I moved from Sunny and dry Southern California.. to rain soaked Washington State. Driving the 1995 XJ everyday. Last week, the engine light started showing up intermittently. Then this morning, on the way to work, the Tach needle dropped to 0. Then the Speedometer needle followed suit. The rest of the electrical.. headlights, interior lights, all the other gauges.. all worked fine.

Once I pulled into a parking stop and shut down the ignition.. I tried to restart. Just that clicking sound that one associates with a dead battery.

I JUST put in a new battery two months ago.

Now.. I'm at work.. and it's pouring rain. As soon as I can.. I'll take the battery to a local auto parts store and get it checked.

Do you think that the rain coulda done something?

alternator suddenly took a dive?

I'd be interested in your thoughts before I tear into the engine compartment..

 

It sounds an awful lot like corrosion causing a bad ground/connection, or your alternator failing to charge the system. Or a faulty battery (have it load tested at Autozone or something, will take them 5 minutes max if they aren't busy). You could have them check the alternator at the same time if you wish (I think they can load test the battery and alternator with both in the vehicle).

Get yourself a digital multimeter, as they are useful for diagnosing issues;
http://www.harborfreight.com/7-funct...ter-90899.html

Check voltage at idle, directly at the battery. it should be reading at LEAST 13.2v
Turn on all the electrical stuff that you can (blower, high beams, interior lights, etc.) and the voltage should INCREASE to feed the increased current draw. This will tell you if your alternator is feeding enough current into the battery.

Second,
If your alternator checks out, get a can of electronic contact cleaner from the auto parts store and some steel wool or sandpaper, and start cleaning all electrical connections you can find. Degrease any areas using simple green if they have oil/sludge on them, as it will often times prevent a good electrical connection

Here is a decent guide for the older models, but most of that applies to the newer models as well;
https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f51/cr...x-tips-153657/


My money is on a bad electrical connection.

 

Thank you Investinwaffles. I'll do that. And I'll let you know what I found out

 

Or jump start it & move back to Cali.

 

Alt went south on you.

 

You know what? I just realized that I solved this problem and never got to you all about what I found and how I fixed it.

Sorry 'bout that.

I found I had the following problems.

1) corroded battery cables.... replaced the the positive with an OEM from the dealer. (cost me a million dollars)

2) My alternator had died... replaced it.

3) Even after doing the above fixes, I found that the battery would drain if left overnight. I had to unplug the cables to stop it from happening. At that point, I got some help from a local jeep enthusiast I'd made friends with who told me that my ECU was toast.

I replaced the ECU. And the the jeep ran beautifully from that point on. No more electrical problems.

Conclusion: I have had this XJ wheeling in the dessert, through mud, and trails.. drive it daily to work and use it for occasional light towing. Through all that, I never really had to do too much work on it.. (well.. okay there WAS that transfer case rebuild.. and the front hub replacements, twice.. front hub rebuild.. blower motor and relay replacement.. and.. so yah.. not much) Anyways.. I suspect that the sudden, long haul drive up and down the west coast of the U.S... (towing a 1400 lb travel trailer the second time), probably was just too much for some of the aging parts.

In fact, less then a year later, after 270,000 miles.. the engine died. I'm currently pulling it to do a rebuild.