YJ wont turn over.....again

I lent my YJ to a friend over the weekend and it stalled on him as he was exiting the beltway and he couldn't get it to turn back over. There is no sound when you turn the key. He ended up having AAA tow it to his house in Towson. I went over to visit him -my Jeep, not my friend - the last 2 nights to try to get it running.... no luck

The usual suspects are:
- Battery - the cables have come loose before and lost connection with the terminals. I removed both cables and tightened them back down. The lights and radio work at the moment
- Starter - I tried connecting a wire between the 2 terminals on the starter short it out and it wouldn't crank. It would spark, but the engine didnt make a sound with the key in the "on" position. I had him pull me with the TJ to pop the clutch but to no avail. It made the same shrieking sound that a car makes when you try to start it when its already started.
- Gas - the gauge is broken, so I go by mileage...... mathematically there should be plenty of gas, but we added a few gallons to be sure...
- Alarm - I never set it, but it has a mind of its own. When it starts acting up I disconnect the battery and let it reset. I tried that and hit the manufacturer's reset switch
- Fuses - none under the hood were blown. All under the dash seemed ok...



Any ideas on how to at least get this thing to crank????

I'm beginning to think that the Jeep just likes living in the nicer neighborhood and doesn't want to come home to Baltimore city

The alternator would be a good guess and your relay switch.

danny call me and i'll stop over to take a look at it since its right in towson. I got a few ideas to try out on it.

Danny I would check on the ground wires. Something could have come loose not allowing the jeep to run.

Thanks Joe...I'll call you later on in the day. Its up by the Bel-Loc diner on Joppa and Loch Raven.

I asked a fellow YJ owner for some suggestions. Here is what he said:

First things first.

Did the motor turn over when the Jeep was pulled by the other Jeep and the transmission engaged? If when the clutch was let out and it sounded like the starter was being engaged to a running motor...It could well be a case of the bendix on the starter being partially engaged with the flywheel.

It needs to be determined if the motor will turn over or if something in it is locked up. Could be something as simple as the Bendix in the starter to a thrown rod.

Does the starter have 12v coming to it? or is there less voltage, this will tell you if the wiring to the starter is good. Check this with a DVM on the big lugs of the starter with the key in the Start position.

If there is NO sound at all from the starter when key is in the Start position it could be the starter Selenoid (on the side of the starter). With a helper turning the key to the Start position, crawl under the Jeep and tap on the selenoid with a hammer HANDLE. The selenoid can get stuck and not engage the starter.

Fuel would not be the issue if there is no sound from the starter...the motor would turn over just not run if there was no fuel.

Battery, you need to determine if the battery is fully charged. A battery can have enough juice to run the radio and lights but not start the Jeep. If this is the case, there should be a audible "Click" from the starter selenoid.

Start there.

Hopefully, this will give you some additional ideas. Let me know if any of this helps or works. If not, I'll find out more.

Thanks for that info Bobbi!

I'm going to try tapping the solenoid tonight.

When I was getting pulled the shrieking noise happened when I had the key in the "on" position and I let the clutch out. The engine never turned over....

I don't know what a Bendix is, but it sounds a lot better than a thrown rod!
That starter has given me trouble in the past. I tried putting a piece of wire between the two terminals and got lots of sparks...I don't know if it was 12v though.

I'll check the ground wires as well

OK, here is some more:

The bendix is the gear that pops foward (out) of the starter and engages with the flywheel. It is the gear that will actually turn the motor via the flywheel. When you let the key off the "Start" position it pops back into the starter and off the flywheel. The screaching noise you hear when trying to start a running car or Jeep is the Bendix tying to engage (at high speed) to the flywheel...

If your battery is good and all your connections good, and you push the key to the start position. If you hear a click from the starter it's NOT the selenoid. If you do NOT hear a click, it is likely your selenoid. This can be replaced with the starter in the Jeep...just not real easy to do.

Did you try pulling the Jeep without doing the key thing...leaving the key in the run position?

If your battery is real low it will shut down the computer. So "kick" starting it may not work as the computer doesn't have enough smarts to run the Jeep.

A DVM on the batter will tell you a lot. If you are showing 12.5 or more on the battery (Jeep not running) it is good.12.0-12.5 and it is getting weak. Less than 12 and it's to low to run the Jeep.

Hope this helps.

Hey Danny,

Did you get the YJ started?

I went all the way out to my buddy's house where the Jeep is sitting and realized I had left the keys at home..... I won't be able to get to it until Friday night now.

UGH! That Sucks!

Beat the hell out of the solenoid w/ a hammer and it didn't help things.

I tried pulling the starter and rounded off the head of one of the 2 bolts holding it in. I'll try to hammer the socket back on and use a universal adapter to try and get a decent grip on it.

#&^%$ Starter Bolt!

NICE

I'm Bobbi's friend that she's been quoting above.

What was the issue with the " #&^%$ starter bolt "? Loose? Missing?

Which " #&^%$ starter bolt " was it? One of the electrical connections or one of the mount bolts? Which one?

Why was tthe bolt loose? What caused it to back out/off?

Glad you found the symptom...now to find the problem, and help the next person with a no start issue.

Well one of the two bolts that holds the starter in place had started to round on Monday night. Its the one that is wedged between the oil pan and the Solenoid.
Last night Welder Joe come over and we towed it to an alley behind my friends house. Plan was to weld a 3/4" nut to the head of the bolt and use a breaker bar on it, but there isnt enough room for the nut and a 3/4 socket to get in there. Joe welded the 3/8 socket right to the head of the chewed up bolt, but it didnt't hold.
While we were working under the Jeep in the alley somebody pulled up behind us bc we were blocking his driveway. Turns out this guy is a mechanic at Mr. Tire. He tried to weld a grade 8 bolt to the head of the chewed up bolt. That weld held for about .2 seconds...... And the guy did set a small fire to my friend's wife's bath towel while under the jeep...Hmmm Whats that smell? Is somebody cookin' out?

Moral of that story is don't go to Mr. tire for your welding needs...

It was about 9pm by now so we called it a night. Joe towed me out of the alley to a shopping center parking lot....

As it got later and things looked worse and worse for this starter bolt Joe kept offering less and less $$ to just buy the hunk of junk from me

So tonight Joe is gonna put it on his trailer and tow it to either his shop or his cousin's next door where we can try to remove this bolt again....with light this time.

Thank you Joe for the use of your power tools.
On a good note we did have good welding weather last night!

I see where Joe is coming from. That yj would make a great buggy. I would buy it if you wanted to sell it. Good luck with that bolt.

The YJ has been sitting in my work parking lot the last few weeks. I tinker with it after work whenever I get a chance.
Last week I disconnected the ground wires, cleaned the gunk off the ends where they connect to the firewall and checked the wire for cracks. I didn't see anything out of the ordinary.
The guys over at Parkville Jeeps told me to replace the ignition switch. I bought a new switch at Salvo and tried to replace it the last few nights. I'm having trouble getting the rod that comes from the key to the switch to go into the slide correctly. The rod goes all the way down the steering column, then bends straight up towards the sky. From the looks of the switch it should bend toward the passenger seat.

Now after looking at the two switches side by side it seems like the new (blue) one is backwards. The metal mounting plate goes on the left (driver) side of the steering column. Did they sell me the wrong switch?

Well just by looking at them if that blue switch cannot be turned in the mounting plate it is wrong.

Is this YJ a manual or a stick shift.(duh answered my own question you tried to catch it in gear.

Lemme get up to speed on this.

With your original ignition switch installed everything worked lights radio and such, it just wouldn't start.....when you turned the key to the start position your heard no noises clicks nothing.

If that was the case it sounds to me,being you've checked or have redone all your grounds, like a neutral safety switch problem,

With a stick shift the switch would come in contact with the clutch pedal arm somewhere.

Also you said you have an alarm on it, I would check all its' connections b4 replacing your ignition switch, It may be as simple as one of the alarms connections are bad. Or also because most alarms need a control relay to disable the start circuit to prevent theft, that relay could be bad.

I feel bad I'm sooo far away I used to install alarm systems and repair systems that were installed improperly.

When troubleshooting starting problems, if it isn't the obvious, (battery,starter,solenoid or loose wire) ,go to what has been added on that is not factory first.

Hope this gives you some more avenues to try,
Scott

Scott,
It is a 5spd, 4cyl.
The alarm was Best Buy's cheapest at the time and it never worked right from the get go. I would have no problem pulling it out completely and tossing it in the garbage. The lights did still work and the red light (seatbelt maybe) on the dash would light up when I turned the key.

So you think I should put the original ign switch back in and pull the alarm?

In the past I've never had to push in the clutch to start the YJ like I do on my TJ so if it had a safety switch it must have been pulled by a previous owner.

Thanks for the info!

Yes put in old ignition switch first and
at least unwiring the alarm don't completely toss it yet, if you get it running you can allways leave the siren or horn blowing feature hooked up. It won't stop a "professional thief" but it it may at least scare away the punks and juvenile delinquents.

I yanked the alarm and put the old ignition switch back in and still got nothing...
I took a 1/2 day off of work and had AAA tow it from my work parking lot in Timonium to the mechanic that my parents have used for the last 20 years in Hyattsville 60 miles away. He's gonna look at it on Monday and hopefully get it back in action. I know the people at work were tired of looking at it sitting in the lot for the last 2 months.

Well I replaced the fuel pump, gas tank and gas tank skid yesterday w/ Von's old stock set up and could get it to crank, but not turn over. Is there a way to prime the pump to get the gas flowing into the fuel lines?

I tried starting it so many times yesterday that I blew up my new starter that has zero miles on it:e1:

There should be a bleeder valve on the fuel rail. turn the key on and that will turn on the pump and pressurize the system. Then if you dare you can push the little bleeder valve with a screwdriver or something to let the air out. (at least it is that way on my 93). Make sure to throw a rag over the bleeder valve first since it will spray gasoline out at 40 psi and murphy says it will go straight into your eyes. Other choice is to have someone spray starting fluid down the throttle body as you try to start it(probably the safer choice). Did you check your plugs recently? did you check to see if you are getting spark? just remove a plug and put it on the end of a plug wire and see if it is throwing a spark.

My Dad's buddy got it to start using starting fluid before I replaced the fuel pump, but then it would cut off right after that burned up.

Is that bleeder valve down near the fuel filter?

Thanks,
Dan