I have a 2000 Jeep Cherokee sport with around 180K miles on it. Recently it has started having starting problems. I replaced the battery, cleaned the terminal ends and it still doesn't want to start. there are times when it will not turn over at all and if I wait some random amount of time it will start right up. I was thinking it was the battery cables, but I would rather get some experts' opinions on it before spending the money. Thanks in advance.

 

Could be a few things. Inspecting the battery cables is always a good place to start. Look for frayed cables, missing insulation ect. If anything looks out of the ordinary i would go ahead and replace it as cables are cheap. While you are at it i would clean the grounds.

It may also be your neutral safety switch. These switches get gummed up all the time and cause intermittent starting issues and eventually no start at all. To check the switch try starting your jeep in neutral. Also check to see if your reverse lights come on when the jeep is in reverse. If the jeep starts consistently in neutral or the reverse lights fail to come on i would go ahead and clean/rebuild the neutral safety switch.
http://www.jpmagazine.com/techarticl...tch/index.html

It may also be your crankshaft positioning sensor. Here is a link to a good thread describing how to check/test your cps sensor and also how to replace if needed.
http://www.jeepsunlimited.com/forums...d.php?t=502692

Good luck

-Mike

 

does it not start after its been running for a little while?

 

Is it the original starter? If so take it out and have it tested and or replaced if needed. JMO
And Welcome to CF!
Dan

 

OK, first off, thank you everyone for replying! I am going down to check out all of your suggestions this afternoon. It is sitting in a parking lot down the road right now.

It will sometimes start after it has been running, but it depends on what kind of mood it is in.

It is the original starter and that is what I initially thought it was. I am hoping it will start in the neutral position, but I won't know that until I can get back over to it and check it out.

I have a fear that it is the starter or the starter solenoid. Well, I will post what I find out as soon as I can! Thanks again! And thank you for the welcome too!

 

Sometomes the temp of the engine can effect a tempramental starter.

Example: I had a pickup that would only start consistantly when it was cool, or cold outside, and then not restart once it had been ran (was warm) but would restart without issue when cool. I've heard it has something to do with the gears/wires inside of the sylenoid. (i'm not sure)

Good- Luck

Be sure to clean the wires going to the starter if you change it.
Might even be worth a try to take em off, clean em, and put them back on.

 

Yeah that happened to me. Instead of the typical clicking sound you get my solenoid wouldn't even activate so instead it put a huge load on the battery. When it did start it cranked over really slow(big sign of a starter going bad)

I'd say take the starter out and take it to an autoparts store to be tested, normally its free and taking it out takes maybe 15 minutes.

 

Also, in my experience...
If you can't start it (it barely turns and sucks your battery dry) and then you can start it with a jump, it's probably a starter issue.

When they go, they tend to draw 3 or 4 times the normal amount of juice to turn it over.

****WARNING****

If you keep jumping it when it's like this, it'll kill your battery, causing you to have to replace it.

 

another possibility would be the fuel pump, but typically that would cause a hard start at times when the vehicle has sat for a little while, like maybe after an hour or so when there's no pressure in the lines.

 

Fuel pump wouldn't cause it to not crank.
I had a pre-filter get clogged AND a Fuel Ballast Resistor go bad on me(two separate occasions) Both times the Jeep would crank just fine, turn over and then just die.

 

yeah that's true...but I don't see where he said it doesn't crank... he said it doesn't turn over. Last time I had a fuel pump that was starting to go out it would cause a hard start on cold starts. Could very well be the starter or the neutral safety switch. A previous vehicle I owned only started randomly, and it turned out to be the crank and cam shaft position sensors, I believe it still cranked when that happened too but I can't quite remember.

 

OK, So after reading the post yesterday morning and checking it out, the jeep wouldn't even turn over at all. I went ahead and talked to some guys at the local auto shop and they looked at it for me. Turns out it was the starter. They replaced it, and the thing hasn't started like that in years. I honestly think it was the original starter that came with the jeep.

Thank you all very much for your help!