Help! My fiancee is stuck in a parking lot and her XJ start.......

89 XJ,4.0 engine, manual transmission

My fiancee just called me and said that she is stuck in a parking lot. Her jeep was running fine until she shut it off, went into the store, and came back to try and start. Now nothing works. No power, no cracking, no anything. Battery cables are connected and in good condition.

Ideas on what is wrong?

Edit button isnt working...


but she just called me back. She said she put key in ignition, tried to start. No power, cracking, etc. Waited a couple minutes, and tried it again... this time had power but engine wouldnt crank.

Sound like the ignition switch????????

Maybe the starter. If she could tap on it with a hammer it may crank for her. Not sure why the power loss to the rest of the Jeep.

xjtrailrider said:

Maybe the starter. If she could tap on it with a hammer it may crank for her. Not sure why the power loss to the rest of the Jeep.

Click to expand...

She took key out, waited another couple minutes, and tried to start again. Now back to no power and or cranking. Starter was my first thought.

all the interior lights, radio etc. are out too? probably corrosion if so.

if its only thats she is turning key and geting nothing, bet its the starter. dont know why it wouldnt fire tho

Check the cables anyway. Sounds like a bad connection, probably ground is the culprit!

It may be the ignition switch have her keep working with it and it may go.

Anyone else? Lets help this guy out!

if its acting dead, its the connection, if all else is fine head lights bright etc, the starters probably bad

to help out, it might be good to know what state/city they are in. maybe we could get somebody out there to help start/fix the jeep.

Try messing with the shifter. Sometimes if it's not all the way into park, it won't do anything.

EDIT:, I'm a 'tard and didn't read the part that said it's a manual.

Chero-King said:

Try messing with the shifter. Sometimes if it's not all the way into park, it won't do anything.

EDIT:, I'm a 'tard and didn't read the part that said it's a manual.

Click to expand...

Did '89 have a clutch interlock? Could a possibility. Leaning towards the starter or bad mains cabling myself, though, given the symptoms that've been described.

Where is she? Somebody on here is probably close enough to go help her out.

Dead Battery? Get a jump.

You say no power, so I'm assuming no lights or radio...before I'd jump to a dead starter, I'd be thinking a dead battery. It could be a bad ground, she may have left the lights on, she may have a short, the alternator may have gone to shit and she just got lucky enough to actually make it to the mall before the baterry just went kaput. Lot of options, but the best bet is to get somebody overthere with a jump and see what happens from there.

I agree that someone on site would be the next move. So there are plenty of users from who are in each state but where in which state is she and someone can be there pretty quick assuming you are not able to go yourself.

Sounds like a it could be a wiring issue. Is she getting 12v at the ignition switch?

Well I drove out there to pick her up and try and fix the jeep.

I was mistaken in my original post, the jeep was running and just shut off by itself.

No power/cranking/lights/radio, etc..

Battery is 3 years old, and in good shape. Cables also in good shape, no corrosion, etc.

I stuck my head under the dash and banged on the ignition switch with a screw driver. When I tried to start, lights, radio, headlights, etc worked. When I tried to crank the motor there was just a faint click from the starter, and everything went dead again.

Messing with the ignition switch a little more, I was occasionally able to get the dash lights to light up when I turned the key over, but just for a faint second.

Also with the key out of the ignition, the radio, aftermarket cd player, was lighting up by itself, but not in a normal way. Banged more on the ignition switch and it stopped.


I didnt bring a multimeter with me to check voltage at the switch, but does it sound like it's the ignition switch or a wiring problem? Could the ignition switch fail suddenly and cause the jeep to loose power while running?

What wire on the connector do I check to see if it has power?

whoops quoted instead of edited

Does her jeep have the factory battery terminal ends on it or does it have the replace ment ones from napa that you slide the cable through and tighten the bolts down on it. Happened to me before and it was my napa terminal ends, the cable loosened on the positive one, so i had to take it out and reinstall it, now it works fine.