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no start..no lights..no nothing

wishihad1

NAXJA Forum User
hey everybody

went wheeling one night a few days ago. it ran fine all night, and drove me to town fine the next day. i went out to start it later on the next night, and when i went to start it i heard 1 pop, and that would be it. the next time i tried to start it the dash lights would come on or anything. i knew the alternator was going bad so i replaced that but it didn't help anything. i gave the battery a full charge. which is only about a week old anyways. tried to start it again, and it turned over about 2-3 times very slowely before it just started clicking. i have no clue what to look at. i know the NSS acts up at times, but i dont think this has to do it. most of the time when i turn the key nothing electrical comes on?
 
turning over and clicking is a bad battery or the starter is going out. If the lights arent coming on at all, you might have a bad connection. Start checking fuses and any loose or corroded battery terminals
 
even if you put a new battery in, but had a bad alternator you could have toasted the new battery. i see that in the shop all the time. have the battery tested, or try the jeep with a different battery. if that fixes it, replace the battery and then have a charging system test done. the alternator/battery can damage each other if one of the two is bad for to long.
 
well i had a friend try to jump me. what we did was remove my terminals, and run his battery to my cables so it was just running straight off his battery. it was the same deal. we got a little more power, and doing this is what helped it turn over 2-3 times, but then just click. should i pull the starter and have it tested. if it did this everytime it would be easier to find, but about half the time nothing at all comes on, and i have to let it sit and try it again
 
try switching your friends or a spare battery into your jeep and hook it up. it's hard to eliminate parts/problems when other things are weak and causing problems. now if you hook up a new battery and your starter at that points works sometimes and not other times, then yeah i'd look at that.
 
This sounds like either a bad battery or a bad cable connection. If you're not even getting lights, don't waste money on a starter. Check all the grounds, and the battery cable at the starter terminal, and make sure that you have cleaned, not just tightened, the battery terminals.

This would not be the first time a brand new battery turned out to be simply defective. Get it tested.
 
wishihad1 said:
well i had a friend try to jump me. what we did was remove my terminals, and run his battery to my cables so it was just running straight off his battery.

You eliminated the battery from the no start. Put your battery on a charger and keep it topped off in the meantime. You can motor a starter off jumper cables when it's off the car, but it doesn't simulate full load well (neither does the machine at the parts store.) If it's got more than 125k on it, it's worn out. Being covered in oil from a leaking valve cover gasket shortens it's life, too. It's certainly ok to ask how I know. . .

Just to make sure I would turn the engine over by hand to TDC and make sure it's in time - that pop you heard is an old school symptom of a timing chain that jumped, but it's not too common on the 4.0 under 150K.

Check that your terminals are shiny clean after the starter is back in, including the ground straps from engine to frame and battery. Also check the soleniod connections on the fender, they corrode and loosen, too. Battery voltage should be 12.4 or better once charged, which takes a minimum of 24 hours on a 10 amp machine if it was only half discharged, more if it was flat. (400 amp battery x 10 amps per hour = 40 hours.)

Fooled around for two days on this once, it just needed a newer starter.
 
thanks everybody. im hoping it doesn't have anything to do with the engine as its a crate motor and only has 7-8k on it so far. sounds like ill just start looking at electrical connections between the battery and starter, and all grounds when i get a chance. thanks
 
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