leprechaun13

Thursday AM

Jeep won't start. Chilly morning but no more than earlier in the week.
All lights and accessories work. No click or anything when I turn the key. Lights don't dim. Reverse lights work. Will not start in park or neutral or anything.

Thursday PM

Remove starter and have it tested. It is fine but sluggish due to oil build up inside from a leak. I buy electronic cleaner in aerosol and spray it in there and hose out some gunk. Girlfriend steers Jeep for me and I push it into garage.

Reinstall starter. Attach positive battery cable.
Attach negative --sparks and starter kicks in and won't stop until I disconnect battery. Bang on solenoid with a hammer. No luck.

Friday AM

Remove ignition wire so only power is going to starter solenoid. Starter still turns when battery connected and banging with hammer does no good.

Friday PM
Have starter tested at autozone. Starter runs as it should, doesn't run with just power connected. Buy new starter anyway.

New Starter does same thing when connected to power only within jeep. Put it on garage floor and attach jumper cables from battery to starter and it runs as it should (not until power is to ignition and batt bolt).

Any ideas? Someone reccomended ignition switch so I bought a new one but I tested the starter again after disconnecting the switch and the starter still does the same thing. Which makes sense since it was starting without the ignition switch even attached anyway.

Any ideas guys? I really need to drive this thing to work tomorrow

I'm an amateur mechanic and so far today I have suffered a treble hook to the ***** and been nearly shot so if it is a simple fix please don't be too rough on me.

Thanks,
Lep

leprechaun13

So I finger tightened the nut holding the power cable to the solenoid and now it doesn't start immediately. I also didn't tyighten the top mounting bolt of the starter housing as tightly.

I reinstalled the ignition switch and started the car, it started but then it made like a screeching /scraping noise. Do I need to tighten up the starter housing? I couldn't tell if what I heard was the starter not disengaging.

DFlintstone

If you hold the key over, and jiggle the shifter in park or neutral and it starts, it's your NSS. http://bc4x4.com/tech/2010/jeep-neut...ty-switch-nss/

leprechaun13

That was the very first thing I tried and no dice. In my last post just above yours I had a breakthrough!!

leprechaun13

Well I solved my issue by loosening my bolts attaching the starter housing to the engine and handtightening the nuts on the solenoid instead of cranking down with a wrench.

DFlintstone

In your shoes I'd tighten the bolts, and tell her that's going a bit too far.

I did specifically mean hold the key over and jiggle the lever at the same time. Does sound like you have other issues.

We call that green wire the solonoid wire btw. The Ign juices the coil in the start relay that is grounded by the NSS, which then closes contacts, shooting battery power through the relay, out that green wire.

Sounds like you got'r. All barbless here on the Smith Btw...

Roler

haha.
h
Don't loosen the starter mounting bolts too much because the starter grounds by means of where it is mounted. Make sure that mating surface is clean.

leprechaun13

Well started to drive to work this morning and turned around because my starter didn't disengage! I think I'm gonna replace the starter relay just to eliminate that thing. Any other ideas?

DFlintstone

Check for power at the solonoid wire at the starter? If there is none, changing the relay won't change anything. I can't see your year. If there IS power, trace it back, see if the wire is shorting to a hot wire, or getten juice from the relay. If it's post 90 you can just swap in the AC relay and see what that does....I believe.

leprechaun13

It's a 1996 4.0 auto trans. Ok I took the starter out just to have it tested while I'm in town ( I live 30 min in the country) so I will buy a starter relay just in case while I'm at the store also.

leprechaun13

If I don't have this fixed by tomorrow ---Just to get to work could I start the vehicle and then remove the relay so that the starter disengages?

leprechaun13

Alright new relay, original relay, and AC clutch relay all result in starter not disengaging. Should I replace the ignition switch?

DFlintstone

If there is no power at the solonoid wire and it's engaging, that aint right.

leprechaun13

There must be power at the solenoid wire... It doesn't start until I turn the ignition to start. But then it keeps running until I turn the key to "Off"

DFlintstone

OK, Got it. If I have it right the ign is juicing socket # 86 when you turn the key to start. Check if 86 is still hot when you have the key back to just Ign on. If it is, looks like the switch is toast. Btw sometimes there's issues with the rod from the key/tumbler, down to the switch. (if yours has that) Also the plug on the switch might be melted.



Also, I think you can pull the relay and just jump power to #87 to start it, for now. (MAKE SURE IT'S IN PARK/NEUTRAL!)