Hey everyone, you might remember my new piston thread when I rebuilt my engine after I had a broken piston skirt.

Well, that engine now has about 2,000 miles on it. My tabs expired 2 months ago, and I can't afford them right now so the WJ's just been sitting for the most part.

I went to start it the other day and the battery was dead, so I charged it up. Fired the Jeep and it didn't want to idle. I let it run for a while foot assisted, and then drove to the doctor and a few other places. The idle seemed to have fixed itself. Well, the next day the battery was dead again, and when I jumped it it didn't want to idle again. So same thing, I foot assisted it till it got up in temperature a bit and it seems okay, but it does not want to idle in park after revving. I have to slowly let it down.

It has been running like a Swiss watch till the battery thing started. I'm wondering if I might have rattled something loose. The battery connections aren't the best, and unknowingly the battery wasn't clamped down tight until just recently.

It's been doing that thing where the gauges go haywire when I turn the key to auxiliary every now and then. That happened before when the connection was loose. But I don't know what to think.

Any guesses?

 

Well I noticed my main power to my starter was a little loose. I'm not sure how much, if any of all the power runs through that. Or if it being loose could cause excess battery drainage. But unfortunately, now my battery charger doesn't work, so I'm waiting for a friend to bring me a charger.

Last time it wouldn't idle one of my vacuum hoses came undone from the intake manifold. So I checked that, but not this time.

Sooo, while I wait for a charger, does anyone think that loose starter wire could have anything to do with it?

 

My opinion? It's time to cut the battery cable ends off and replace them. That big red wire that goes to the starter only draws power when the starter is engaged. The other red wire goes to the PDC and supplies power for everything else! If it's corroded inside the clamp, it won't supply enough power to make the systems work right. Also, check the temp sensor under the battery. If the battery was bouncing around, it could have damaged it. The PCM uses battery temp to control charging rate.

 

this is a pretty common phenomena with jeeps after the battery dies. if you can get it started and running for a couple minutes. you can usually disconnect the battery and reconnect it then try starting it again. if you start it with any help from the accelerator after it looses its basic setting, it doesn't learn the correct idle which is why it doesn't like idling in park.

 

Oh, so you're saying when it's reconnected the systems are basically relearning and resetting at the same time? So for a fresh start do not give it any gas. I will give that a try. That's good to know.

Same with the thing under the battery Dave, I was wondering what that was. Never would have guessed a temp sensor..

But, the battery cables aren't bad at all. They aren't corroded at all. What I meant when I said they aren't the best, is actually more of the batteries fault it seems. They just don't really squeeze on the terminals. Everything is clean, and the battery is an Interstate, I hope it's not going bad. With the price I gotta pay to get new plates and tabs I don't need another costly problem..

 

the original terminals on all of these are older jeeps are a huge failure item. even if they look ok the connections inside the terminal must get week. Your best off replacing the terminals with basic universal terminals.


these generally come in a variety of different materials. and even styles. but before doing any more electrical diagnosis i would just replace these and make sure everything is tightened up nice.

 

I just cleaned the hell out of mine. They're similar to the picture, but they're fixed on. My battery is at 84% on the charger, so I'm about to plug it back in and see what happens.

 

Cool. It's running perfect again! Just needed the contacts cleaned, a good charge, and starting it without giving it gas.

Thanks for the help guys!