CentralKYXJ
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Central KY
Good morning everyone! <3
I have seen a lot of these threads around but after searching for several hours, I believe I've exhausted most of the options provided in existing threads so I wanted to post a new one to ask about my specific situation.
My vehicle: 2000 Jeep Cherokee XJ Sport 4.0L I6
The actual problem: When I turn the key, I can hear my solenoid click, but the engine doesn't even try to turn over, I get a single click with no whirring of any kind, just silence after the click. I've verified by holding the solenoid in my hand during key turn that it is in fact the device that is giving that single click when the key is turned. This issue began after coming back from a day-trip to Cincinnati which is about a 2.5 hour drive from me. I drove about 6 hours total on Friday, came home with no issues and parked the XJ. Monday morning I get in to go to work and I get a solenoid click with no turn. It makes no noise at all after the solenoid clicks.
My troubleshooting progress so far: When I began investigating, the first confirmed issue I found was that my starter was bad, (tested bad at autozone) so I replaced it with a Duralast Gold which AutoZone tested for me before I left the store. The new one passed 5/5 tests. I reinstalled the new starter but it did not fix the issue. I still get the click with no turn.
I rechecked connections on the starter and battery, visual inspection looks good. My battery was a tad low from testing over the weekend and it was at 12.65v when tested off the battery terminals. I measured the same exact voltage at the starter while applying the my positive lead on my multimeter to the positive bolt and the ground lead to the body of the starter. 12.65v.
Next thing I did was test for a bad Neutral Safety Switch. When I'm in Park or Neutral, I get the Solenoid click, when i'm in any other gear, I don't get the click, so that leads me to believe the NSS is fine. I wanted to be sure though, so I pulled the starter relay under the hood and jumpered the connections and I once again got the solenoid click but nothing else. No other noise from the starter or motor whatsoever.
Next I put a wrench on my crank balancer bolt and I was successfully able to turn the motor by hand, without a ton of force, so the engine is not seized. Whew.
I next take my battery in to have it checked and AutoZone confirmed the 12.65 volts. (Left the battery unhooked overnight and it held charge.) When they tested it they concurred it was at 85% charge but was good.
When I got the battery home, I reinstalled it and the XJ fired right up like a champ with absolutely no hesitations. WTF?
So my experience at AutoZone was a little strange because I got two different answers from two different AutoZone guys, so for safe measure I borrowed a known good battery from another vehicle with the same CCA/CA rating and once again got a solenoid click with no turn.
I'm really feeling like this is a ground issue, but I don't have an apparent dedicated ground wire on the starter/solenoid. I have the primary red positive wire from the battery coming onto the correct bolt, confirmed via the starter instruction. I also have a small 18ga wire with a plug on the end that plugs into a female plug on the solenoid. I assumed this was the wire coming in from the ignition via the relay, but is this also my ground or does the starter ground through its bolts in the bell housing?
The only other pertinent info I have to offer is that I did replace the mounting bolts on the starter with grade 8 yellow zinc plated bolts. I dont think this has any bearing on grounding but I thought Id mention it.
Please let me know what you guys think and thanks in advance for the help!
Erik
I have seen a lot of these threads around but after searching for several hours, I believe I've exhausted most of the options provided in existing threads so I wanted to post a new one to ask about my specific situation.
My vehicle: 2000 Jeep Cherokee XJ Sport 4.0L I6
The actual problem: When I turn the key, I can hear my solenoid click, but the engine doesn't even try to turn over, I get a single click with no whirring of any kind, just silence after the click. I've verified by holding the solenoid in my hand during key turn that it is in fact the device that is giving that single click when the key is turned. This issue began after coming back from a day-trip to Cincinnati which is about a 2.5 hour drive from me. I drove about 6 hours total on Friday, came home with no issues and parked the XJ. Monday morning I get in to go to work and I get a solenoid click with no turn. It makes no noise at all after the solenoid clicks.
My troubleshooting progress so far: When I began investigating, the first confirmed issue I found was that my starter was bad, (tested bad at autozone) so I replaced it with a Duralast Gold which AutoZone tested for me before I left the store. The new one passed 5/5 tests. I reinstalled the new starter but it did not fix the issue. I still get the click with no turn.
I rechecked connections on the starter and battery, visual inspection looks good. My battery was a tad low from testing over the weekend and it was at 12.65v when tested off the battery terminals. I measured the same exact voltage at the starter while applying the my positive lead on my multimeter to the positive bolt and the ground lead to the body of the starter. 12.65v.
Next thing I did was test for a bad Neutral Safety Switch. When I'm in Park or Neutral, I get the Solenoid click, when i'm in any other gear, I don't get the click, so that leads me to believe the NSS is fine. I wanted to be sure though, so I pulled the starter relay under the hood and jumpered the connections and I once again got the solenoid click but nothing else. No other noise from the starter or motor whatsoever.
Next I put a wrench on my crank balancer bolt and I was successfully able to turn the motor by hand, without a ton of force, so the engine is not seized. Whew.
I next take my battery in to have it checked and AutoZone confirmed the 12.65 volts. (Left the battery unhooked overnight and it held charge.) When they tested it they concurred it was at 85% charge but was good.
When I got the battery home, I reinstalled it and the XJ fired right up like a champ with absolutely no hesitations. WTF?
So my experience at AutoZone was a little strange because I got two different answers from two different AutoZone guys, so for safe measure I borrowed a known good battery from another vehicle with the same CCA/CA rating and once again got a solenoid click with no turn.
I'm really feeling like this is a ground issue, but I don't have an apparent dedicated ground wire on the starter/solenoid. I have the primary red positive wire from the battery coming onto the correct bolt, confirmed via the starter instruction. I also have a small 18ga wire with a plug on the end that plugs into a female plug on the solenoid. I assumed this was the wire coming in from the ignition via the relay, but is this also my ground or does the starter ground through its bolts in the bell housing?
The only other pertinent info I have to offer is that I did replace the mounting bolts on the starter with grade 8 yellow zinc plated bolts. I dont think this has any bearing on grounding but I thought Id mention it.
Please let me know what you guys think and thanks in advance for the help!
Erik