Hey guys and gals. Ill try to explain this as clearly as possible.

A few weeks ago while driving my 2000 xj, the battery light came on and the volts were reading 19. The jeep was still running fine, and a few minutes later it returned to reading 14 volts. A few days later, I started the xj and the odometer was reset as well as my radio settings, as if the battery had been disconnected. The jeep was still starting normally and running fine so I ignored these symptoms.

Fast forward a few weeks to tonight. Drove to work fine, but as I went to start the xj to go home, all interior and dash lights shut off completely, and nothing else happened. I popped the hood and shifted the battery around and tried to wiggle the battery terminals, and the interior lights popped back on. Tried starting again, and everything shut off again. I then successfully jumped the xj, and drove 20 minutes home. As I drove home, I could see the dash lights as well as the headlights pulsating the entire trip home. As I pulled into the driveway, I turned her off and tried to restart, and again nothing. No lights, nada.

Is this a bad ground? Bad battery connections / wires? Alternator maybe? If anyone has experienced this before, I'm all ears. Thanks in advance.

Nathan

 

Sounds like your alternator is fine, my money is on that being what caused the pulsating. Carefully check and make sure your battery has enough water in it, fill it with distilled water only if it doesn't. If its still pretty full put it on a charger or have it tested.
Good luck!

 

Also take your terminals off give em a good cleaning and make sure they're good and tight when you reconnect them.

 

Start there.
All the symptoms you describe, intermittent starting, voltage instability etc can all be caused by a simple loose or dirty battery connection.
As suggested, take 'em off, shine them up and tighten them back down.
Also check the cable condition and the integrity of the 'other' end of the cables- at the engine and chassis ground studs, PDC 'battery' connection, etc.

 

x2 (3?) on the battery terminals. Replace if necessary

 

Cleaned up terminals and it started right up. Thanks a lot for all the responses

 

good to hear. I should probably do the same...but I know i need to replace some of those wires soon too

 

hah. n00b.

<3