Last week I noticed I was having sluggish startups, and I figured it was weather related as I live in North Jersey. Only thing is the startups were more and more sluggish as the days progressed.

I searched and found that it could be 3 things: Battery needs to be replaced, alternator not working right, and theres parasitic battery drain.

I was with a mechanic friend of mine in my car and he told me it wouldn't be the alternator because the car does start and holds a charge throughout the day. I figured I would just replace the battery since I can't remember when I replaced it and I've owned this XJ since '07.

Sure enough it doesnt start this week. However the dome lights, radio, and dash lit up like normal... until tonight.

Had a friend come by to jump it, but before he showed up I decided to clean my battery terminals and connections with water and baking soda. I detached them first. Dried them when I was done. His battery had a cupcake sized cake of corrosion on the + terminal. I didn't have the baking soda on hand when he showed up so I wiped off as much as I could and we tried the jump.

now I have less startup action and clicking.

If anyone has any insight into what else I can check to isolate the problem while I wait until I can either buy parts and attempt to fix myself or somehow get it to the mechanic that is exactly around the block without a tow. I already plan on banging on the starter, rechecking my battery connection, attempting another jump - and if successful - using a multimeter to find where the battery drain is coming from.

 

Back to basics.

1. Be sure you remove battery cables from battery when cleaning. Must clean the "inside" of the cables until the metal is shiny, then reconnect.

2. Grounds. So very important and often involved in starting issues. More on them below.

3. When it does start, verify your charging system. Parts stores or shops can do it for you or a quick and dirty test you can do yourself is put a meter on the battery. At a slightly high idle, you should see around 14.4 volts, give or take a little.

4. Another quick meter test is to turn your ignition to ON. Take your meter and test voltage at the starter itself. If you have approximately full battery voltage at the starter and the starter won't work, the problem is likely the starter itself.

Good luck and keep us updated!
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Grounds can be the root cause of many electrical gremlins. Refreshing grounds is NEVER a bad idea, and the investment of your time in this procedure is always well worth it!

You can't tell much of anything by looking at ground connections!! You must remove, scrape, clean until shiny the cable/wire ends and whatever they bolt to. Be sure to remove all paint from any ground connections.

Start with the one on the back corner of the head, and where it attaches to the firewall, as it deteriorates over time and is an area that makes it susceptible to damage. Best to replace that woven cable with a #4 or #2 gauge cable. You can attach the one end to the intake manifold if you would like.

Next go over to the engine dipstick tube stud. Remove the nut and clean the wire ends and scrape the block until shiny at the stud. Reattach tightly.

If you are so inclined, add at least a #6 cable from the negative terminal of your battery to one of the bolts on your radiator support.

 

I had a problem exactly like this in two vehicles. In one, a Silverado, I replaced the ground cable from the battery. Solved.

In the other vehicle, an old Subaru, I merely cleaned the dirt off the top of the battery. Solved. Kinda dumb. Pff. But if you replaced the battery, it surely isn't this one.

I'd bet ground though. Either bad cable or bad connecting points. Start by cleaning up the cable connections to the body with a wire brush. Or move them. If that doesn't work, there could be corrosion inside your cable that you can't see. I cut my Silverado cable open and sure enough it was corroded bad under the sheath. I'd have never known otherwise. So replace the ground cable. They're not expensive I think. Like $10 maybe?


-T.

 

I couldn't get a jump until a little bit ago and I couldn't get my hands on a multimeter. to diagnose some things.. It took 10 minutes to finally get it to start up, so I can rule out starter being dead (it might generally be dying though).

I had to jump it twice because after I left it idling a little I went to go drive around and as soon as I shifted into drive it stalled out.

The 2nd time I left it attached a little bit longer. Still somewhat struggled to get going. I unattached and decided to turn it off and turn it back on to confirm it wasnt the starter. It started. I fiddled a little bit more and fed some RPMs. Drove in town for some lunch. I turned it off. Turned it back on.

I have to shower now before work, and I'll check it again. Not sure if I should take it to work even though it's in town. If i decide to leave it I'll check it again when I get home at midnight.

 

Test battery for sure. But a bad starter has given me intermittent symptoms of a weak battery more than once.

 

I would also check the battery cables you could have a bad cable .

 

An oil soaked starter will do the same. Cranking gets slower and slower as time goes by, and then wont crank at all.

 

Sorry for the late followup, turns out it was my under hood light not staying on the mount and staying on. I unplugged and haven't had any startup issues since.

Thanks for all the replies!