[Shadowfax419]

This is got me stumped. I have a short in the drivers door harness. Sometimes it will start, sometimes it won't. If I wiggle the wires behind the kick panel, or the wires that are contained in the rubber boot between the door and body, it will start. Other times, not matter how much I wiggle them, it won't start. I've resoldered several suspect connections from a previous owner and looked inside the door cavity for an obvious short. Any idea which specific wire would prevent the car from turning over? There seems to be no pattern to which wire I wiggle that allows it to start. Does anyone have a suggestion on which wire to focus on? The next step is an auto-flambe' with a marshmallow roast as a send off!
Thanks

 

[Soem0]

Have you pulled back the boot and actually looked at the wire? The issue very well could be the wire is damaged mid length, not just at the connections. This is fairly common to happen in lots of cars due to constant use of the doors

 

[GmanWJ]

It never makes sense to me why a wiring short in the door would have anything to do with starting the car, but I hear about it in this forum fairly often. Unfortunately, the only way I would know how to find a bad wire in there is by disassembling things and testing each wire for continuity with a multimeter and alligator clips while moving them around, looking for any that drop off-scale.

Just for a little perspective: a few months ago I was starting to think there was something wrong with the ignition key cylinder on my steering column. WJ would not start, I would wiggle the key a little, and then it would start. Turns out there was nothing wrong with the cylinder at all, it was just my starter solenoid intermittently failing. Point is, it may not be a wiring short at all, you might have a failing starter solenoid. I replaced the whole starter on mine and it has not been a problem since.

 

[Mattyjm]

Start by making sure your battery connections are clean and strong. Peel back some of the insulation near the battery lugs and look for green corrosion.

Also, when it won't start, will it turn over but not start? Or will it not crank at all? If it seems like it's dead and does nothing, try starting it in Neutral. You may have an issue with your Neutral Safety Switch not "thinking" it's in Park. Happens to me in my 2000 WJ 4.0L i6, 248K+ on the odo. When it acts dead when I turn the key to start, I palm-strike the gear shifter towards the front of the Jeep with a swat similar to getting the picture back on an old TV.....I just had to say that, but it's true.

If the Neutral Safety Switch doesn't think the Jeep is in Park, it won't crank or turn over at all.

 

[OldWJs]

If it's not cranking or starting at all, I don't have anything for you but...

Does it start and shut off within a second or two? If it does then it could make sense that there's something wrong in your door, most likely in the booted connection between door and body. Here's why - the PCI bus wire - that's the wire that runs through the whole vehicle carrying signals between all the different computer modules in the vehicle - also runs into the driver door because there's a module there. Any problem with that wire anywhere in the vehicle can cause problems with the anti-theft system. The SCIM module that reads the code off of your key in the ignition switch has to be able to communicate with the main powertrain control module. If this is the problem you'll also typically see really strange readings on the gauges too when you try to start/run. It will start completely normally but shut off in a second or two.

There are computer modules all over the vehicle, and that PCI wire runs between all of them: http://wjjeeps.com/modules.htm

They seem to use a purple and yellow wire for the PCI bus in most places in the vehicle.

I had this problem in one of the WJs I had - I pulled out the driver's door wiring connector from the body and it was full of water. Some compressed air and WD-40 confirmed the diagnosis - it started and ran fine after. But these wires are known to break from flexing too.

 

[Tdixon]

I’m with Mattyjm, when it doesn’t start, play with the shifter from park to other positions a few times, then try to start

Park position sensor may be failing