Hey everyone,

I've got a 1998 xj and for the past 6 months or so I have been having issues related to starting my jeep. I checked out a bunch of the previous posts and it seemed like no one was having my exact problem so I thought I would post a new thread.

The reason this is perplexing me so much is because of the circumstances under which I have problems. Any time I make any short drive, ie under 5 minutes, and attempt to restart my jeep, I would say 60% of the time it wont turn over. All I get is a click. Battery is fine, I have full power to all my gauges and lights, but it wont turn over. Now here is the weird part if I make a longer trip (the longer it is the less chance that it won't start), it wont ever have trouble restarting. To the point were if I drive more than 30 minutes, I have never had it not restart.

Now you might be thinking it is obviously a starter/solenoid problem but here is the thing. I have NEVER not been able to get it to start by jumping the solenoid. Always works. SO I think it may be in the wiring going to the solenoid, but I have no idea why it would depend on the length of my trip, nor would I know were to start in replacing it. I was curious if anyone has ever had a similar problem and if you have any ideas.

Thanks in advance!
Nick

 

next time it wont start tap the starter with a hammer see if it starts if so get ready to buy a starter other than that check bat terminals fir corrosion

 

Correct me if I am wrong, but if a solenoid needs to be tapped on to start, wont it not turn over when you jump it?

 

my jeep acted the same up until the starter went out completely, had it tested the whole thing was toast

 

if the solenoid is going south tapping the starter it self 99percent of the time will get it to work for awhile

 

Well I will try that next time. But it always starts when I jump it so I figured that the inner workings of the solenoid are still intact.

 

It's been doing this for months and months and I swear if I never made a trip shorter than 30 minutes I would never even know there was a problem. How long did yours act up for?

 

a couple of months, then a month of not having to touch the thing then having to bang the starter almost every time I went down the street to the gas station until one day I went to the gas station and it wouldn't start again. So don't expect it to last you, Just pull it one weekend and have it tested, it is so easy to swap starters.

 

So I figured it out and finally got a chance to post.

It was just a loose wire. I figured this out after finding out that if the jeep wont start in park it will start in neutral. The electric in my jeep is screwy anyways I shoulda guessed.

Thanks guys.