Please help,
On my way into work tonight my battery gauge went from 13 to zero. The radio cut out 3 or 4 times. the motor never ran rough and did not stall. I parked and then immediately tried to start it up. No go. not enough juice to crank. But headlights remain bright even with gauge at zero.
The battery is a year old. The jeep is a 96 grand cherokee ltd. 5.2 l. I have access to enough tools to change out the battery or alternator but I have no idea which one went bad on me. I have until 11am to figure it out.
-Tom (stuck in the Bronx)

 

alternator has passed away.

 

Hot wire the starter relay.
If lights are bright, but you don't hear a clicking when turning the key, the battery may still be good.

 

X2

 

I'm not sure how to hour wire the relay. But I don't believe the starter its the issue. It gives a low voltage crank, but not enough to turn over

 

Sounds like the alternator. Charge your battery and replace your alternator.

 

Thanks for the help everyone. Looks like I'll be walking over to the pep guys for a new alternator.

 

Sounds like a bad ground to me.
Take a set of jumper cables and hook to the battery and then the motor some place it will give a good ground but not get in the way if the motor starts.

Sounds like you have a chaise ground but a poor motor ground.

Also try hooking the jumper cable to the body to be sure its not the other way around.

If this dose not fix your problem see if some one will jump you. If it starts right up off a jump then your Alt is smoked. Replace and then get the battery tested after you go home and put it on a charger for a while. Ofter times if an Alt dies it will kill the battery.

Good luck and let us know what the problem was.

 

Update: I grabbed a new alternator that morning. Popped it in without a problem. And had a coworker give me a jump. Drove the 30 miles home on the highway. Haven't had any issues since