This is year two of this problem. My 1996 Cherokee Country starts up in cold weather, but the radio/stereo, heat/fan and turn signals get no power. I let it warm up for 5-10 with no power to the accessories, then restarted it. Nothing. After running for, I kid you not, 20-25 minutes, the blinker will sometimes get power (but only if it's not crazy cold, like 30 degrees). Today it also seemed like heat was coming into the cabin after 30 minutes, but no fan (so still pretty damn cold). In the past, flipping the key over and restarting would *occasionally* help the problem. After 1 hour on the road this morning, I turned the engine off and restarted, and everything came on.

Other background info: had a starting issue, where the starter was turning over VERY slowly. Just put in a good, new battery. Battery is still good. The slow crank turned into a no-start, and I changed out battery cable terminals. Seemed to fix the problem, but then 2 weeks later the slow crank returned...then went away 2 days later, and the XJ's been fine since.

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

Gotta love chi-town weather sneaking up on you for putting things off?

What kind of battery? I put a, dare I say, Duracrap standardbattery a couple year back when I first got my XJ. Never had consistant starting speed especially when cold.

Put in a Duracrap platnum battery last winter, beautiful! Full consistant cranking speed.

On the electric, I'd say a faulty ignition switch, but thats a shot in the dark other than them all sharing the same ground, not sure, still learning my XJ.

 

Put a Duralast Gold in end of August. Yeah, this weather is ridiculous. The old lady wants me to sell her if this problem isn't solved before Thansgiving! I wondered if it was a ground problem before with the starter cranking slow. I had it at Ashland Tire & Auto, and the guy who took it in heard the slow crank. However, over the next 5 days they couldn't duplicate the problem on one start - fired up every time.

Do you think the current problem with radio/fan/blinker is related or separate issues?

 

So if your Jeep isn't fit as a fiddle, your old lady wants to be sold???? Is that legal??? Sounds like a deal tho...

 

All kidding aside, they could very well be related. The slow crank being caused by parasitic draw from the electrical problem when parked and off.

With a multi-meter, put the ammeter in series of the negative battery cable and measure the amps when off. Should be less than .250 (ECM/radio draws)

 

Yeah, I would sale her and keep your Jeep. LOL

 

Wish my ex-wife would have made that offer...

 

If it's above .250, what would my next step be? Where do I start looking for the problem? Or would this just give me some info on the slow crank issue?

Thanks!

 

It would indicate there is a draw. Easiest thing to do is start pulling fuses one by one placing them back until you isolate the problem circuit (the draw reduces to below .250)

 

Start by cleaning the battery terminals again. Also clean all of the grounding points not just the battery. You also have the grounds at the battery to the fender, oil dipstick, rear of the head to the fire wall, also at the ignition coil. Also check the connections at the alt and make sure that the connections at the starter are clean. If there is any oil on the starter remove it and clean it really well mainly at the mounting surface since that is the ground point for the starter. Give that a try and see what happens. Once you have done that let us know what happens. If you battery is discharging while the Jeep is sitting you may have a parasitic draw on the system like dwright98xj said.
Here is a video on how to test for that if so.
BTW, don't just look at the connection and call them good. They do build a fine coating that will cause a bad ground. So, clean them real good with a wire brush or a piece of sand paper until they are nice and shinny. One bad ground can and will cause a lot of strange problems.