'93 starting issue

First off, I have searched till my eyes bled!

I've got a 1993 XJ sport with the 4.0 and the aw4 auto trans. When I turn the key on, I can hear the fuel pump come on, and all of the lights, etc. work fine, and when I turn the key all the way to start, I can hear the relay in the panel under the hood click, but it doesn't crank over. It will however start up and run fine if I use a screwdriver at the starter solenoid. Finally, I removed my NSS switch and cleaned it and reinstalled it and adjusted it so thats not it either.
All of the searching and reading I've done seems to point to the starter relay, but I can hear it click so I assume its working?

Any help is greatly appreciated!

The relay could be getting power and clicking, but still have bad switch contacts. Try swapping the relay with another and see if it makes a difference. If it doesn't then it might be the starter solenoid, but try the relay first.

Matthew Currie said:

The relay could be getting power and clicking, but still have bad switch contacts. Try swapping the relay with another and see if it makes a difference. If it doesn't then it might be the starter solenoid, but try the relay first.

Click to expand...

Unfortunately none of the other relays have the same model number on them so I will have to pick up a new one tommorow and give that a try. I hope it really is that easy!

Matthew Currie said:

The relay could be getting power and clicking, but still have bad switch contacts. Try swapping the relay with another and see if it makes a difference. If it doesn't then it might be the starter solenoid, but try the relay first.

Click to expand...

shouldn't be the soleniod-- if you can start with screwdriver, the solenoid is functioning, but the small wire going to it could be bad.
--Shorty

Shorty said:

shouldn't be the soleniod-- if you can start with screwdriver, the solenoid is functioning, but the small wire going to it could be bad.
--Shorty

Click to expand...

I figured that the solenoid and starter must be OK since the screwdriver method worked. If the new relay doesn't solve it, I'll have to check out the signal wire to the solenoid. I really need to learn how to use my multimeter!

Shorty said:

shouldn't be the soleniod-- if you can start with screwdriver, the solenoid is functioning, but the small wire going to it could be bad.
--Shorty

Click to expand...

that might depend on where the screwdriver was used. You can bridge from the battery positive to the big positive strap that goes into the starter, and it will spin out and probably engage, even if the solenoid is bad. If you bridge between the battery positive and the small solenoid terminal, it won't work unless the solenoid is good.

ignition switch may be bad or loose.

Alright, just got home and replaced the starter relay under the hood and it still wont start sooooo........ I'll try the screwdriver both ways and see what I learn from that. I'll be back in a bit!

I found the problem and boy do I feel dumb!

I checked the soleniod with the screwdriver as described above and found that the solenoid was working properly. So I figured that since the solenoid was OK and the Relay was good it must be the connection in between. So I followed the wire up from the solenoid and sure enough, there is a plug inline up in the engine bay that had come undone somehow. I'm not sure how it came undone as it has a clip to hold it together but I am happy as hell to have found it! It wasn't all wasted time, I rebuilt my NSS along the way so it won't hassle me anymore!

Thank you all for your help!