First post on here but I've used these forums extensively the last year. I picked up '94 sport off CL for $1500. Great runner, some rust, but overall very happy to have it. However, in the past couple weeks or so, I've been having starting issues. When I go to crank, the starter will go then stutter like the battery is low. If I hold it, it will eventually start and run rough.

Did a lot of digging and followed what appears to be the standard:
- Cleaned grounds (batt to fender, batt to block, dipstick to sensors, head to firewall)
- Replaced the battery before all this started happening but checked voltage off and on and all checks good (12.8v off and 14.1v running)
- replaced the starter (old one was caked with gunk from the oil filter adapter)
- checked fuel pressure (30psi at idle and up to 39psi running with regulator vacuum removed and doesn't bleed down for about 10mins)

From what I can tell, it still seems like a grounding issue. I'm guessing the rough start is the PCM getting weird voltage during the crank and resetting. Sometimes, it starts no problem but about 50-70% the rough start occurs (cold or hot start)

My question is how do I verify I've cleaned the grounds correctly or if I still have a bad ground or another issue somewhere else? I figured jumping the block to the battery would be a good test but still had the rough start. Im getting to my wits end trying to figure this out and have read over 20+ threads about the issue and still can't resolve it.

 

this will help

https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f51/cr...x-tips-153657/

 

Time to take a good look at those battery cables and clamps. They originals are probably a bit rotten inside by now. I prefer using the military style terminals and my local farm&home store has some decent pre-made cables in various lengths and gauges. 4-gauge to the starter and block are plenty big enough.