I ran into a strange issue tonight. When I go to crank my '01 XJ everything dies... no radio, no lights, nothing. When I get out and lock it with the keyfob, I can get back in and turn on the ignition. At this point, the radio and lights all work. When I try to start it again, everything dies.


I checked the battery cables and the charge and everything seems to be fine. My best guess is the rain tonight is muffing something up or I activated the anti-thief while disabling my clockspring (It took a dump on me).


Any ideas on where to start?

 

Yes you should start with whatever has been done since the last time it started fine. Outside that could be a ground issue.

 

I would start by cleaning all of the grounding points. Not just the battery. Also have the battery load tested. Any parts store will test it for free.

 

I took a sanding block to the wires leading to the terminal and re-pinched them in. It has started up three times now. The whole NO power thing made me think it was something worse. Looks like I need some new heavy gauge wires, they are pretty corroded.