sluginxlt

the other day after work i went out to the jeep after work and it wouldn't start or even try to start. battery says its charged, radio and lights all work but when i turn the key all i hear is the relay click near the clutch pedal and the relay behind the glove box, but thats it. i tried to jump the starter solenoid with a screw driver and the starter spins but does not engage, i tried with the shifter in neutral and the clutch pedal depressed and still if i jump the solenoid it only spins the starter but will not engage. i pushed started it and it ran fine to get it home. when i got it home i cleaned the battery terminals and the starter connections, also had the starter which is only 2 years old tested autozone tested and it seemed to be fine. any ideas?
im confused at the fact that turning the key it does nothing, jumping the solenoid only spins it but doesn't engage, and last that the starter tests good and the bendix comes out just fine on the test machine. and ill ad that it is a TJ but there wasnt a tech section for TJ so we can all pretend its an xj to make it ok lol. all involved parts should be the same.

XJGunny

At first I was thinking CPS, then the relays clicking made me think battery, then starter relay but it was tested good. You can jump start it so its no issues with it running. I know you said battery voltage was good but how about amperage? How old is the battery?

sluginxlt

dont know if it was a miss understanding but i can not "jump start" the jeep with jumper cables but i can manually "push start" the jeep. battery is only about a year old but it did do alot of sitting this winter.

XJGunny

That's what I meant...push start. Yes I know the difference but had my 2 year old daughter talking to me as I typed. I was telling her to stop jumping around. Funny how that worked out. Any how...

I'd check the battery to make sure it has enough cranking amps.

Dennis88

So when you short out the starter with a screw driver, are you sure the Bendix is coming out and not just spinning?

Right size starter bolts? Could have the starter shifted over just enough too miss the flywheel?

Double check the connections at the starter and work your way up to the battery, may be a bad connection. Battery could be weak, Try hooking up jumper cables to your battery from another running vehicle.

Also maybe something in your ignition is loose or worn? The switch itself when you key goes.

sluginxlt

well i was informed on another forum i was jumping the starter wrong, i was trying to jump the 2 big studs together when i was supposed to jump the big stud for the power to the little stud with the little wire, cranks and fires right up doing it the propper way lol. so that narrows the problem doen a little. any ideas?

Dennis88

Check your connections at starter and work your way up to the battery.

The fact that its shorting out would make me think your connections are fine, Maybe you ignition switch or some type of safety switch

sluginxlt

i cleaned all starter connections and the battery connections real good already and no difference

DFlintstone

Without really knowing I'd hazard a guess that you have a switch on your clutch pedal that grounds the starter relay. (our nss's do that on the automatic). Then with that grounded, the clutch pedal down, when you trun the key to start, the power can then go through the relay to the starter solonoid.

It all "happens" at the relay. There you can start it, check both the clutch switch, (pretty sure you have one), power from the ign, ect. That's all I've got! find the relay, swap it. Maybe someone has a handy SPDT relay diagram, and knows where yours is.

Power to it's relay coil might share a circuit with something else that blew a fuse...

sluginxlt

i tried bypassing the clutch safety switch and that still didnt work. like i said when i turn the key i hear 2 relays click, one is by the pedals and the other behind the glove box, so im taking a guess that the ingnition is working since it is sending somekind of power to the relays since they click

DFlintstone

Maybe someone can help you find your starter relay. Yours might use 4 of the 5 sockets. (not the middle one) One of the sockets is the same wire you jumped to. (you could jump it from there if the wire is good). One socket is that peddle switch/grounding, I think. One is fused power to the relay coil, and one is juice from the ignition. I'm not at all sure though!

That's all I have! I'd think the problem could be found at the relay socket since you can start it by jumping to the solonoid on the starter.