Hello all, I'm new here and I must admit I'm at wits end. The other day I stopped for breakfast on the way to work. A few minutes later I came out, put the key in the switch, turned it, the dash lit up the radio came on and nothing. A few things I know for sure. The key switch actuator is fine. Ive already had it out and its not broken. I've had the starter off and it bench tests good. the starter relay is good. The start fuse is good. There is 12 volts at the battery cable to the starter. STRANGE BEHAVIOR--- The starter signal wire has 12 volts when the key is turned ONLY when not connected to the starter! Seriously I take my multimeter and clip the ground to the frame and positive to the signal wire turn the key and 12 volts every time. I reconnect the signal wire to the solenoid and nothing. I clip the positive from the multimeter to the solenoid with signal wire connected and nothing WHY? this makes no sense to me. Please help what am I missing?..... David
2004 liberty no crank. Please help
- Thread starter Avgjoe
- Start date
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Billwill
Full Access Member
What year/model is your Jeep?
Manual or Automatic?
Manual or Automatic?
turblediesel
memberable
ASD relay under the hood? Swap it with a similar one. Maybe that's just a CRD thing... worked on my neighbor's YJ.
Billwill
Full Access Member
You get weird things like that due to bad earthing.
The Starter motor itself is firmly bolted in place so you would think that it is well grounded....not always so!
Take a thick cable like those used for Jump Starting.
Clamp one end to the Negative Battery terminal and the other end clamp onto the Starter Motor Body and see what happens.
Like-wise the Positive lead goes from the battery Positive Terminal and goes direct to the Starter Motor Positive Terminal....unfused.
Try taking your jumper cable and this time clamp it onto the large lug of the Starter Motor and the other end to the Positive Battery Terminal...be careful not to touch this lead to chassis or engine as sparks will fly!
The solenoid may be faulty....you can open it and clean the contacts inside.
Do not always trust the Actuator Pin Assembly....it may look good but it actually flexes under strain. There is only one screw that holds the assembly in place...best to remove the assembly and turn the ignition switch with a small screwdriver.
I had an issue on my 2002 Manual CRD.
Normally I would turn on the ignition, depress the clutch and turn the ignition key to Start.
Suddenly it would happen that I would turn on the ignition ....depress the clutch and the engine would turn over without me turning the key to Start!
There is only the single screw that holds the actuator pin assembly in place with reference to the Ignition Switch....in my case the actuator pin assembly was too far advanced so I had to elongate the screw hole and slightly r.e.t.a.r.d the actuator! pin assembly!
I also had an issue when my Jeep was still new...the switch on the clutch pedal shaft was loose...that is why I asked if yours is a Manual or Automatic!
The Starter motor itself is firmly bolted in place so you would think that it is well grounded....not always so!
Take a thick cable like those used for Jump Starting.
Clamp one end to the Negative Battery terminal and the other end clamp onto the Starter Motor Body and see what happens.
Like-wise the Positive lead goes from the battery Positive Terminal and goes direct to the Starter Motor Positive Terminal....unfused.
Try taking your jumper cable and this time clamp it onto the large lug of the Starter Motor and the other end to the Positive Battery Terminal...be careful not to touch this lead to chassis or engine as sparks will fly!
The solenoid may be faulty....you can open it and clean the contacts inside.
Do not always trust the Actuator Pin Assembly....it may look good but it actually flexes under strain. There is only one screw that holds the assembly in place...best to remove the assembly and turn the ignition switch with a small screwdriver.
I had an issue on my 2002 Manual CRD.
Normally I would turn on the ignition, depress the clutch and turn the ignition key to Start.
Suddenly it would happen that I would turn on the ignition ....depress the clutch and the engine would turn over without me turning the key to Start!
There is only the single screw that holds the actuator pin assembly in place with reference to the Ignition Switch....in my case the actuator pin assembly was too far advanced so I had to elongate the screw hole and slightly r.e.t.a.r.d the actuator! pin assembly!
I also had an issue when my Jeep was still new...the switch on the clutch pedal shaft was loose...that is why I asked if yours is a Manual or Automatic!
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As stated, you probably have high resistance somewhere in the circuit, either on the power or ground side. Doing a voltage test with the circuit unloaded- as it sounds like you did- can be misleading as you'll get the voltage you're looking for, yet the load still won't work.
Billwil is right on the money regarding the jumper cable idea. It will help narrow down which side (if not both) has the high resistance. Just to add to what he said, in addition to checking that the starter mounting is clean and tight, you may want to check the cable going from the negative battery terminal to engine ground has a good connection as well.
Billwil is right on the money regarding the jumper cable idea. It will help narrow down which side (if not both) has the high resistance. Just to add to what he said, in addition to checking that the starter mounting is clean and tight, you may want to check the cable going from the negative battery terminal to engine ground has a good connection as well.
not sure if I just had a similar thing happen but:
came out from my chiro appointment, put key in, turned it, nothing. and by nothing I mean no solenoid click, no attempt to turn the engine over. worked the clutch a couple times, nothing. thinking it's the clutch interlock, I tossed it in 4LO. still nothing. went inside, took a pee, called the wife to go get the kid, went back out, and it started right up. drove home, while moving killed the engine and tried restarting it, worked fine. got home, parked, and restarted the engine 4 times before calling it as weird and going in.
came out from my chiro appointment, put key in, turned it, nothing. and by nothing I mean no solenoid click, no attempt to turn the engine over. worked the clutch a couple times, nothing. thinking it's the clutch interlock, I tossed it in 4LO. still nothing. went inside, took a pee, called the wife to go get the kid, went back out, and it started right up. drove home, while moving killed the engine and tried restarting it, worked fine. got home, parked, and restarted the engine 4 times before calling it as weird and going in.
Billwill
Full Access Member
Ksat is right in mentioning the grounding of the battery to chassis.
Also if this is a V6 then check that the two leads that come off the Firewall to the rear of the two cylinder heads are clean and tight.
Also if this is a V6 then check that the two leads that come off the Firewall to the rear of the two cylinder heads are clean and tight.
