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Another Solenoid Click, No Turn.

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
 
What's the voltage "at" the starter when trying to start. I would suspect bad cables and/or connections.
 
I have a simple trick to share with you that worked on my 00XJ. I was getting the same symptoms you were getting. I went through my junction-box checking relays, wiring connections, grounds, etc. and found nothing. Then I took a battery jumper cable and hooked one cable to the negative(ground) terminal on the battery and the other end to the starter housing bolt. The Jeep fired right up. Obviously a bad ground path somewhere. My solution was to take a No.2 stranded copper wire welding cable, with end eye-connectors, and hook one end to one of the starter's mounting bolts and the other end directly to the battery negative terminal. Problem solved.

Best regards,

CJR
 
Thanks for the quick replies guys, I will test the ground trick and also check the voltage at the secondary solenoid post when the key is turned and let you know.


Erik
 
Ditto on checking all the ground and power cables. Do the interior lights dim heavily when trying to crank (sure sign of a bad ground)? The starter gets grounded through the engine block and there should be a heavy ground cable from the battery to the engine block. If they're the original cables, you might consider just replacing them as they could be rotten inside. For measuring the length without yanking them out first, a piece of string then held to a measuring tape, or your wife's fabric sewing tape works well. Shoving a metal tape measure in there is just asking to get it shorted across battery voltage. The farm/home/tractor store likely has higher quality cables for less than the local Autozone (who I think might have sold you a starter you didn't need...)
 
I ran the jumper cables from the battery directly to the starter. I used only the ground first, connecting it to the body where it bolts to the bell housing and it did not start, but then I ran pos to pos, battery to starter and it started.

This time when I tested for voltage at the starter I got nothing, so I stuck my positive lead from the multimeter onto the cable under the shrink wrap but below the terminal connector and I got full voltage, so it looks like a short/break in the cable somewhere in the middle of the positive cable between the battery and the starter.

Luckily I have some 4ga red cabling here I can use to whip up a new one. Thanks very much for the suggestions! Using jumper cables to bypassing the battery cables was a great idea, I really appreciate it!

Erik
 
Just for grins, did you check the relays (ASD, Fuel Pump, etc) in the underhood relay box?

I had a no start issue that was linked to the ASD relay. You could hear the relay parts rattle inside the relay itself when you shook it. I went ahead an replaced all the relays anyway since they were all pretty old.
 
Just for grins, did you check the relays (ASD, Fuel Pump, etc) in the underhood relay box?

I had a no start issue that was linked to the ASD relay. You could hear the relay parts rattle inside the relay itself when you shook it. I went ahead an replaced all the relays anyway since they were all pretty old.


Bad relays wouldn't give his symptoms. He could hear the solenoid clicking.
 
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