sportguy

I have a 2000 jeep Cherokee with the 4.0 engine. We recently had a rare winter storm in South Carolina that required me to lock the vehicle into high lock. The jeep ran fine while out on the road and as I pulled into my driveway I disengaged the 4 wheel high and went back into two wheel drive. I parked the jeep and the problem started the next morning when I got in to leave. After inserting the key into the ignition I tried to start the jeep and it would not turn over. I checked the battery and it was good but did notice the steering wheel was not locked and I could not get the transmission out of park. It appears that a transmission sensor may not be in the correct place or it may not be all the way into park. Any suggestion?

dave1123

Do the dash warning lights come on when you turn the key? You need power to activate the brake switch to unlock the shifter. The battery may be good, but how about the cable ends? Sometimes corrosion gets into the molded terminals and no power gets to the system. The corrosion is a high resistance electrical path, especially in the cold. Last week my battery died overnight in sub-zero cold. After jumping it to get it started, I had the battery load tested. When fully charged, it pulled the rated load for 10 seconds, then dropped way down! No warning before the cold! It was only 2 years old!

My 2000 WJ steering wheel only locks when it 180* from straight ahead.

sportguy

Yes the dash lights come on and the cables are clean and free of corrosion.


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4x4jeepmanthing

can you try another battery?

CCAs suck when the cold zaps them

how did you check the battery specifically?, you might get good volts, but that doesnt mean that battery is good.

sportguy

I did check the battery and swapped it out with a new one just in case. The problem return a second time with the new battery. That's when I start to look for an electrical issue. It turns out the neutral position switch was bad. Jeep is now working fine .