Starter wiring

MountaineerTom

MountaineerTom

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The small wire that goes to the spade terminal on the starter…does anyone else‘s Jeep have the insulation removed about 4-5 inches up from the plastic connector?

It doesn’t look like it deteriorated or was chewed off by a rodent. The end of the insulation is cut smooth and even as if it was done on purpose.

Anything wrong with cleaning it up with electrical contact cleaner and wrapping it with electrical tape?

Or cut it and splice on a new connector? I think it’s 14 gauge.

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Jerry Bransford said:
Sure looks like that could have been caused by rodents. I'd just give it several layers of electrical tape, put it back into the plastic room and give that a few wraps too to close it.
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Ok, thanks Jerry. It’s dirty and grimy and the plastic loom it all dried up, cracking and falling apart but it almost looked like it was stripped back that far, which I know doesn’t make sense.

Doing some no crank troubleshooting and came across that when checking the starter. I think I have a broken ignition actuator. Turn the key and nothing, no clicking, no cranking. Can hear the fuel pump fire up, all gauges/lights/radio come on. Battery checks good, starter fires when jumping it from the spade terminal on the starter to the + battery terminal. Swapped relays and same result. Checked voltage at the connector in question and get nothing when turning the key. I got a couple days off Wednesday and Thursday so I’m going to pull the actuator and check it one of those days and will tidy up that wire at the same time. 👍
 
That doesn't look like rodent damage to me. It looks like heat and fatigue damage. The insulation just gets old and hot, gets brittle and breaks as it flexes. It doesn't matter if it doesn't short and the copper is good. You could just spray it with contact cleaner, wrap it in electrical tape and put some split loom on it. That's what I might do. The copper strands look perfect, they probably are, just protect them and you are good to go.
 
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Jerry Bransford said:
The ignition actuator is a great place to look next. You'll need the security version of a T-10 torx bit, the one with the center pin hole, and a normal T-10 torx bit for the job.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I’ve already got both Torx bits and an actuator that I bought a couple years ago when I heard these were a common problem.
 
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pagrey said:
That doesn't look like rodent damage to me. It looks like heat and fatigue damage. The insulation just gets old and hot, gets brittle and breaks as it flexes. It doesn't matter if it doesn't short and the copper is good. You could just spray it with contact cleaner, wrap it in electrical tape and put some split loom on it. That's what I might do. The copper strands look perfect, they probably are, just protect them and you are good to go.
Click to expand...

Thanks. That’s what I’ll do to it.

The wire was inside the loom initially, not hanging out like in the picture. I noticed the copper strands visible just past the old tape on the end of the loom so I peeled the loom open and took it out to inspect further. I just pulled it all the way out to get the picture.
 
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After a closer inspection today, it turns out that the insulation had somehow worked it's way up the wire. Weird, never seen that happen before.

Cleaned up the exposed wire and connector with some CRC QD Electronic Cleaner, slid the insulation back down, taped it up a little, added a new section of wire loom and good to go.

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Geeflail said:
Hi, would you have any idea where to purchase that starter solenoid female blade connector? Mine is toast
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I would check local auto parts stores. I think I have seen them in the section where fuses and switches are located. Be sure to get one with the pigtail wiring the same size or bigger.
 
TJ4Jim said:
That's the 12V feed to the starter solenoid actuated by the ignition switch. Search for a starter pigtail replacement or splice in a new section.
Click to expand...

If I wanted to test to see if the starter was bad vs something else in the chain could I put the key in run then just jump that connector across to the red wire into the starter from the battery?
 
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