Starter Motors
 

Run a 96XJ, 4.0L with 103K miles and original Starter Motor & Solenoid. Wondering if its possible to predict failure of same beforehand. Don't want to get stuck somewhere not practical to perform replacement myself. Anyone have any experience with longevity of the OEM Starter Motors and Solenoids?

i rebuilt starters and alts for the military for a year in iraq. i'd say the only way that i know of to tell if something is wrong is if when you start your jeep and you let off the key to disengage the starter and its still slowing down from spinning so fast does it sound like its spinning a bearing? something like a vibrating noise. other than that you can check current draw from the battery. if your starter sucks a lot of juice out of the battery it could have internal problems such as the windings starting to melt or the solenoid starting to fail internally. other than that the only way i know to make sure its cool is to tear it down and look. its not hard...just put everything back the way it came apart and you should be fine.

if there is no obvious signs dont worry about it. if you could predict that i would buy a lotto ticket.............

The starter on my XJ 4.0 would periodically not start the Jeep hot after being shut off. I'd do the old love tap it with something heavy and metallic and then it would start. This was my cue that I needed to get a new starter before the love tapping quit working and I was left stranded. Got a new starter and all was well in the world of Buck's 91 XJ.:thumbsup:

the reason you had to "love" tap it was the solenoid getting stuck. probably something melted on the inside