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2001 XJ will not start, no power?

LazersGoPEWPEW

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Los Angeles, CA
Alright so here's the skinny. Been having a weak start with the XJ lately but got it started with ease this morning. Nothing to be too alarmed about.

Then I'm going to go to the car wash and I insert the key turn it over and woosh all my lights are out and I don't get a crank or anything.

So I figure it could be the battery...right? Wrong.

Tried to jumpstart it and it wouldn't go. So I ripped that yellowtop optima out and toted it up to autozone to have it tested and what do ya know the battery tested good. It's perfect. It should be...I bought it monday.

I don't think it would be the starter because I'm not getting power. It would be the starter if I was getting power and it wouldn't start.

Then I'm wondering how it could be the alternator since well my battery is fully charged and that must mean it's recharging.

I'm at a total loss and to be honest I'm a little pissed since I just got it two weeks ago. Now I have 2 vehicles that won't start instead of 1. :gonnablow

Thanks for the help.
 
If your battery is good and is fully charged, and no lights work and starter doesn't work, the problem has to be in the wiring or fuses. Do you have a multimeter? They only cost $3 and will lead you to your problem without throwing needless parts on. At this point, it is not the battery, alternator, or starter. What about the meter?
 
Check your battery connections, but they must be good now because you just had the battery out. Check the ground connections to the motor and the battery. Check for power to the 50A fuse in the Power Distribution fuse box under the hood. Look for breaks in the smaller red wire that goes from the battery to the Power Distribution Center.
 
So I should just run up to the store for a multimeter. Alright.
 
Alright so I've never used a multimeter but I went down and figured it out I think. I got went down and checked 50A and it read out 004-005. Read a range of those. Fluctuated a slight bit. I have no clue what that means though.

This digital multimeter is pretty fancy stuff to me. I also checked the battery cable and it looks good.

Another thing to note is that my door lights will come on and such and if I put my key in the ignition it beeps at me but as soon as I turn the key it powers down and goes dead.
 
Ok. So to start out, set the meter for volts and the level just above 12. Often 50, or maybe you don't have to pick on yours. So if you touch the black to the neg battery post and the red to the pos post, it says 12v (up to maybe 13). Now touch the black to the body and red still on battery pos and you should still get 12V. Black to engine and red on battery pos, still 12v. You've now checked out your main grounds to some degree. Now put the black back on the neg battery post and put the red on one side of the 50A fuse. OK, if you show 12V you have power to the fuse. Check the other side of the fuse the same way and you know the fuse is good. OK, if we get to here, you're getting the basics and can definitely figure out the problem. Tune back in for next steps.
 
Ok. So to start out, set the meter for volts and the level just above 12. Often 50, or maybe you don't have to pick on yours. So if you touch the black to the neg battery post and the red to the pos post, it says 12v (up to maybe 13). Now touch the black to the body and red still on battery pos and you should still get 12V. Black to engine and red on battery pos, still 12v. You've now checked out your main grounds to some degree. Now put the black back on the neg battery post and put the red on one side of the 50A fuse. OK, if you show 12V you have power to the fuse. Check the other side of the fuse the same way and you know the fuse is good. OK, if we get to here, you're getting the basics and can definitely figure out the problem. Tune back in for next steps.

I ate a few less paint chips and figured it out. When I touched it to the body it didn't give me anything. Ground to the engine and battery did work. Gave around 12.9V

I went ahead and checked the 50A fuse and it has power to it. Perhaps not having the body ground is bad news??? Where to go from here?
 
Good news. You have probably found the problem. There has to be a ground from the battery to the body or from the engine to the body for the stuff in the body to work. I'll have to look at mine tomorrow, but earlier models (I think) had a ground from the motor in the back to the firewall. Most vehicles I've worked on have a ground directly from the battery negative post to the body near where the battery is. If you can find that, pull it apart and clean it with sandpaper or scotchbrite. You do have a ground strap or it never would have run before. Just have to find it and clean the contact points. Somebody on here knows exactly were it is if they'll tell us. On my other car, it comes right off the battery (- post) to the body within 10 inches.
 
Good news. You have probably found the problem. There has to be a ground from the battery to the body or from the engine to the body for the stuff in the body to work. I'll have to look at mine tomorrow, but earlier models (I think) had a ground from the motor in the back to the firewall. Most vehicles I've worked on have a ground directly from the battery negative post to the body near where the battery is. If you can find that, pull it apart and clean it with sandpaper or scotchbrite. You do have a ground strap or it never would have run before. Just have to find it and clean the contact points. Somebody on here knows exactly were it is if they'll tell us. On my other car, it comes right off the battery (- post) to the body within 10 inches.

Yea it's pretty easy to find actually. I mean it's right there next to it.

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I've had a lot of folks suggest replacing my battery cables.

Oh and I touched it to a different part of the body instead of the painted part and it did check out alright.
 
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Don't mean to be insulting, but your battery cables suck. The little bolt in connections of the wires to the battery post connectors is a piss poor system. You should be able to get it to work for now, but you need to get the good cables soon. Have you taken the two bolts on each connector off and cleaned the wires and points of contact yet? From here it looks a little nasty. You can use water and baking soda to get rid of the corrosion.
 
I actually realized what happened. I removed all the crappy wiring from the jeep that wasn't being used for anything and forgot to tighten those little bolts down. I did that and wham bam vrooom vrooom. I plan on purchasing some really nice battery cables. I don't feel insulted at all. You're right that those battery cables blow chunks.

I appreciate your help. I'm glad it wasn't something major.
 
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