trailsend.lake

I have a 95 zj with a 5.2 318 i think, but i have a strange no start issue going on. first i had new battery cables made for it cuz the old ones were jacked up from the prior owner. Didnt help, so i pulled the starter out and had it tested, and its fine. i replaced the starter relay as well. Battery is in perfect shape too. So i turn the key and it goes thru all the motions of starting, until the last step and just get a click. as best as i can tell its from under the dash. its got me scratching my head.
couple other things: I had a stereo and alarm installed by car toys a little over a year ago, so i dont know if that would have any thing to do with it. Its a clifford brand alarm system, and they are supose to be good. I checked all the fuses too.
What should i look for next?

Bustedback

The 318 is 5.2, not 5.7 liters.

trailsend.lake

Thank you for your great knowladge of engine sizes, but i am looking for help on this. This used to be a good site to help or get help, but if all your gonna do is correct people on their statments or questions, then why have a site like this?

North_Coast_ZJ

If you have volt meter see if 12V is making to the starter solenoid while someone else turns the key. If it you have 12V while someone turns the key, the starter may be still bad... (the starter might be intermittent and worked at the shop). If the 12V never makes it to the solenoid it could be your alarm like you thought, but I'm not sure how to test the alarm. Maybe some has some ideas. Good luck

mr.clean

It could be your alarm or it could be your starter. Get under it and have someone try to start it and listen for the solenoid to see if it clicks. Also check the voltage at the starter like North said. If you have 12 volts to it and it is not starting it is the starter. When my starter was going bad I could hit it with a hammer and it would start. When I took it off to have it checked, it would check good. So as long as all your wires are on tight and are right and you have the right voltage to the starter it should be the starter. If your solenoid is not getting the voltage it needs I would have your alarm system checked out.

Bustedback

You're not even sure what size engine you have, so why waste my time giving a detailed explaination to somebody who may no even understand what I'm telling them? Getting all snippy does not help either.

trailsend.lake

North / mr.clean, i will test it with the volt meter. If everything checks out then i will start looking at the alarm system. Thank you both for your input.

Dr J

did u try in neutral or jiggle the shift select lever? I went through this with my xj and it was the neutral safety switch. There are posts on here to remove the NSS and clean the contacts, but I guess I wasn't patient enough getting mine off and broke it. Same for me, new cables, new starter, issue persisted, but mine was intermittent - seemed to be more of a problem after driving 5 mins and shutting down, was not an issue cold starting. Cost about $260.

dave1123

He said 5.2, Busted.

My ZJ had the same problem. I had to slam it into park to get the starter to work. I just fixed it by starting it in neutral. Path of least resistance.

Bustedback

He corrected it after the fact, it was 5.7 at the time he posted originally. But no big deal, too many other dead horses to beat.

dave1123

Sorry buddy. Sent you a PM.

ZJNOOB

Check your starter relay or the Auto Shutdown relay. they are right next to each other on the fuse box. If that doesn't work, grab a tire iron and tap the starter solenoid.

I got my very first Jeep this past Wednesday. It wouldn't start when I went to go look at it. checked relays, wires and then tapped the starter. Started right up.

trailsend.lake

sorry all for not getting back to you on this. been working 5/14s the last few weeks. First of all, brokeback is correct, i did post 5.7 on my first thread and i did correct it. been around chevy motors too long.
So what i found out was i had two problems. first is my gf somehow activated the failsafe starter kill on my alarm, and therefore i wasnt getting 12 volts to the starter. so i got that all corrected. second, when i pulled the starter out and had it tested, they told me it tested good{ it was the weekend and didnt use my regular parts house} so i tried to start it by jumping the posts on the solinoid whith a screw driver and got the dead click noise. So i replaced the starter and all is good.
Thank all of you for your ideas and tips, its nice to see this site doing what its suppose to do.

Bustedback

I've never had good luck with the parts monkey bench testing my starters and alternators. They always test "good", but never work once installed. Is it the monkey or the machine?

RagTop69

I'm a newbie here, like the O.P.er, but you've got to be kidding me. I am a big time Mustang, Camaro and Corvette enthusiast and spend time on several car forums where any question is treated with a degree of seriousness. I have now seen two posts by new folks that were answered by snotty, nit picking jerks on this forum who seem to think that their time is somehow so valuable that it's OK to be rude to newcomers. Who the **** cares whether the guy got the conversion between SAE and metric displacements right? He needs help, dummy, and he's getting that good old "I'm the expert here and I don't want to share my expertise with you" crap. Puleeze! We're talking Jeeps here for pitty sake.