Kekee98

Ok i have, i believe, a unique situation. To start with it is a 94 SE 4.0 aw4 np232j. it has sat for several years(5+). i purchased said Jeep from a family friend knowing it would need work. Ive been slowing replacing parts that i know are overdue(spark plugs, oil, battery, etc...). When i went to crank it the first time, nothing. thought motor might have been seized so tried turning the engine by hand( breaker bar and socket), moved flawlessly. after several weeks of banging my head against a wall with a no crank situation, i finally broke down and put a new starter in.as soon as i did it finally cranked. i head already purchased the big 7 cables from JeepCables.com, so i decided to go the extra step and install the positive battery cables to the pdc and starter. i also did the ground cables from fender to battery and battery to block. Now to original one to the block did not come off, the stud or bolt or whatever just spins in place. so i connected this cable to the next closes place of the block, the head by the valve cover. ran the firewall to head ground also. i have 12.6v to the starter positive. Im back to banging my head against a wall. what am i missing? what could it be? any help would be AMAZING

lawsoncl

I would try to get that ground stud out and clean up the other ground connections. Bad grounds there will cause all kinds of problems.

Roler

So you went from no-crank to now having a crank but no start, is that correct?

Kekee98

I went from a no crank no start to cranking no start to now no crank no start again. I currently am not trying to start it as it needs a distributor and some other little things for it to start. Just trying to get it to crank again.

Roler

Some of those little things dont involve relays etc?
personally I find it easier to troubleshoot with everything in place so nothing 'little' missing is throwing your diagnostics out of wack, but that's a personal preference
Should be able to find this.

So you verified 12V at the starter. Every time you try?

Do you hear anything at the starter or not even a click?

Jeepwalker

Any location on the engine block should work ok for a ground cable (not the head). Make sure your cables to the starter and your grounds from the battery-to-the-body, and engine-to-the-body (separate ground wires/cables) are all in 'good' condition. That little sneaky wire at the starter sometimes corrodes/breaks.

Once you get it to 'crank', if it doesn't fire, listen (run position) for the fuel pump. Also if it doesn't fire off, put a spark plug in one of the plug wires wire, lay the spark plug on the engine (where the metal part of the spark plug is touching metal) ...and look for a spark while your helper cranks the engine. If you don't see a spark then you have to chase that down till you get a spark. If you DO see a spark then make sure you have fuel pressure (start by listening for the fuel pump to come on when you turn key to the 'run' position).

If you have spark and fuel pressure, and assuming it's timed properly, then a real common issue on these is a bad Crank Position Sensor (CPS) at the back of the engine. That might have been why he parked it in the first place. Not too expensive and not that hard to replace.


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Kekee98

I’m just an idiot and didn’t connect the one wire. It’s cranking beautifully. Now just to get a distributor in it and ,fingers crossed, it’ll fire right up and run like a champ