Petruna

1995 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited 5.2 V8 200,xxx miles

Every problem up until now I have found on this thread. I will be as detailed as possible
Purchased vehicle after PO removed his sound system drove around that day all good. Next day did not drive at all. Third day started up great went to work. When leaving work needed a jump. Next day not even a jump would help with weird clicking sounds near trunk.

Took battery to be tested / recharged battery was bad. Purchased new battery and replaced terminals and added a brace to keep battery in place. She started right up. I hit to the roads drove 30 minutes then headlight, dash lights etc all started dimming it was 1am so I pulled into a parking lot. Car lasted 10 more minutes after that.

Now it gets even weirder.
I went through all of the fuses 2 were bad. When I turned key to on everything lit up fine but just a clicking sound when I tried to start her.
After 30 minutes waiting in 12° weather went home grabbed my other car and my buddy to try to give it a jump. Car started right up without the jump. Was able to drive 3 miles then everything started dimming again and now jeep is stuck near Cleveland airport. And tow truck is an hour late.

So with that story inind here are things I know / believe to be true that could be causing this. Any ideas comments or suggestions are greatly appreciated.

there are speaker wires everywhere. Not sure what is connected.
Twice as many loose random wires dehind cd player. So much so that I cant push the stereo back in
The car alarm was bypassed when new engine dropped in and has secondary alarm and I have "kill switch" key? But no one knows where to use it
Front passenger door plunger does not work so fuse removed because even slider does not turn off the interior lights
Driver door if from a 95 JGC Laredo w no inside panel but power works.
Driver seat broken but power disconnected
Vic display comes on when you start car for about 2 minutes then turns off and stays off.
OEM amp disconnected.
I have 2 crimped wires with fuses on the end of then on the passenger side fusebox. One is burned out the other is fine but they are not plugged and idk what they go to or where they would go in the fuse box.

Only 3 speakers total passenger side and driver rear. Only passenger side works.
Belt is good. Everything starts right up and runs. It only drains when it is on.

I have tried some little things w taking out relays and fuses but nothing has helped.

My personal thought with no bearing of proof is that a ground is toiching somewhere but only affected when it is receiving power once the car is running. Again thank you for any hwlp

Lowrange2

Honestly, to me it sounds like a simple case of a bad alternator.

You shouldn't loose power with the Jeep running no matter what condition the battery is in.

Do you have a volt meter? Start the Jeep, test the voltage at the battery with the Jeep running. It should be close to 14 volts. If it's not, replace the alternator. The battery is draining because the alternator isn't charging it while it's being used.

Drive to dudes house, smack him, then fix all the wiring.

Petruna

I can track down a volt meter. I did for get to add the dash shows it at 14 to start then drops to nine does a couple little jumps then stays at 9 until it dies.

Thank you for clearing that up. I was under the impression the car wouldn't even start with a bad alternator hence why I didn't think that was the issue.

And yes a slap would do them good lol. Wires will be a nice Sunday project lol.

On a side note yesterday was my bday and 1 tow company is over an hour late and wont answer their phone. Who knew 33 was a horrible age lol. Thank you again for the info

Lowrange2

No problem.

When an alternator goes bad you won't notice anything out of the ordinary until the battery dies. (Other than the volt gauge on the dash.) The Jeep will run great off of the charge that the battery has until it runs out. That doesn't take long when running the headlights.

With no headlights, radio off, a/c-heat off, etc, you can go a looong ways with a bad alternator.

It does sound like you have some other issues. Some of the ****ty wiring could have killed the alternator. Hell, some of the wiring could be preventing the alternator from charging. I'd start with testing the alternator and going from there.

Any parts store has cheap volt meters for less than 20 bucks.

Petruna

Awesome thank you again. That is probably the best place to start. My thinking kept leaning towards a draw in the system or a bad connection either at the battery or at the starter motor itself.

Possibly a bad engine ground (maybe i tugged to hard in the cold weather when i changed the terminals (that's what she said)) or a bad transmission range switch

But I will acquire a volt meter and start there. I know I saw a thread on that. Thanks again!!!

Lowrange2

Yup, your alternator may not be bad. Test at the battery and then test directly at the alternator to eliminate any wires between the two.

Good luck.