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New to the thread. Hope everyone is loving life and their CJ. Tried to start my '82 the other day....got a lot of clicking, no turnover. Changed the starter, solenoid and battery...tried again, got no sound whatsoever. Was hoping to take it to the beach for the first time as I purchased 03/13, but..... Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Take a jumper cable and touch each end of the starter solenoid. This will put full battery voltage directly to the starter, bypassing the solenoid. If that works, the battery and starter work, of course. You could also try it with the key on and it would start the engine. This would leave the solenoid as the problem. I am thinking there might be an issue with not getting enough juice to the solenoid from the ignition. There could also be an issue with the battery terminals.
Underhood clicking during a starting attempt is usually caused by worn contacts or not enough voltage to the starting solenoid. BTW, post the specs on your CJ.
New to the thread. Hope everyone is loving life and their CJ. Tried to start my '82 the other day....got a lot of clicking, no turnover. Changed the starter, solenoid and battery...tried again, got no sound whatsoever. Was hoping to take it to the beach for the first time as I purchased 03/13, but..... Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Clean both you positive and Negative cables..........Check your ground cable from the battery to the block..........clean both ends and reattach...........or for a quick check take a jumper cable and hook it to the negative side of the battery and attache the other side to the starter body......Ground cables on Jeeps are a primary issue.
New to the thread. Hope everyone is loving life and their CJ. Tried to start my '82 the other day....got a lot of clicking, no turnover. Changed the starter, solenoid and battery...tried again, got no sound whatsoever. Was hoping to take it to the beach for the first time as I purchased 03/13, but..... Any help would be greatly appreciated.
2. Make sure you get the wires back on the same terminals they came off of!
You wouldn't believe how many people screw up the wires at the starter relay!
This is SIMPLE,
STARTER CABLE TO LARGE RELAY TERMINAL, Doesn't matter which one.
BATTERY CABLE to the other large relay terminal, along with the two smaller wires that look to be about 10 Ga.
Small terminal marked 'S' gets the BLUE small wire,
Small terminal marked 'I' gets the RED small wire.
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Side Note,
There are TWO 'FUSIBLE LINKS' in your system at the starter relay.
Fusible link is a FUSE WIRE, and it looks about like any other wire until you know what you are looking at.
The two fusible links are the two '10 Ga'. looking wires that hook up to battery cable side terminal.
They will have a 'Rubber' looking insulation, instead of the usual 'Vinyl' insulation, and about 5" down the wire there will be a round plastic block on the wire.
This is the sealed connection between fusible link and regular automotive wiring.
One fusible link protects the wire GOING TO the alternator, big terminal on the back,
The other will supply battery voltage to the fuse block for all the rest of the vehicle.
DO NOT REMOVE THESE FUSIBLE LINKS FROM THE SYSTEM!
IF they have failed or burned, REPLACE THEM!
DO NOT OMIT THEM FROM THE SYSTEM!
Fusible links are available from any auto parts store for around $5 and they keep your vehicle from burning down if the alternator or master fuse block wire get 'Grounded'...
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DIAGNOSTICS.
Take a SMALL wire, strip both ends, and touch the battery cable terminal,
Then with the other end,
Touch the 'S' terminal where the 'Blue' wire should be hooked up.
If the starter relay 'Hits' (A 'Snap' or 'Pop' sound) the starter relay is working.
CAUTION, the engine may crank when this relay 'Hits', so be ready for that and don't have fingers in fan or belts, and have vehicle out of gear!
If you DO NOT get a 'Snap', then you need to look for a 'Ground' issue or bad starter relay...
Automatic Transmission models from '80 to '86 have a 'Neutral Safety Switch' (NSS) that keeps the starter relay from working via opening the 'Ground' for the starter relay.
This particular relay will have an extra terminal (5 terminals) and the 5th will be on the bottom or back, depending on manufacturer.
*IF* you have an automatic, then try 'Grounding' the extra terminal,
Then repeat the above test.
If you get a SNAP with that 5th terminal grounded, you have a NSS issue.
Manual transmissions don't have that extra terminal, the relay 'Grounds' through the mounting bracket.
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The second step is to remove the 'Blue' wire, use a test light, and have someone turn the key.
If the test light lights up when the key is turned to 'Start' position, then there is nothing wrong with the key switch or wiring to the relay.
IF you don't get a 'Light', then you have issues under the dash or on the way to the starter relay in the wiring...
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To test the starter it's self,
As mentioned before, use a HEAVY CABLE or jumper cables from battery to starter cable terminal.
The starter should *TRY* to crank, often times you don't have enough contact to properly turn the starter, but it should at least try to crank.
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To test your cables,
Get yourself a BATTERY LOAD TESTER.
Under load is the ONLY way to test cables!
Do a battery LOAD test at the battery cable side of the starter relay.
This will tell you if full battery CURRENT is getting to the starter relay, and it will verify your short cable.
Do the same thing at the starter terminal, with the RELAY HOT WIRED as described above. (battery cable terminal to 'S' terminal)
This will tell you if the CABLE between relay, or the relay itself, is passing enough CURRENT to the starter to work.
This is load testing the battery cable to Relay, Relay, and starter cable at the same time for CURRENT, not just some stray voltage.
Remember, good cables are MANDATORY!
Just because they pass some voltage doesn't mean they are passing AMPERAGE enough to make the starter work correctly!
Load testing will tell you if the cable is up to the job or not.
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To test just the starter,
Run a HEAVY cable from battery positive to starter large terminal.
The starter should crank the engine. If it cranks 'Slow' or doesn't crank at all there is an issue with the 'Ground' to the starter (Ground cable, terminals, where the 'Ground' is applied to the vehicle, ect.).
To eliminate/test the 'Ground' cable, just hook up a jumper cable to the negative side of the battery,
And hook the other end to a starter mounting bolt AT THE STARTER,
Then apply positive battery power to the electrical connection for the starter.
If the starter cranks good now and didn't before when you just supplied positive power to the starter, you have a 'Ground' issue.
If the starter still doesn't crank worth a darn, it's the starter...
