What did you do to your jeep today?

[derekj]

Out for an afternoon drive in the rain.

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[Deb'nKJ]

Finally got it started, after being parked up for a couple of months. Jumped it from my trusty Suzuki support vehicle ('cos the only other running Jeep also has a flat batter) having wasted best part of the price of a new battery on another useless starter pack (obviously in that market, output, make & price mean nothing). It was very reluctant though & the cranking was accompanied by a strange ticking sound and a veritable lightshow on the dash. Anyway, it sat there idling happily enough while I put everything away & moved the Suzuki to another car park & drove well enough for a few 100 yards, then died at traffic lights - & wouldn't start, no matter what we tried. Pushed it out of the way of other traffic, removed battery to take home & put on charge. Returned several hours later with the battery refitted it & - it was just the same! By now convinced problem was the the starter so, having little choice now, called out my recovery service - & the guy diagnosed it as a flat battery (has a 5 year guarantee, only 15 months old & been on charge all afternoon!). Sure enough, with his giant, industrial weight starter pack, it fired straight up. Then, why I still don't know, I drove it home, instead of back to its secure storage. This was all yesterday (it certainly felt like all yesterday), so this morning, with battery reading 12.9 volts on my meter, having been on charge overnight, I tried again & -nothing! Finally, in desperation, 'cos it couldn't stay where it was & I had other plans for the day, I hooked up a 2nd battery (also, to my amazement, register 12v+, after sitting for months) & with the same strange noises & flashing dash lights, it just started. Now back in storage &, over coffee, before setting off for the day, I made an offer for a battery that just happened to come up on Evilbay, ironically in a town I'd be passing this morning bit, of course, I couldn't wait for a response before leaving.

Some good did come out of it though, while underneath, contemplating the starter - with the aid of a hammer, I noticed a clean ring round the inside of the left front wheels, seems the caliper's somehow touching the wheel in reverse, which was causing the noise that I thought was the rear caliper not fully freeing off - & I found one X-member bolt is missing & the other was loose: rather add that to the list of things to do now, than the inevitable disaster waiting to happen.