1984 cj7 wont start

[cj7chevelle]

hey im new to this forum and new to jeeps in general i recently bought a 1984 jeep CJ7 with the AMC 258 i6 / 4.2l and a 4 speed i bought it from the original owner it has 230000 miles on it but the engine was rebuilt recently he had taken very good care of it he has all of the maintenance records and took it in for a service religiously. the jeep ran great on the test drive just bump the key and it cranked right up so i bought it i got it home the next day it was real cold and it took a bit to get it started but it cranked up and ran like the choke wasnt on but after a while smoothed out didnt have a problem with it for another two days. i pulled it into the garage to replace the blower motor which was makeing noise the windshield wiper motor the starter solinoid which was starting to mess up and the reverse light switch. everything went smoothly until i got to the blower motor which was a pain to get out and then i couldnt get the right one so i had to get a bigger one so i cut the fire wall put the heater assemble back in and and tried the blower motor it worked great blew leaves out of the vents and then everything went down hill from there
i put it in reverse and no lights still (with the engine off)
then i tried the wiper motor nothing so i pulled them and they moved once went back down and got stuck
so feeling like the worlds worst mechanic i got in it turned the key and it turned over and over tried to fire but died as soon as i let off the key so i assumed i had flooded it so i let it sit for a while and tried it again with out touching the gas it backfire out of the tail pipe once and out of the carb once but still wouldnt run so i thought it was something in the ignition based on what a friend told me so at this point i have replaced:
ignition control module
coil
ignition pick up
ignition switch
starting solinoid
spark plugs
fuel pump
fuel filter
all i can get out of it is it will try to start but the second you let off the starter absolutely nothing
i noticed oil is coming out of the tail pipe

 

[Torxhead]

Describing the engine starting and shutting off when you release the starter key onto the run position could mean that the secondary ignition is not taking over. This can be caused by the "I" and "S" terminals, the small ones on the starter relay being installed backwards. We can talk about your other problems later, and save the parts you replaced for when you need them.

 

[cj71chevelle]

ok so when i tried to log back in it told me i had the wrong password (anything and everything jeep related must hate me) and it wouldnt ever send the email to reset my password so after making a new gmail and reregistered on this site this is my new profile instead of cj7chevelle i guess my profile lasted almost as long as the jeep itself hopefully it wont log me out and decide my password is wrong again.

anyway rant over i got a spark tester and tested it to the coil and to the plugs both had spark
i later noticed the coil fuse was burnt out replaced it still nothing
tried switching wires on the starter solinoid around but when i did one way it wouldnt turn over tried another way to have the wires then i had no power what so ever to anything so i put it all back to how it was and even tried the old solinoid again still wont crank and run

 

[Torxhead]

In you first post, I did not see where it would not crank or the starter would not turn over. So are you saying that it doesn't crank either?

 

[cj71chevelle]

it only wouldnt turn over if i switched the two little wires on the starting solenoid

 

[TeamRush]

With all the changes at once, there is enormous potential for things to go wrong.

The STARTER side of the starter relay should ONLY have the starter cable on it.

The battery cable terminal on the starter relay should have at minimum,
The battery cable and TWO 10 Ga. looking wires, the first 6" or so of those wires are Fusible Links.

The small side terminals *Should* be marked 'S' & 'I',
The 'S' terminal is 'Start', and it gets the small 'Blue' wire.
The 'I' terminal is 'Ignition' and it gets the small 'Red' wire.

----------------------

One bit of trivia here,
It's a quirk of the factory ignition that if you leave the key switch in the 'Run' position, you WILL overheat the coil and the module.

DO NOT leave the ignition switch 'On' when you don't have the engine running or you will continue to cook coils and modules.

-----------------------

Differential Diagnosis. Determine what your biggest issue is...

First off, get yourself a spark plug.
Wrap the threads with STRIPPED wire,
Connect the other end of the wire to the battery negative.

Stand that plug up in the coil, nose down.

Have someone crank the engine, see if you get rhythmic sparking.

.... *IF*....
You DO get rhythmic sparking as the engine cranks,
Then plug the coil wire back into the ignition coil,
Move your test plug to the end of the coil wire that normally plugs into the cap, and do the test again.

This tests the coil wire.

If you DO get sparing at the end of the coil wire, plug the coil wire back into the distributor and use your test plug at a spark plug wire.
You will only see 1/6 the sparks, but if you get a slower, but rhythmic sparking at that spark plug wire,
Your ignition is working.

Try some starting fluid to see if it fires.
If it fires, you have a working ignition and you should probably consider a fuel or serious timing issue.
A timing issue shouldn't be the problem if you didn't crank around on the distributor, so this differential diagnosis points you at a fuel delivery issue.

-----

If you DO NOT get rythmic sparking at the coil with the test plug,
Then it's time to see if the coil is getting power.

Get a TEST LIGHT, looks like an ice pick with a wire coming out of the handle,
And I'd recommend one with a regular bulb (not LEDs).

Take the test light, connect to the battery NEGATIVE, Probe the battery positive.
This tests the light.

Then take the coil connector OFF the coil, And test the CONNECTOR, not the coil.
Probe the RED wire terminal.
When the key is in the 'RUN' position, you should have a light.
When the key is in the 'Start' position, you should have a light.

If you fail either one of these...
'Run' position is key switch/ignition fuse wiring.
'Start' is the 'Red' wire between starter relay 'I' terminal and coil positive.

------

Next, Move the wire on the test light to the battery POSITIVE, Probe the battery NEGATIVE to test the light,

Then probe the coil connector GREEN wire. You should get a light.
Keep probing while someone cranks the engine, and you should get a FLASH or bright/dim cycle.

IF you probe and DO NOT get a light at all,
The coil isn't' getting a 'Ground Path',
The 'Green' wire between coil and module is not connecting,
OR,
The 'Black' wire between module and distributor housing isn't getting 'Ground Path'...

Now, *IF*...
You get a 'Green' wire light, but it doesn't 'Flash' or cycle when the engine is cranked, just stays on bright,
You probably have a bad module, and bad modules right from the discount 'Sores' is pretty common...