Alright, so I drove my '91 XJ to work yesterday and she was working like a champ! Parked her for about 4.5 hours, went to drive to Subway for my lunch break and she won't start! No crank, no solenoid click, nothing! Stereo, headlights, gauges, electric locks and windows, stupid little buzzer telling me to buckle my seatbelt all work fine! Figured I might need a jump so a coworker of mine tries to jump her with his Wrangler and still nothing! We finally decide it must be the starter relay and we jump the starter to get her running. I'm about to ride off into the sunset when I notice the back-up lights are on...and she's in park! I shift her through every gear, including neutral, and the back-up lights STILL won't turn off! Drove her all the way home with every idiot behind me going "Doesn't this idiot know his reverse lights are on!?". My conclusion, she thinks she's in reverse but she isn't, hence no starting. Any ideas on what I might do to fix her? She's a 91 XJ, 4.0L, Auto Tran.

 

Hmmmm.....no start, constant reverse lights, sounds like a NSS to me! but im just a dumb ol country boy.....

 

That is very strange... maybe you're right about thinkin' that she thinks she's in reverse, but I'm not sure where to start, I'll be watching this to see if anyone has ideas.
Good Luck!

 

Gonna vote NSS on this one...but ive been wrong before..

 

It really does sound like you NSS.

 

Almost ASSUREDLY a neutral safety switch. Backup lights are on the NSS circuit. Try this procedure. Very likely will restore full function. Good luck!

http://go.jeep-xj.info/HowtoNSSrebuild.htm

 

yup, nss.
next time this happens, try starting it in neutral.
you may have to hold the key in the start position and slightly wiggle the shifter around the neutral position until you hear it click. hold the key in start spot until it starts.

 

Thanks everyone! It was the NSS, went to the junkyard yesterday and got a "new" one, spent most of yesterday underneath my Jeep and I gave her over to the shop a couple of hours ago cause I can't get the leverage to get Trixie's switch off while lying on my back on the ground. Thanks for the links to the rebuild though, that helped alot!

 

Just out of curiosity, did you rebuild the "new" one you got from the jy? And are you going to rebuild the "old" one for a spare? I hope Trixie is feeling much better soon.....

 

deff. "rebuild" them suckers, they aint cheap!!