madhader

Ok, I'm in big trouble here guys. I recently just did some major overhauling on the jeep (00 XJ; 4x4, 4.0L). Jeep was running rough and was tapping pretty bad so I pulled off the valve cover and noticed that one of my #4 pushrods was not seated under the rocker arm like it should be.

Long story short, I pulled the head, replaced the lifter, which had failed and caused the pushrod to unseat, put the head back on, put the valve cover back on and then did some extra general maintenence since it was mostly apart already anyways (replaced the timing chain, waterpump, oil pump, and harmonic balancer because it exploded on me when I went to take it off to get to the timing chain cover).

Anyway , last night I hooked everything back up and when I went to install the battey my starter started trying to turn the engine over. I pulled out a multi-meter, put one end on the negative battery terminal, and started touching around the engine bay, what I found is very disturbing. The block, and almost everything in and around the engine bay has 11V! I started unplugging every connection I could see, took out all the fuses under the hood, and I still had 11v. After about an hour I partially isolated the cause, or at least found a way to turn it on and off. I followed my positive cable, coming off the battery, to the engine bay fuse/relay box. When I removed the power wire coming into the front of the fuse box the block has no voltage running through it; when I put it back on the post I get 11V. This leads me to beleive one of the wires coming off of the back of the fuse box is causing problems but I still don't know how to fix it because that feeds into the big wiring harness running across the rear of the engine bay. Don't really know how to diagnose it from here and could really use some help. Also, if any one has an extra one of these big wiring harnesses please let me know how much you want for it because if I have to start cutting into each individual wire to find the culprit I'm not going to want to reuse the one I have. Thanks guys

mentalbreakdown00

Bad ground(s)

madhader

yes well, that's not exactly very helpful now is it? I've already told you that I unplugged everything I could get my hands on, that includes grounds.

If I had acidentally hooked something up incorrectly during the rebuild I have definetly unhooked it by now plus many more connectors. I have considered the fact that maybe because of any possible misconnections I may have previously made it could have melted and fused some wires together that should not be touching but, I really don't think that is possible. If that were the case I think it would have burnt out by now and would no longer be carrying current but, whatever is going on seems like it must be a big wire to be able to supply 11V to the whole block

Spunkmeyer

What mentalbreakdown00's saying is you need to check all the ground connections and make sure they are good. Reconnect them.

A little more advice: don't expect people to help you on this site if you're going to be rude to them in return.

madhader

I'm sorry, just frustrated at the situation and I feel like making a vague and general statement like that isn't really worth posting... Again, nothing personal meant by it. I appreciate you guys taking the time to read this post and offer whatever feedback you can

mentalbreakdown00

You have a ground off of something, you can't unplug a ground it has to be unbolted. Check you main battery ground, and any other grounds that may be on the engine. When you read voltage on a block like that it is because there is available voltage, because it has no way to go to ground.

madhader

I will be heading over to my friends shop aftework today and I will double check that all of my grounds are resecured. Can you think of how many there are supposed to be? I'm just trying to count the one's in my head that I can remember undoing during the rebuild: one on the rear driver's side head bolt and 2 or 3 that secured to the passenger side of the block just under or above the head gasket... I'll make sure to count them later today and see how many I can find.

mentalbreakdown00

Turn your key on, and use your volt meter from bat ground to that perticular grounding spot and see if it is more than .02 V, if it is, unbolt it and clean it with a wire brush (the wire and the grounding spot), and bolt it back up. Will the truck not start?

madhader

As of right now I haven't even tried to start it. I'm just trying to get the started to stop trying to turn over automatically when the key isn't even in the ignition. That's what started this whole mess. I was getting ready to try and start her up and as soon as I connected the battery to the terminals the starter started running by itself...

mentalbreakdown00

Pull the starter relay. Then see if it still does it.

madhader

already did, starter still runs

mentalbreakdown00

Ok, undo you small wire tot he starter, will it still do it?

madhader

I don't think I tried that. I think I just disconnected it completely to make sure it wasn't possessed. If I try it and it doesn't run then what is that going to tell me?

mentalbreakdown00

you have voltage to that wire when you shouldn't, then i'll look at a diagram and see whats going on

madhader

I beleive this one (8W-21-3) is the one for me (automatic). There are 2 in AllData: 8W-21-3 (A/T) and 8W-21-5 (M/T). Unfortunately, I am not the best at reading these things though