bamarider

I'm having starting problems with my jeep. this first happened one cold morning as I was leaving for work. when I tried to start the jeep the starter just clicked and I lost clock & preset stations on radio. I tried again and it started and I went on to work. That afternoon had same problem and had a coworker jump me off. At this point I'm sure I have a bad battery. The battery is less than a year old so I head over to Sam's Club to have it checked. When I get there they check it out and it checks good on two different testers and my jeep starts fine. The next morning its 9 degrees and it starts with no problems, and continues working with no problems. I do some searching on the forums and come up with the possibility of a bad starter. My starter looked original, was covered in oil & crud, so I order & installed a new one last week. All is ok till yesterday afternoon, failed to start, lost radio clock & stations, but did start after a couple more tries.
Tonight I have it in my shop to change oil and replace motor mount. I check my cables for possible short to ground, all look good. When I finish my work and try to start it, it doesn't start. I try a few times and go check starter cable for heat, it's ok. Get my volt meter and check battery voltage. 12.5 than drops to 4 when starting. After it does this a couple more times it starts up. So now I'm back to a bad battery unless someone has an idea of something else that might be the problem.

Radi

Take the battery cables off and clean and inspect both ends, positive and negative, just to be certain. Can't always find the rot without disconnecting them.
What does the battery voltage rise to when the engine is running? 13.5+ ? Then your alternator is charging.
I'm betting the problem is the battery though. If the starter were drawing enough current to drop a good battery down to 4 volts...you'd have pretty warm cables. You don't, which leaves a bad battery.

eignub

sounds almost the exact same as an issue i had, twice. It was a bad connection from battery to the fuse box on front passnger fender. my plan to if it happens again is to try to run a jumper cable from the battery terminal to where the cable connects to and see if it will start. could try that.

bamarider

Cables are in good shape. After buying the jeep and before installing the new battery went thru & cleaned all grounds and installed new terminals @ battery. Running voltage in 13.8

steelybill

I gotta agree with Radi.
Only way to really check a battery is with a serious load, which most parts stores testers don't do. Your voltage dropping to 4 volts when trying to start, is a serious load, so you tested it ! And it sure appears to be a bad battery, regardless of it's age.

ssurfview@cox.net

I had the same issue where the voltage went so low I lost all my radio presets. I change battery and R&R the starter. The final resolution was when I replaced the ignition switch block. It all got better.
Now my other jeep engages, and does not crank , SOMETIMES. Battery was marginal got rid of it. Still same issue. Swapped starter relay, No change. The starter was a new rebuild 5 months ago. Occasionally it will crank like crazy and not start, sounds like no fuel. I know the injector power is controlled be the ignition switch. I might go after the switch block on this one too.
Steve