No crank/no start (I have searched)...

Well, this is my first post here. Too bad it has to be about something bad, but here goes...

I purchased my brother's 2000 XJ 4.0L AW4 in February. His wife had driven it while overheating and toasted the engine. Called up Golen Engine and they whipped me up a 4.6L stroker, which I had installed by a local dealership three weeks ago. Engine break-in was performed and oil changes performed, per Golen specs. Only issue were a drive belt squeal with the A/C on, and a rough/hunting idle with occasional stall when it's really hot outside and coming to a stop at a light. So I figured things were going well with the new engine and just a few bugs needed to be worked out. That's how I ran across , and so far this site has turned out to be a wealth of knoweldge. (This is my first Jeep/truck/off-road vehicle, so I am an extreme Noob, but I am automotive saavy.)

OK, now that that's out of the way, here is the real problem. Thursday at work on my lunch break, I went to go start the Jeep and I got a bunch of fast clicks from the starter solenoid. Tried again, only one click, tried again, no clicks. Being that it was 100 million degrees outside (Phoenix), I thought I might have a starter solenoid on it's way out. This had happened to me on a Toyota Supra before, and the fix was to hold the key in the run position to allow enough voltage to build up and bridge any gap. Only when hot outside. Well, this was apparently a bad idea, because electrical smoke started to roll out of the cowl surrounding the driver's wiper arm. Also, a small amount of electrical smoke came out of the wiring loom running along the inside of the driver's fender well. I was concerned, so I went back into work and grabbed a few techs (I work at a BMW dealer). We put a battery tester on the battery and it tests good (Optima red top, new with engine 3 weeks ago). We tried jumpering the starter to the battery. Nothing. We tried swapping like part number relays in the PDC, no go. We tried hitting the starter with a lug wrench. Nope. Using a screwdriver to arc the solenoid B+ to the starter. Nadda. So I bought a new starter at the dealer and replaced it today (not fun in the parking lot at noon in June in AZ!!) and still no go. We bench tested the old starter for giggles. It works great. Checked the starter, IGN and ASD relays and fuses in the PDC. All good. I tried starting it in Neutral. No good. I tried wiggling the shifter all over the place in Park and Neutral. No good. Battery still tests good, but now I get no click in the Run position, and only hear the starter relay click when trying to jump the starter with a screwdriver. I was able to manually turn the engine with a breaker bar, so it's not siezed.

I have done extensive searching, but have not had much luck, although I have learned a ton about these Jeeps.

If anyone can help, that would be great, or if any local Arizona Jeep folks want to help, I can compensate for the time and gas.

Thank you in advance! I'm sure someone has the answers I need.

Aaron

Are the grounds from the body and engine to the battery still good? Sounds like time to break out a meter and check for voltages in the right places.

Glad you mentioned that. I missed some points in my initial post.

The grounds are good, at least externally. They are tight and clean.

Also, I should have mentioned that the gauges are working, power windows, etc. I haven't checked every circuit, but it seems that I am not having an issue getting power to other circuits.

Yeah, I can dig out my multi meter and go to work. Problem is, I'm not saavy enough to know what and where to check just yet, and I don't have an FSM.

with no click this is probably not going to help but try to manualy nudge the motor. 3/4 wrench on the front of the crank to just make sure the new motor did not seize.

more helpful will probably be a fusable link wire. most of those are by the battery junction. smoke from the cowl could have fried a wire from the IGN switch to a relay if not the relay. with electrical there are a lot of options.

Could be that the starter physically can't turn over the engine. You said you tried to power the first starter directly and it wouldn't turn over, but it tested OK later? The new starter won't move either. Doesn't that pretty much eliminate the starter as the source of the problem? I've never replaced one on an XJ. Is there anything special about the way these things are mounted?

X2 on what Kevinma255 said. I didn't see his post

Engine is not seized. I can crank it with a socket and breaker bar easily.

If it is a auto i would check nss.. Move your shifter .....

i am suspicious of the fried electrical wires mentioned. i think there may be a short somewhere preventing the power from getting to the starter. you mentioned that you had smoke come from the cowl area, so i am starting to wonder. if the wire was shorted before the starter, the power will follow the path of least resistance, making the starter get insufficient power to turn over.

since you have a multi meter you can check to see how many volts are reaching the starter when engaged. if you get little to no volts, your problem would be with the wiring, most likely with the wires that got fried.

you may also want to post about this in the AZ chapter forum. i know we have some members on the east side of town and may be able to lend a hand.

keep us posted with the progress and what the outcome turns out to be

Had similar problem. did not have spark. the Engine would crank but will not start, after replacing, spark plugs, wires, coil, control module, nothing. ended up been the $32.00 crankshaft position sensor. try it.

It occurs to me, all this time later, that I never posted the resolution to this. Sorry about that!

So for the purpose of helping a fellow Jeeper who is searching...

The problem was a short in the B+ wire where it splits off right after the battery in a nasty snaky mess. After replacing the B+ wiring harness I was good to go.

The smoke from the cowl area was me frying my windshield wiper motor because I was holding the key in the START position to try and supply adequate voltage to the starter. I'll never do that again!

So a new B+ wire harness and junkyard wiper motor later, and all was well.

Thanks for the replies!

Aaron

Thanks for closing the loop!

The major clue here for people that run into this in the future, is that if you jumper from the big B+ wire to the small terminal (solenoid) on the starter and you don't get a response, it has to be the starter, the battery, or the B+ wire. One other possibility at that point is the ground circuit to complete current flow (battery - to motor).