Extreme cold, No crank

oldmantompkins · Dec 31, 2010

Its been a little cold here at about -10 and my 2001 xj with an auto has sat all day and now wont turn over at all (started early morning and idled a bit, it was a slow start but started and ran fine). Electrics work, lights seem bright, but no crank. Any ideas?

joe_peters · Dec 31, 2010

Could be the battery, your main cables, the starter-solenoid, the starter relay, the ignition switch, and all of the wiring in between.

I would first suspect the battery. Pull it, charge it fully, and have it load tested. Until you know for sure that it is good anything else you do is wasted effort.

Hint: after it is fully charged, let it sit out overnight and have it load tested COLD--that will tell you if it is up to snuff.

birchlakeXJ · Dec 31, 2010

Absolutely must start with verifying the battery. Any parts store will do this for you for FREE in the hopes of selling you a new battery if you need it. And of course, be sure that the batter posts and cables are shiny clean.

If above checks out and it still doesn't turn over, try wiggling the shift lever while turning the key, or try starting it while in neutral. If either of these techniques works, you have a problem with the "neutral safety switch".

Good luck!

oldmantompkins · Dec 31, 2010

Thanks for the replies, we have aaa coming to do a proper jump and go from there. One thing I forgot to mention was we tried to do a jump but 1 it didnt work and 2 we could not hear or see any sort of connection (sparks) from connecting the cables. I have never seen that before and had me a little concerned.

oldmantompkins · Jan 1, 2011

birchlakeXJ said:
Absolutely must start with verifying the battery. Any parts store will do this for you for FREE in the hopes of selling you a new battery if you need it. And of course, be sure that the batter posts and cables are shiny clean.

If above checks out and it still doesn't turn over, try wiggling the shift lever while turning the key, or try starting it while in neutral. If either of these techniques works, you have a problem with the "neutral safety switch".

Good luck!

Great call on wiggling the shifter. I guess the cold makes it hard to hit that sensor. Did it whenever I stopped for a while until it warmed up. Thanks.

joe_peters · Jan 1, 2011

That means your no crank is the result of a dirty and out-of-adjustment NSS.

You need to pull it off the transmission and clean it, lubricate it with dielectric grease, reinstall it, and adjust it.

JP Magazine article: http://www.jpmagazine.com/techartic...eep_cherokee_neutral_safety_switch/index.html

A new NSS will run you about $250 most places, I have found them on the internet for about $130, so DIY is the only sensible way to go.

birchlakeXJ · Jan 1, 2011

oldmantompkins said:
Great call on wiggling the shifter. I guess the cold makes it hard to hit that sensor. Did it whenever I stopped for a while until it warmed up. Thanks.

Glad we could help. With your symptoms, I would definitely try "refurbishing" the NSS as it very well may return full function. Not that hard.

Along with the link that Joe provided, here is another one to an article on fixing the NSS; this one has great pics.

Good luck!

http://bc4x4.com/tech/2010/jeep-neutral-safety-switch-nss/

Extreme cold, No crank

oldmantompkins

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joe_peters

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birchlakeXJ

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oldmantompkins

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oldmantompkins

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joe_peters

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birchlakeXJ

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