a Grand that I helped when he wouldn't start, was put the shifter in park, and then hit it forward pretty hard. (I was mad at mine because after 2 days of not starting, I finally called the tow truck, and I went to show him and it started, then I drove to my mechanics and he wasn't there and it wouldn't start agian)

So try doing that, it worked for me.

Click to expand...

Ahh this is the post that helped me!
Thanks Begster!

I got it to start, it was the switch. Slightly out of position. I adjusted it iaw the instructions, and it fired right up. Thank you.