dochollidae

If you don't have time to read all of the stuff I typed, a quick summary is that when I try to start my vehicle, I hear a single click, all the power goes off. If I wiggle the negative battery terminal, all of the power comes back and everything works until I try to turn the Jeep on. Then everything dies.

have a 1996 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited. Inline 6 cylinder with everything factory with the exception of the speakers in the doors, the radio and the two ten inch subwoofers in the back and the amplifier (all Kenwood).

So here is what happened:
I lost my job on May 3rd, and then I stopped driving the vehicle for about a month since I really didn't have any place to go. This was before the stereo was installed (I had no music for some time). After about a month, I tried to start the Jeep, but nothing happened. Nothing would turn on, and the lamps in the cab wouldn't turn on when the doors were opened. The headlamps wouldn't cut on, and the power locks didn't work either.

Cool, I thought. I'll just replace the battery. I did that, and it ran fine with no problems. A week later (yesterday), I went to go to eat, and it wouldn't start. Now, I did have the amplifier and subs installed on Friday. I had them done professionally, then I drove to my friends house and spent the weekend there. No problems at all from the vehicle. He lives an hour away, and I drove a whole bunch of places while there. I drove back home, went a few places with no problems.

Then, all of a sudden there was nothing when I tried to start the vehicle. The interior lights came on, but when I went to start it I hear a single click, then all the power goes off. And then nothing. If I wiggle the negative wire going to the battery, I get power again. Everything comes on, radio, headlamps, everything. It all stays on until I try to start it, and everything shuts down after that.

I disconnected the amplifier to see if that was the problem, but the same thing happened. Just a single click when I try to turn her over, and then all the power goes out and I have nothing unless I adjust the negative battery wire.

Normally, if a starter is going bad, I would "feel" it start to go. You have trouble starting the car and you have to bang it with a hammer or something to get your car started. I've had no problems or weird things happen with the starter. Plus, generally, a starter will click several times if it is going bad until it is totally shot. I did not experience that.

I had the battery recharged to start the vehicle to try to get the alternator tested. But it didn't start on a fully charged battery. It just clicked once, the power died, and that's it.

My buddy told me to go get a multimeter and put a meter on it. He's my best friend in the world, but putting a meter on something isn't the solution to The World's Problems. I don't post much here, but I've been trying to figure this out all day to no avail.


TLDR: I have power going to everything, but when I turn over the key, there is a single click, and all the power dies until I wiggle the negative wire going to the battery.

baseman

sounds to me you got a major short going on...get the ignition switch looked at!

Jordan1996 ZJ

i had a somewhat similar problem, except everything worked besides the gauge cluster the starter and it was in the key switch theres like 7 or 8 wires that come out of it and they all run to god knows where so i just figured out witch one was the problem and ran it straight to the battery and ive running it like that ever since

if you think it might be the starter just hit it with a hammer while turning the key i also had that problem

Bustedback

If wiggling the neg battery cable produces a change I would start looking at a bad connection at the batter terminals and look at the cables, they may be rotten.

dochollidae

This worked. I replaced the battery terminals this morning and everything works fine. I had the starter and alternator tested, and they are good. Thanks guys.