swarwick

Purchased a 2000 Cherokee Sport 4.0 with 104k for my youngest son's first vehicle and not long after it wouldn't start. Jumped it off and took it to local auto store where they tested it and said the battery was good. I thought that maybe the radio was left on and ran it down. Happened again the next day, charged it and then took it down to a different auto store where they tested it and said the battery was good but the alternator was not not fully charging the battery and was likely going bad. Thus, I replaced the alternator. It was fine for about a week and then was dead again. I had read that often when an alternator is going bad it damages the battery so to eliminate the battery as a possible issue I replaced the battery. This worked for about a week and then it was dead again. I took it to the local repair shop I use and they drove it for several days to identify the issue and said that one time it wouldn't turn over initially but when they adjusted the gear shift it then started. They adjusted the linkage thinking it wouldn't start because it wasn't registering it was in park. This didn't help as when I got it back it was dead the next day. They also attempted to determine if something was draining the battery but didn't detect anything. If we charge it or jump it off it will restart until it sits over night. If it sits over night then it will not start. At this point, I'm at a loss at what could be draining the battery over night. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

robsjeep

Glove box light left on?

If you dont see what is draining the battery, get an amp meter on battery and measure what kind of current draw it has, then pull fuses until that current draw stops. That fuse is the fuse for the circuit that is draining the battery. if no amp meter, sometimes you can see a spark when battery is connected if current is drawn, no spark if no current, so use the spark or lack of spark as your amp meter, pull a fuse, one at a time and disconnect/reconnect battery looking for spark, if you had the spark, but pull a fuse and now dont get the spark, that is a sign that that fuse is on the circuit that has the current draw.

sounds like your shops are clueless and just want to throw parts at the problem rather than diagnosing the real problem.

good luck

exasemech

What he said..
Plus
Get some kind of multimeter, they can be dirt cheap ,doesn't need to be a Fluke, so you can:
1)Measure the draw on the battery as described above
2) check voltage at battery when vehicle is running to see if charging, should be 13.5 more or less , not 12

There are all sorts of stuff on my 2000 that are sorta like a refrigerator light....is it really going off: underhood light (I took bulb out, it was useless anyway) lights on mirrors on visors, all the inside "dome"/courtesy lights

If you are going to have a 20 yr old vehicle around you really can't rely on paying people to fix them.

Buy a scan tool, not a code reader ,while you're at it; you will need it. You need some tools before you start spending the car budget on lifts and wheels .
(a very related story.. A few years ago the battery on the car belonging to my 80 yr old neighbor who lived by herself on 75 acres wouldn't stay charged. Some young kin of hers told her she needed a new battery so she paid him to put one in .no joy. He then told her she needed a new alternater she paid him ,same result. As much as I didn't want to get involved (I don't do diagnostics for a living anymore) this was too sad to watch so measured the draw on the battery, was a amp or 2. Hmmmm small light bulb. Turned the headlight switch so dome light wasn't on all the time. Problem solved. Cost for actual fix parts/labor/shop supplies ZERO

swarwick

Update. Charged battery again and then checked battery with meter and it reads 12.46v. When running it reads 13.75v. When checking the battery for a draw I get 20 mA or .02 Amps which from what I've read is normal and I should only be concerned if it is above 50 mA. Is something coming on intermittently with a bigger draw overnight? Befuddled

exasemech

Your numbers sound fine
I know this probably sounds stupid but stranger things have hapoened:
when you are checking draw the hood is open. Normally it's shut. Look around to see if there is any sign of the closed hood touching the positive battery terminal and if it has one of those stupid underhood lights disconnect it

lawsoncl

Are you leaving a usb car charger plugged in? I have to remember to remove mine or it kills the battery over the course of a few weeks of sitting. I also had te glovebox light stay on a few times, until I just removed the bulb.

wildmustard

I just got through this very problem on my '93. Hooked up the multi-meter between the battery negative and the ground connection. The draw jumped from 0 to about 9 amps for a few seconds, then back to 0. Pattern repeated every 10 seconds or so. Good luck finding that by pulling fuses! But, I could hear a 'click' from inside the cabin as the draw jumped and again when it dropped. What the heck. Something that can still work without the ignition 'on'? Tracked the sound to the power driver's seat. Disconnected the clip under the seat, and presto! No more up and down, and battery has been perfect ever since. If I need to adjust the seat, I'll reconnect it. Problem solved (?)

Sheepinajeep

I have had a similar issue. This is about a year later on the reply but I had an issue where ignition key was turned off too far and the accessories went back on. It wasn’t obvious except for the little green LEDs on the window switches etc. this would be less obvious on a sport with roll down windows. So basically turning th key off too far

anyways that seemed to be my problem, it was very odd. I can also take my key out while car is running. My kids think it’s a cool trick. Looks like someone else reported on a similar issue a few years back:

https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f2/acc...switch-234892/

tlc1976

^Well since the thread has already been resurrected, I had the same issue with an ignition switch and/or cylinder. There were broken parts inside, therefore the rotation of the key cylinder didn’t always translate to the position of the actual switch. Sometimes the switch would end up staying partially on.