Nasty Electrical Issue

1038 Views 8 Replies 7 Participants Last post by Tophog1, Aug 25, 2015

88YJGUYNSON

Discussion Starter · Aug 21, 2015

Here Goes
Driving down the road and my 1988 jeep dies. Nothing at the ignition switch. Seemed like the battery was dead but lights were bright. I can bump the starter at the starter relay and it turns over perfectly. Found a burnt wire on the starter relay ( centre top ). Fixed the wired, turned the key and burnt the wire again. Pulled all the fuses, hooked the wire up again and burnt it again. Changed the ignition switch and did the same thing. No power when I turn the key, no dash lights and no radio. I do have a manual but it has very sketchy electrical drawings. I am a electrical tech but this has got me scratching my bald spot. Any suggestions out there ...

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1 - 9 of 9 Posts

rustisexpected

· #2 · Aug 21, 2015

A factory service manual or a chilton/haynes? Sounds like you have a short between the battery and starter, and its shorting through the starter relay ignition signal wire when you crank. But that's just an off the wall guess.

body - http://www.pirate4x4.com/tech/billavista/PDFs/New Jun 2003/Jeep YJ FSM Wiring diagrams.pdf
engine - http://www.pirate4x4.com/tech/billavista/PDFs/New Jun 2003/Jeep Engine_4.2.pdf

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jbolty

· #3 · Aug 21, 2015

sounds like the short is your main problem but seems likely a fusible link is burned out.

I would disco the battery and start checking positive wires with a test light or ohm meter looking for a short to ground.

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88YJGUYNSON

Discussion Starter · #4 · Aug 23, 2015

I just bought the starter relay and will give that a try. Thanks

I did a nutter bypass when I rebuilt the motor and am finding the carb hard to tune. Looks good when at idle but then stalls when coming to a light. Idle up a bit then the engine races when shifting down. Thinking of replacing carb. Any thoughts ??

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greatbeer

· #5 · Aug 24, 2015

You have an electrical short somewhere in the system. You're going to keep burning out fuse links until you find where it is. No easy solution unfortunately, just lots and lots of checking wires. I'd start with anything near the engine block, since what most likely happened is something came loose, touched the block while it was hot, and melted.

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Tophog1

· #6 · Aug 24, 2015

88YJGUYNSON said:
I just bought the starter relay and will give that a try. Thanks

I did a nutter bypass when I rebuilt the motor and am finding the carb hard to tune. Looks good when at idle but then stalls when coming to a light. Idle up a bit then the engine races when shifting down. Thinking of replacing carb. Any thoughts ??

From my understanding, once you do the Nutter, the 'stepper motor' carb doesn't work properly. It needs to be replaced with one without the stepper motor.

And the timing has to be reset as well. Search the 'nutter' threads for more info.

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I'm currently waddling through the same stream.

Got a few '60s era Rochester 2 barrels I'm tinkering with, since the bolt pattern is the same as the factory mount. If they don't work, then I take the plunge with an MC 2150 and adapter.

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Mike Romain

· #7 · Aug 24, 2015

The carb setup procedure is in this thread http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f8/how-nutter-bypass-522262/
The stepper pins just get set centered. That works good enough for the emissions sniffer.
Stalling at a stop usually means the idle pickup tubes have dirt in them or the EGR is getting sticky. Search out idle tube fix. We usually oversize the crimped end to .032" so they don't clog.

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dancytron

· #8 · Aug 24, 2015

Tophog1 said:
From my understanding, once you do the Nutter, the 'stepper motor' carb doesn't work properly. It needs to be replaced with one without the stepper motor.

And the timing has to be reset as well. Search the 'nutter' threads for more info.

-

I'm currently waddling through the same stream.

Got a few '60s era Rochester 2 barrels I'm tinkering with, since the bolt pattern is the same as the factory mount. If they don't work, then I take the plunge with an MC 2150 and adapter.

This is blatant misinformation. You do not need to replace the carb with a non-stepper motor carb when you do the Nutter. That's the point of the Nutter, that you set the metering pins in a fixed position (the middle of their travel) so the carb will work properly without the computer.

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Tophog1

· #9 · Aug 25, 2015

dancytron said:
This is blatant misinformation. You do not need to replace the carb with a non-stepper motor carb when you do the Nutter. That's the point of the Nutter, that you set the metering pins in a fixed position (the middle of their travel) so the carb will work properly without the computer.

Thanks for the clarification. :thumbsup:

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