Yet Another My Jeep Won't Start Thread

**dualtjs** · 08-30-2008, 02:45 PM

I've searched the forum and didn't find anything that seems to fit my situation....

I cleaned battery terminals (highly corroded). When I reconnected the terminals, I get a click (possibly from the are where the starter is located, but definitely on the passenger side 1/2 half of the vehicle), but the starter didn't turn (got lights, etc). I disconnected the terminals to be sure that everything was completely clean and no residue that could cause a connection issue. When I reconnected, I got a single click, but no lights, no radio, nada. I checked all the fuses under the hood as well as behind the glove box. How would I tell if the box shaped fuse for the starter (in the fuse box under the hood) were blown?

Battery is old (not original, but old just the same), but has been working fine since I purchased the vehicle a year a go. I'm thinking that the battery cable may be the culprit.

Any thoughts on the matter would be very appreciated.

**dualtjs** · 08-30-2008, 02:47 PM

btw... haven't been able to try a jump start, but will do so as soon as my wife gets home with our other vehicle.

**durango-bob** · 08-30-2008, 02:49 PM

You didn't somehow get the cables reversed did ya?

Luckyduck · 08-30-2008, 02:50 PM

Mine did that and it was my killswitch

Starting with the head lights on solved my problem! Try tapping/hitting the starter with a hammer.

**dualtjs** · 08-30-2008, 03:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by durango-bob

You didn't somehow get the cables reversed did ya?

Not as stupid a question as it sounds.... Many moon's ago the college of experience taught me to clean one at a time and replace them before doing the other one (with my bad eye sight it's even more important now). I can say with absolute certainty that I didn't switch them.

**dualtjs** · 08-30-2008, 03:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Luckyduck

Mine did that and it was my killswitch

Starting with the head lights on solved my problem! Try tapping/hitting the starter with a hammer.

I'll try the start with the headlights on trick. If that doesn't work, what part of the starter do I bang with a hammer? I'll assume that your killswitch is an anti-theft device that you installed and they don't come on all TJ's.

**dualtjs** · 08-30-2008, 04:09 PM

LuckDuck, worked like a charm. I had to disconnect the positive cable, but one I did. The headlights came on and the ol' girl started right up. While I had the positive terminal cable off, the first time, I grounded it (with the intention of resetting the PCM). I however forgot to turn on the headlights (per the instructions on the thread a couple days ago). I wonder, if once you start that process, you have to complete it, before the vehicle will start.

As a follow up, once I got it started, it idled perfectly for 5 minutes, then started sputtering and racing (like there was garbage in the fuel line). Even when revved and tried to hold the engine at 2K RPM, it still sputtered and then the engine would race above 2K. Things settled down a bit, so I took it out for a drive, where I swear that I heard a back fire (pre-muffler, so it wasn't loud, but there was a distinct pop). Early in the drive, I still got a little sputtering (particularly when starting from a stand still). After 5 minutes of driving, no probs at all. While it seems to have worked itself out, does anyone have any theories as to what was happening. A friend up the street, who does car restorations and is an air craft mechanic (big jets), speculated that it might be the PCM resetting and trying to re-establish it's parameters.

**dualtjs** · 08-31-2008, 12:30 PM

Update: I talked to an EE buddy of mine about the issue that I was dealing with and the trick that got my rig running again (as well as the rough performance right after getting it started). While he's not an expert on Jeeps, he said that it was very likely that once you started the PCM reset process, that you would have to do the headlights on part, to discharge a capacitor in the system. Not doing so would prevent the rest of the system from running. He attributed the rough running follow by gradually improved performance, to the possibility of the default settings being set to run very rich and the PCM was set up to learn and change the Oxygen/Fuel mix by leaning it out (a safer setting than starting very lean and adjusting to make the mixture richer).

Thanks again to all who helped in my hour of need.