I am experiencing a strange problem. 2001 XJ, AT, 4.0L, 155K.

Couple of weeks ago I turned the ignition on the truck, engine was warm and had sat 15min. Solenoid clicked and everything went dead. No dash, no chime, no power windows/locks or radio, dim and barely visible dome light.

Popped the hood, nothing visibly wrong but negative battery cable was warm and getting warmer. Disconnected the negative for 60seconds and truck was alive again at reconnect. Battery voltage 13.89V Each time I turn the key to the start position, same result and a battery disconnect to reset. No smoke or smells, nothing found to be melted or burned.

Truck has 2 month old battery and new battery terminals and I had previously cleaned and check the grounds.

Pulled the starter because it seemed like a heavy power draw/short type of problem related to the starter. Starter was original Chrysler starter that was pretty crusty looking. Upon bench testing at the local auto parts store, it sounded terrible with bad bearing noise and arcs flying out of the starter case from the brushes. My thought is "Jackpot" a bad starter. New starter and bench tested before I left.

Installed new starter, same symptom... During starter install, nothing found problematic, cables and ends were clean, undamaged and corrosion free.

Turned the motor over with a socket wrench as I thought perhaps something was stuck and inhibiting the start. No Joy. Left the truck sit about another 30min after a half dozen attempts and then it started fine. Drive it for a several days and no issue.

The battery voltage is now up around 14.2 again but I think it was starting to drain because of the high current draw and multiple start attempts. I did have the battery load tested and it was reported as good.

Last night, you guessed it, solenoid clicked and truck went dead. I pulled the positive battery cables and negative battery cable and alternator heavy cable to underhood PDC. I cut open all the wire loom that the battery cables were routed through, completely removed them from the truck for bench inspection, ohmed with a multimeter at .1 Ohm and hen I looked for melted, abraded or damaged cables and wires, nothing. Everything was fine, flexible, no damage, cracking, stiffness, corrosion or wear. Now I was really stumped. I then re-cleaned all contacts used some new wire loom material and put everything back together and all loomed back up. Truck started fine but I don't trust it at this point to not leave me in a parking lot with a no start issue.

Thoughts? Comments? Ideas?

Thanks in advance for the input.

 

"I had previously cleaned and check the grounds."

Might want to check everything again. Whats the history on the vehicle has it been hacked by a backwoods electrical engineer?


Sometimes the best fix for those is CraigsList.

 

I did re-check the grounds when I removed the heavy cables and I had just done a clean check about 1200miles earlier when I first bough the XJ.

Everything is very straight with no pecker tracks in the electrical or mechanical systems. My biggest problems have been related to the previous owner thinking the only maintenance a vehicle needed was an oil change. The rest of fluids had not seen attention before me. Nor had other wear and adjustment items, Just gas and go man!

 

Did issue start b4 or after battery replacement ?

 

When you reassembled the ground and power ring teminals you didn't use Dielectric grease on them did you?

Have you examined the inside (under) the PDC for corrosion? Maxi-fuses 2 and 3 ane the main feed to the ignition switch. See PDC pic.

Maybe the ignition switch is taking a dump.

 

Yes I Did... Please explain

I also coated the ends of the battery cables w/dielectric grease when I put the new battery terminals on.

I had inspected the underside of the PDC and it looked clean and tidy, no corrosion.

 

Do you have any aftermarket stuff cd player? or tow package? I had crazy electrical problems because the previous owner installed a tow package and did a horrible job with the electrical for the trailer lights. They used electrical tape for everything. The tape fell off and all the wiring was touching and grounding out on the frame. This was screwing with all my interior dash lights and exterior lighting. Look for anything after market the previous owner might have touched.

 

Dielectric grease is an insulator not a conductor. Use of it on ground (-) points and power (+) points that make contact using ring terminals will insulate the contact surfaces. If anything, you should use an anti-oxidant joint compound, like NOALX, made by Ideal Industries. It promotes good conductivity. The only use for Dielectric grease, aka tune up grease or bulb grease, is on spark plug boots and exterior light bulbs. For some reason people think this Dielectric grease is a fix-all and put it on all electrical contacts, including inside of electrical connectors. Error.

I suggest you remove that crap from where ever you applied it, and if you can't find NOALOX (Lowes/Home Depot) use nothing.

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Ox-Gard is another good product.

http://www.olypen.com/craigh/oxgard.htm

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Scroll down to "As a sealant around electrical contacts".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicon...rical_contacts

 

I like Ox-Guard.

 

OK. Next step is clean the battery terminal ends and other where dielectric grease was used.

Thanks for the advice.

I will post after cleaning.

 

Use a solvent, such as Acetone or MEK, to remove the grease.

 

I have cleaned the grease off and placed the battery terminal ends back on. Has been doing fine the last few days.

Thanks for the advice and I look forward to this as a permanent fix.

I will re-post if the symptoms recur.

 

It should be fine now.

These rumors get started and people just start going nuts without any investigation at all.
From the Wiki:
A dielectric material (dielectric for short) is an electrical insulator that can be http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dipolar_polarization by an applied http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_field. When a dielectric is placed in an electric field, electric charges do not flow through the material as they do in a http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrical_conductor, but only slightly shift from their average equilibrium positions causing dielectric polarization. Because of dielectric polarization, positive charges are displaced toward the field and negative charges shift in the opposite direction.

Dielectric = Not for use on conductive electrical connections.....