Went to start my 90 XJ yesterday after sitting for about a week. found the battery was dead. pretty sure i left something on as its never done this. i checked all my connections from the battery to the block and so forth. terminals are in good condition. i pulled my car around and hooked up jumper cables to start the jeep and as soon as i hit the key all power went away. no lights no crank no anything. pulled the battery out and swapped in the one out of the car i was using to jump it with and still no power or anything. battery is less than a month old and is holding charge and tested good here at work and was tested in another vehicle and works great. And yes the jumper cables was hooked up correctly. red to positive black to negative as should be. i did research online and all that kept pulling up was people hooking up cables backwards. any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Usually, when "ALL" power is lost it is a problem between the battery and its connection to the vehicle. Starting with the clamps and cables. A multimeter or test lamp will usually make quick work of it.

Long story short, you likely have a bad connection to the battery. Or bad cable.

 

Just purchased 2 g battery wiring and new battery terminals at work. going to install when i get home. hopefully its just a bad cable or terminal. everything looked fine when inspected but that does not mean anything. its just strange before i hooked the jumper cables up i had lights and everything. battery was just dead. tried to crank at first then made the famous clicking. hooked the cables up and as soon as i hit the key all went dark. will post an update later this evening

 

Very like your battery terminals are shot and you jiggled them enough to break the connection.

These re the kind of battery terminals you should ONLY use in an emergency, like when your battery cables are shot and you need your car running. Available at WalMart or any auto parts store.


Garbage!


These are the terminals you DO want:



Military battery terminals. Good stuff!


Might be time to think about replacing the cables. There's a member on this site who sells kits. I think he prefers marine-style terminals, which are also good, but I like the military style for two reasons; 1. They don't stick up the way marine terminals do, and 2, they offer one more connection point.

His website is www.meanlemons.com, but it seems to be down, so dunno what's going on with him. I get mine made by www.bestboatwire.com. I like to get the clear heat shrink on the ends so I can see what's going on inside

 

Might have blown a fuse or one of fuseable links on the passenger fender?

 

You can use those garbage terminals posted above just fine, but only if you scrape some paint off and crimp and/or solder the proper lugs onto the ends of the cables. You can throw that small plate under the bolts away, or leave it be. Add some anti-corrosion pads under the clamps. They work. If one needs a longer bolt at the other end for an extra connection, just replace the bolt. Grab an extra nut and maybe a washer if you feel the need. As long as all the connections are clean and soild, youre good to go.

If your battery has removeable caps, pop those off and check the cell levels, just because. Top them off with distilled water only. The water will take on a concave appearance as it reaches the proper fill level. Dont overfill.

 

well found the issue to be a very nasty looking ground cable. cut the insulation open and towards the block the wire was almost completely in half it was so brittle. upgraded to all 2 g wiring and runs like a champ.

 

I've used those 'garbage" terminals for years. Like fb97xj1 says, when used properly. I keep a couple in case of emergency, but when I did my dual battery setup in my pickup, I used those on the second battery. I used copper lugs soldered and crimped onto the end of the battery cable, then removed those bolts for that plate, and bolted the lug there. Not as ideal as military terminals, but work pretty good.

OP- Glad to hear you solved the problem. What kind of terminals did you use?