Hi there,

I figure i’d put this out there in case anyone runs into the same issue as me.

I had taken off the starter to drop my oil pan, i noticed the upper bolt had not been screwed all the way in (prob fault of previous owner). I did not disconnect any of the wires or the sensor.

Anyway, i bolted the starter back on, this time tightened the bolts all the way, but when reconnecting the battery it sparked big time! And the car began to crank!

At first i figured maybe the negative and the positive were touching and shorting at the starter (but i remember i never even touched the starter wiring). Nope the wires were fine.
Still i disconnected the wiring and gave everything a good cleaning and brush. Nothing was corroded or rusty. I dabbed dialectic grease and reconnected the starter wiring and sensor. Tried connecting the battery and again it sparked and cranked!

Thinking my starter gave out (it was the old original), i tested the starter with jumper cables. Starter engaged just fine and had good power, the part was fine. So something was causing it to short when putting back in the car.
For good measure i cleaned my battery terminals and rechecked all the wiring.

Rebolted the starter and then connected the battery and still the same issue. At my wits end i even took the starter to autozone to have it tested (i doubted myself thinking my own testing wasnt done correctly). Starter passed the test.

I researched all over the internet trying to find an answer but no go until i stumbled upon this post

https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f2/starter-continues-too-crank-when-connecting-battery-key-not-ignition-261937/#post3722458

My god! I couldnt believe that the stupid bolts were the issue. Turns out the previous owner had switched the upper and lower bolts around (one is longer than the other). He must have ran into the same issue but instead realizing his mistake he simply didnt tighten the upper bolt all the way. Per the FSM the upper bolt should be a short one while the lower bolt should be a long one. Because i tightened what i thought was the upper bolt (the long one) it touched the positive and negative connections inside the starter causing them to short when i would connect the battery. All the frustration because of two freaking bolts!!!!

Anyways sorry this turned into a venting session.

TLDR: If you just rebolted your starter and when connecting the battery it starts to spark and crank, check the length of your upper bolt at the starter, if its too long it may be shorting your positive and negative inside the starter. The upper bolt is supposed to be the shorter bolt per the FSM

 

Hi there,

I figure i’d put this out there in case anyone runs into the same issue as me.

I had taken off the starter to drop my oil pan, i noticed the upper bolt had not been screwed all the way in (prob fault of previous owner). I did not disconnect any of the wires or the sensor.

Anyway, i bolted the starter back on, this time tightened the bolts all the way, but when reconnecting the battery it sparked big time! And the car began to crank!

At first i figured maybe the negative and the positive were touching and shorting at the starter (but i remember i never even touched the starter wiring). Nope the wires were fine.
Still i disconnected the wiring and gave everything a good cleaning and brush. Nothing was corroded or rusty. I dabbed dialectic grease and reconnected the starter wiring and sensor. Tried connecting the battery and again it sparked and cranked!

Thinking my starter gave out (it was the old original), i tested the starter with jumper cables. Starter engaged just fine and had good power, the part was fine. So something was causing it to short when putting back in the car.
For good measure i cleaned my battery terminals and rechecked all the wiring.

Rebolted the starter and then connected the battery and still the same issue. At my wits end i even took the starter to autozone to have it tested (i doubted myself thinking my own testing wasnt done correctly). Starter passed the test.

I researched all over the internet trying to find an answer but no go until i stumbled upon this post

https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f2/starter-continues-too-crank-when-connecting-battery-key-not-ignition-261937/#post3722458

My god! I couldnt believe that the stupid bolts were the issue. Turns out the previous owner had switched the upper and lower bolts around (one is longer than the other). He must have ran into the same issue but instead realizing his mistake he simply didnt tighten the upper bolt all the way. Per the FSM the upper bolt should be a short one while the lower bolt should be a long one. Because i tightened what i thought was the upper bolt (the long one) it touched the positive and negative connections inside the starter causing them to short when i would connect the battery. All the frustration because of two freaking bolts!!!!

Anyways sorry this turned into a venting session.

TLDR: If you just rebolted your starter and when connecting the battery it starts to spark and crank, check the length of your upper bolt at the starter, if its too long it may be shorting your positive and negative inside the starter. The upper bolt is supposed to be the shorter bolt per the FSM

 

the brake caliper bolts are special length as well.

A PO must have lost one and put in a store bought replacement (had a different head size)

However, with brand new pads, this bottomed out, took me ages to figure out, until I browsed the FSM and it stated the max length had to be 67.6mm

sure enough it was 70mm, cut it 3mm and all good

 

Not only different length, but one is metric and the other sae. They 1.5mm and -16 are really close in thread pitch, but that metric bolt is a tad bigger and took a bit of force to put it in the wrong hold on the bottom.

I made that mistake once. The wrong bolt in the top went in pretty easy, but I stopped when the metric wouldn't thread into the bottom.

 

I understand the frustration, its always a russian roulette with POs. Im gunna save this tip, replacing the brake system is next on the list.

 

This makes sense why it took more force when i was screwing the lower bolt in the first time