Odd breakdown...with a simple fix?

I was headed into NYC early last week to meet some friends in the 200 Cherokee (4.0/AW4). I pulled into the parking garage, turned off the Cherokee and got out to talk to the attendant. I gave time the keys and he got in to park it and....nothing. No click, no fuel pump....nothing.

I got in and the interior light would come on, but the secound you tried to start it everything would go dead. Ditto if you turn on the headlights.

I checked the fuses, wiggled everything...still nothing. Any time a large electrical load came online everything would shut down.

I ended up calling a tow truck and the next day spoke with the garage owner. Turned out to be a simultaneous failure of the battrey and alternator (both of which looked to be original parts)

Soo....600 bucks later I'm cruising down the road thinking this was to simple ( aside from being rooked) I had zero symptoms before this...no eratic guages, nothing. Anyone have a similar problem?

$600.00? Heck, that's probably cheaper that paying for parking in N.Y. city!

I'd say that the battery or battery cable connections failed and the shop changed both at the same time to solve the problem without spending any time looking for the real cause. Time is money (yours) to them so the more money they can take for solving the problem in the shortest amount of time will usually fit the problem they tell you that you had.

It's always possible for both to fail, but if you were driving it into the garage with no symptoms, I'd be willing to bet the alternator had not failed.

X2 on the battery cable!
It sounds like you had a bad conection on your ground side of your battery.
It was a weak connection. It was just enough to run lights and light loads, but when you put a heavy load to it it failed......both your alt and your batt at he same time? Gezz....ouch...

A weak alternator can over stress a battery to the point that the battery fails. Battery life is 4-6 years, depending on the battery brand and electrical capacity. Battery failure at 9 years of age shouldn't be surprising.

I would have started with trouble shooting by inspecting, cleaning and firmly reattaching the battery, alternator and starter cables before I spent $600 on repairs at a shop. Do It Yourself repairs, even if you had to purchase a set of tools, should have only cost about $200.

To clean and tighten connections costs zero. You can buy an adjustable wrench for $5 and scrape the connections with a knife. OK, so it costs $6 if you don't have any tools. Years ago, I was headed up north late at night with the kids in the car. The engine started to miss. When I turned the headlights off, it would run OK. I drove down the shoulder with the kids waving a flashlight in the back window if a car came up behind. The next morning, I started checking things out, and discovered that I just had a bad battery connection. Good chance that was your problem.

I also had a similar occurrence happen like your getting screwed. I was on a business trip when my car died. I had no tools along. I got it to a gas station where they proceeded to work on it. Lo and behold, it needed both a coil and a fuel pump. I knew this was BS, but they had me over a barrel. I should have paid the $100 to have it towed home.

Motto: always carry at least a few tools when venturing away from home.

Tim_MN said:

A weak alternator can over stress a battery to the point that the battery fails. Battery life is 4-6 years, depending on the battery brand and electrical capacity. Battery failure at 9 years of age shouldn't be surprising.

I would have started with trouble shooting by inspecting, cleaning and firmly reattaching the battery, alternator and starter cables before I spent $600 on repairs at a shop. Do It Yourself repairs, even if you had to purchase a set of tools, should have only cost about $200.

Click to expand...

x2, bad battery or alternator taking out the other isn't unheard of. Just be glad it didn't take the PCM with it--I believe your late model's alternator is regulated through the PCM.

Tim_MN said:

A weak alternator can over stress a battery to the point that the battery fails. Battery life is 4-6 years, depending on the battery brand and electrical capacity. Battery failure at 9 years of age shouldn't be surprising.

I would have started with trouble shooting by inspecting, cleaning and firmly reattaching the battery, alternator and starter cables before I spent $600 on repairs at a shop. Do It Yourself repairs, even if you had to purchase a set of tools, should have only cost about $200.

Click to expand...

Not a 10:30 PM in downtown Manhatten....when the parking lot guy says you got to go, it means right now.

These are all things to check now that I'm home, but at the time there were no other options.

Neutral safety switch? Mine acts like that sometime, I have to hold the key in start position and push gear selector forward.