Cherokee1996XJ

1996 Jeep Cherokee 4.0 L 5 Speed Manual.

I had to replace my engine freeze plugs. I Removed the Electrical Harness and a bunch of connections. Reconnected everything I believe correctly but when I tried to start engine up it only cranked for half a second then turned off and there was some smoke seen. Now I get no power at all.

I got a potato quality video of the smoke coming from the passenger side by the battery. but hard to pinpoint its origin.


Battery is good per jump kit and even tried jumping with my jump kit and still no power registered.

Blown Fuse? Not properly grounded?

And WHY was there smoke??? Sooooo Confused.

bluejeep2001

The ground wire is ok at the firewall, it is supposed to be attached on the last headbolt with the threaded shaft above the 13mm 12pt bolthead. It should have a washer, the ground terminal , another washer then a nut. It might take a 1/2 coarse or it might need a 12 or 13 mm metric nut have to figure that part on your own. It is not supposed to be where you have it

awg

smoke means too much current in the big stuff.

Do not connect 12V high amp such as battery

suspects for smoke are fusible link, thick green wire goes near PDC, battery, alternator, all those cables are suspect to incorrectly hooked up

I would use an ohmeter to test resistances. one that beeps on a dead short is very handy

Have a close look for scorch marks

plastic sheathing wiring is not high quality, can chaff or split

test green wire may be open circuit

It does not matter how experienced you are, it pays to digicam any job that is fiddly with electrics. You can only take too little footage, never too much

sometimes i just tear into things without of course

Cherokee1996XJ

I took pictures before disassembly and it’s in the same spot as before. Does look like I misplaced a nut or fastener as the screw thread is longer in my redo.
would that make a big difference

i am now getting electricity to the car. Turned on the dash but I am worried about trying to start up again without identifying where the smoke was coming from and what damage was done.

I added the before and after photo

before


after

bluejeep2001

No that is not correct...it mounts to the rear headbolt..will take a picture tomorrow

Cherokee1996XJ

That would be a huge help! Thanks!

Not sure how it wasn't shorting before because that's how it was set up when I bought the car

and thanks for all the advice thus far.

bluejeep2001

That is not your primary ground anyway..will try to get good photos of all the grounds

awg

dont know which screw thread you say is longer, but make sure no hot 12V fastener or wire is just a smick out, may just touch some part of the earthed body

bluejeep2001

The upper photo shows where the braided strap should ground..its the 2nd to last headbolt, the one before the last injector cover mounts. The 2nd picture shows the primary engine ground from the battery. The lower/aft has the battery terminal and attached to both is a 2nd set of grounds that come from a harness that runs along the block heading aft that ends in a preformed Y config..don't know what that grounds but they are big wires. They are just behind the alternator and in front of the distributor/cam sensor...might be slightly hidden if you have an ac compressor..I don't. The last picture shows where the battery mainly grounds to the chassis. Hope that helps

Cherokee1996XJ

Thank You

This is very helpful!

Cherokee1996XJ

Thanks for the Help Everyone.
Turns out it was the battery terminal was so corroded it wasn't working properly.

Replaced with new terminals and no start up issues.

Thanks Again!

exasemech

Extra points awarded for letting folks know the resolution.