TonyPa

Of course now that winter is here..
My 95 Cherokee XJ 4.0 HO.
This thing has never failed, and started all the time, until this afternoon. It felt like the battery was dead, and barely would turn over.
Finally it grabbed and started. So I charged the battery for about an hour, and it still turned very slowly, and barely started.
I checked the battery while the truck was off.
It read 12.28 volts. Thats only 60%?
I ran it to advance auto, and they tested the battery.
It has a two year old red optima in it. He said it was holding a load, and holding at almost 800 cranking amps. Ummmm okay.
why was it at 12.28 then while sitting overnight??
Alternator charging fine.
I got it back home, and parked it in the garage, since he told me to pull the starter and bring it in to get checked.
Now the damn thing is starting right up?
I am lost!
I started it 5 times, and it fires up like nothings wrong with it. I don't want to get stranded anywhere. Could the starter be the issue, or is this a electrical problem somewhere??

belvedere

12.28V while the Jeep is off, is acceptable, but really doesn't tell you much. You had it tested at the parts store, though, and so it should be fine. (If it was only 12.28V while idling, you'd have a charging system problem.)

I'd remove and clean all connections on both ends of the battery cables and at the starter.

SHELBYGT NSM

Also i would let them test the starter, if it isn't the starter then you can eliminate that as a problem, make sure everything is clean and tight.

s346k

think you had a loose connection on the battery ?

cruiser54

Service your battery and cables. Both ends.