is it starter related?

so...turn the key. NOTHING happens. no dashlights. no power to anything. its like you have the positive terminal removed from the battery. but its random. it does this about 3/4 of the time, and the other 1/4 it will crank 2-3 times very slowely before just clicking. brand new battery, brand new alternator. im hoping starter, because ive got an extra, and i dont feel like finding a short

some of you may have already seen this. but ive found that removing the negative terminal and reconnecting it usually yields me that 1/4 of the time that the lights will come on but nothing else works.

is it possible to run jumper cables from another car directly to the starter or is that trouble

It would be difficult. Besides, if you're not getting power to anything else, it's probably not the starter motor.

What year? The AMC era (1990 and earlier) used GM columns, and I think the OBD-I (1991-1995/6) used a modification of the GM column as well. I'm not sure about 1997-up.

I bring this up because I've had similar problem with AMC-era rigs, and it usually turned out to be the ignition switch heading south on me. The electrical ignition switch is a separate animal from the place where you put the keys (referred to as the "ignition lock",) and there is an operating rod that runs the switch. Over time, the loads on the switch will soften the plastic and make the terminals loose, or just burn them outright.

The ignition switch is fairly simple to replace - about 15 minutes if you can work with the seat in place, or a half-hour if you have to remove the seat to fit under the dash (I usually have to pull the seat out.) There will be one or two electrical plugs to the switch, and there are two screws/studs for the switch proper (for the GM-style switch. I'm not sure about Chrysler-style.)

It should be a fairly cheap part - I know it was about $20 for the RENIX part. Given a few minutes and a model year, I can probably get a part number from either Borg/Warner or Standard Ignition parts (BW, I think) from the Archives. Haven't coded those lists into HTML yet...

its a 95. thanks for that info

is everything dead? do your headlights work? if its just not turning over i would check the connections on the solenoid

well i dont know if i wrote it clear, but 3/4 of the time NOTHING gets power. dead as a hammer. and if it does get power, it isn't enough to start

Clean your battery connections. A loose or badly corroded battery connection can cause this. You didn't mention what year, but if it's a REnix era XJ, look at the ground strap at the back of the head to the firewall. Otherwise, it could just be the ign switch.

Yeah, I've run into pretty much what you described and cleaning the battery did the trick for me.