96 XJ 4.0 No Crank

Well, I originally thought I had my problem licked. Would not turn over and the battery acted worn so I took it to Autozone and verified that it was done. Bought a new battery, cleaned the terminals, installed it, and nothing. Figured it might be the starter/battery combo. Took the starter out and had it checked. Everything seemed to spin up fine. This is where I am. My next thoughts are connections. Fuses look ok, engine cranks by wrench, starter relay seems to click, solenoid seems to click. With that, I have a few questions for the group:

1. How many and where are the grounds that I should check/clean?
2. Could the starter relay be bad even though I can hear it click?
3. Could the starter solenoid be bad even though I can hear it click?
4. Where is the fusable link and could that be the problem?
5. What else should I check, from first to last.

Thanks in advance.

Everytime my starter went it also tested fine.

Just bought a 99 sport for $350.00 because the guy couldn't get it started.

His starter also tested fine but I put a new one in it and drove away.

I put 3 starters in my 97 Grand, they tested good, but would not turn the jeep over.

Just my experience with starters.

*When it is symptomatic, get a meter. With the key in the ON position, measure voltage directly at the starter. You should have approximately full battery voltage at the starter.

*If you have good voltage as verified by the meter, replace the starter.

*If you do NOT have good voltage, start working your way back into the engine bay to find out why. Suspects are the neutral safety switch (common failure), bad cable, grounds, etc.

*If you have an automatic, try wiggling the shift lever or try starting in neutral. If either of these techniques allows the engine to turn over, you have confirmed a "neutral safety switch" problem.

I've included information about grounds below.

Good luck and let us know what you find!
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Grounds can be the root cause of many electrical gremlins. Refreshing grounds is NEVER a bad idea!

You can't just check or look at these grounds. You must remove, scrape, clean until shiny the cable/wire ends and whatever they bolt to. The one on the back corner of the head, and where it attaches to the firewall. Scrape the paint from the firewall. Best to replace that woven cable with a #4 or #2 gauge cable. You can attach the one end to the intake manifold if you would like.

Next go over to the engine dipstick tube stud. Remove the nut and clean the wire ends and scrape the block until shiny at the stud. Reattach tightly.

If you are so inclined, add at least a #6 cable from the negative terminal of your battery to one of the bolts on your radiator support. Scrape the paint off first.

ignition switch?

One question: When you guys say check voltage at the starter with the ingition in the "on" position, that means ignition "on" but not in the "start" position, correct? The position where the car is running after starting, correct. Lastly, do I just check the voltage across the big and small terminals of the starter?

Thanks.

gundog said:

One question: When you guys say check voltage at the starter with the ingition in the "on" position, that means ignition "on" but not in the "start" position, correct? The position where the car is running after starting, correct. Lastly, do I just check the voltage across the big and small terminals of the starter?

Thanks.

Click to expand...

All measurements are referenced to the block.

The big terminal should have power all the time and the small one only when trying to crank.