ScottH

So today I drove my Cherokee to the grocery store. Upon leaving I noticed that it was slow to crank over as if the battery was fatigued. After a few cranks luckily it fired up and I drove home. After unloading the groceries into the house I went to fire up the Jeep to park it in my garage and it went click - click - click. There was no cranking or nothing.

So I put the battery charger on the battery for almost 3 hours and went to fire it up and still no cranking. All I get is a click, click click..

Here is the voltage gauge in the cabin with the ignition ON - Picture

Here is the voltage gauge on the battery charger - Picture

Here is a small video clip of the "click-click-click" I am getting without any cranking of the engine - Video

I'm not very knowledgeable with Jeeps. But if the voltage gauge in the cabin and on the charger are reading good. Wouldn't that mean my battery is in good shape? And if it was a bad alternator don't you think after 3 hours on the charger the Jeep would have started and ran just off the battery alone?

The Jeep in question is a 92 Cherokee Sport 4.0L with 227k Miles.

Any info is much appreciated.

dogger15

Prob your starter that needs to get replaced

BillyBoy

Good news-
Probably either a bad power wire or a bad ground.

Always start your fixes with the easiest thing to check first...

To eliminate the ground as beng the problem, hook a jumper cable to the negative - side of the battery terminal. Hoow the other end of that wire to the frame. Make sure the area you hook it to isn't painted. Start it up. {Hopefully}

What you are trying to do is bypass the negative cable.

A lot of issues start with a bad ground. Most of the time, you should unhook your terminal heads, clean them inside and out with steel wool or a steel brush, and it fixes it.

BillyBoy

Taking off the starter, bringing it into a sop, having it tested, to find out it's fine just pisses you off...

Trust me, I've done it.

You can also bypass the hot wire by hooking a jumper cable to the positive + side, and clamping the other end onto the positive hookup on the starter, but you might fry it if you accidentally hit it with the juice.

I.e. not recomended for a new person.

ScottH

I also forgot to add (not sure if it matters or not) but when I was at the grocery store and went to crank it the second time the needle on the volt gauge in the cabin sat right on the end of the red 9bar. I thought maybe it was the ALT that was bad and it was just sucking juice off the battery but after charging it for almost 3 hours you'd think it'd fire up on the battery power alone and just run dead again.

I will check the grounds tomorrow.

BillyBoy

As for starters, when they, or the solenoid fries, it ends up drawing about 5 times as much power as it should in order to turn your engine over. Regardless of whether your battery is good, or you have it hooked to the charger {in 'jump' mode} it still wants too much juice to do anything.

If the ground is good, and you can't get it to turn over when you know the battery is charged, try jumping it off another car. If the other car bogs down, and the jeep turns over, yeah, your starter is trying to pull too many amps.

If you take it off, and it's not too involved to do so, you can take it into autozone or oreily, and they'll put it on a tester. The tester tells how many amps it's drawing, if it's too much, it's bad. There should be some good write_ups or videos about how to change it. Easy job, a little dirty though.

Good luck, keep us posted.

BillyBoy

They can also hook a machine up to your battery, or if yu have a voltage tester, you can as well...

When it's running, the tester should show 12-14 amps.

{Anyone correct me if I got the number wrong.}

Unfortunately, the only way to test an alternator in the jeep is when it's running. You can also take it out and bring it to he parts place, but what a hassle.

If you just charged the battery, it should turn over, even if there's no alternator in your jeep, or if the belt is gone.

BillyBoy

Really, clean the terminal heads, clean the bodymounted ground connection, try to start it.

If no start, bypass the negative cable with the jumper cables.

If no start, jump it from another car.

If no start, pull the starter and bring it in. If it's your first time, start early, it might take you a few hours.

Good luck.

BillyBoy

Yo- check it, dogger has almost 3*** posts... gj man.

BillyBoy

It could also be... the positive wire... as a last resort. The other things are easier to eliminate and more common. When you clean the terminal heads, take the connections off the wires too. They're usually green. Cut off the green, strip the casing back an inch, and you have new copper, reconnect and go.

Then pm me with a thank you since it wasn't your starter. ;-)

ScottH

I actually just read this - http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f11/r...-over-1236352/

His problems sound almost like mine and it was a rely... I am gonna go out and give that a shot quick. BRB

BillyBoy

Read... 'the key turned to starting position the the power cut.'... it's a thread posted about an hour ago...

Sounds like your issue...

"Shiny leads" man.

ScottH

updated!

I did the following today:
- Cleaned the battery termanl post (shiny silver)
- Cleaned the battery termanals
- Checked grounds
- Checked relys

Went to fire it up and Click Click Click...... So for the hell of it I took the 3ft jack handle and lowered it down overtop of the starter and gave it a firm tap tap tap. Went inside the cabin and turned the key and errrr errrr errrr.. So I popped the charger on the battery for 10 minutes and tapped the starter again with the pipe and it slowly turned over and start. Now the engine light is on inside the cabin.

Would it be safe to say since tapping the starter with the pipe was the breaking point of it starting that the starter is junk?

jeepster274

Yep ur starter is done.. Time for a new one

BillyBoy

Could also be dirty/rusty connections at the starter. That's where the main hot wire from your battery goes.

Take off those wires and clean them,reconnect, retry.
If another No-Go, pull the whole starter and take it in.

The reason I don't vote to just take the starter off is that you're gonna do a lot more work and feel silly at the shop if that ain't th problem.

Remember, young padewan, always start with the easiest {and cheapest} things to check.

***when you hit it, you may have changed the connections... or knocked the rust out... good luck.