I utilize this forum a ton for fixing the jeep and troubleshooting problems. After some bizarre issues that ended up being the starter I wanted to provide a thread with some tips for diagnosis. Some of the stuff is on Youtube or hidden in a sentence or just not existent on this forum.

1. One of the first things you will be told to do with a no crank scenario is to check for voltage going to the solenoid on the ignition relay while a helper turns the key in the car. I *could not* find voltage when I had a voltmeter grounded to the chassis/starter/metal. After noticing a slight drop of voltage on the direct line from the battery to the solenoid during a key turn I assumed that there was in fact some voltage going to the starter from somewhere.

I had the idea to instead of grounding the connection to the relay on the chassis to just string it right up to the ground on the battery. And well bam, that gave me a voltage readout on the key turn. Maybe someone with electrical knowledge can explain that one.

2. People ask all the time how you can test the neutral safety switch. There seems to be a really easy way to do this that has not been mentioned. Open up your fuse box. Find your ignition fuse (it is marked on the top of your fuse cover) and have a helper put the car in P / R / N / 1 / 2 etc. Each gear have them turn the key. You should hear a click on P and N and not anything else. This should theoretically mean that the NSS is bridging the connection with voltage in the right or wrong places.

3. There are some really good Youtube videos that explain how to use your ignition fuse/connection to test for voltage in different spots. By sticking your positive voltmeter chord in pin 86 and the negative on the black battery terminal have a helper turn your key. If you see voltage this rules out ignition switch issues.

Lastly, just cause a starter engages outside the car or at the auto parts store doesn't mean that its working correctly. I learned this the hard way.

My jeep = '95 XJ Limited 200k