1998 TJ 4.0 5 speed will not start. No power when turning the key to any position. Battery has power. No lights no radio etc. ran fine two days ago.
Starting issue
- Thread starter Sealyons
- Start date
Rubirob
TJ Enthusiast
Your battery posts clean and cables on there good and tight? Take the cables off and clean both the post and inside of cables.. do your headlights work if you turn them on?
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Rubirob
TJ Enthusiast
Hmm seems like nothing is getting power.. if your headlights won’t even work.. I would be checking the cables to make sure the ground is on well, and your positive is secured well to the starter.. maybe check the fuse box.. maybe someone else on here has had issues with this.. normally cleaning and tightening the cables does the trick for me when this happens..
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I would do as everybody suggested and check your battery and make sure that you have a good connection. If it is good, this might be the culprit. I cannot tell you with any authority because this has not happened to me yet, but reading another post someone posted this, and it fixed it, so I bookmarked it just in case it happened to me, but It sounds like this may be what your issue is unless you have a broken wire somewhere:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004BYX8W8/?tag=wranglerorg-20
Someone posted they now drive with one of these with a spare in the TJ.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004BYX8W8/?tag=wranglerorg-20
Someone posted they now drive with one of these with a spare in the TJ.
That was the culprit in my wife's XJ. Seems to be a common enough problem that when she called me from somewhere in southern Oregon, I jumped on the computer, found enough info on this issue to be convinced of what was needed, and she had the XJ towed to a shop and had them install a new one. Problem solved. Might be just what the doctor ordered. One thing, though, that I'm just now recalling. With hers, she said the key was going past its normal positions, somewhat. @Sealyons didn't mention that in his post. Hmmm...
cradkins_9591502
Member
I can’t believe I’m reading this. This happened to my 2003 TJ (4L straight 6 manual) today. The Jeep started fine and my wife and I drove around all day. Shopping, dinner, grocery, gas...stopping, parking, starting car multiple times. We got home, I stopped, put Jeep in neutral w/parking brake on, got out, opened the gate, got back in, put Jeep in gear, accelerated and the engine stalled out, no cranking/clicking, ALL ELECTRICAL POWER was dead! I checked both sets of fuses, battery cables and terminals, all good. I switched out batteries out of my wife’s Santa Fe. Turned the key, the sound of a click and for one second, the gauges and a flicker of dash lights flashed, then everything died out again. I switched batteries back, the same thing happened, dead as a doorknob!
Last edited:
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk[/QUOTE]
Sorry not sure if I can help your post is all over the place, but I do find it odd that he diagnosed a computer then replaced the coil. It seems like there was some uncertainty there. I kind of wished there was some more diagnosis there. It does seem like your mechanic didn't do you any justice in this issue.
Can you get your original computer back?
To me you seem to be kind of out of 1K, so now you need to decide if it is worth it to you to go on, but it sounds like you need to spend time diagnosing rather than replacing parts. What happens is when you replace parts, you can cause more issues than what you started with, especially replacing a computer that doesn't need to be changed.
I am curious to why he thought it was necessary. I am not saying it wasn't, just usually that is not the first thing I replace unless I am positive that is the issue, and the fact that it didn't fix your issue. I am skeptical that was even the issue to start with.
If you can do some electrical work yourself, I would say definitely keep it, and fix it, but if you have to pay to fix it. I would take it to an auto electric shop, and they are most likely going to charge you flat time. Meaning they will probably charge you per hour they work on it. It will be hard to get a quote. That is really going to be your decision on if you want to take that risk or not.
I went through everything again, cleaned and re-tightened the cables, checked fuses etc. I put a voltmeter on the battery and it was very low so I charged it and has been working fine since. It was strange since I even tried to jump it with no success prior. Thanks for all the help!
If your battery is too low then it will take most of the charge from the jump and not supply enough to the starter, so that makes sense.
You should get your battery load tested to make sure this won't happen again.
Also check your charging system with that same volt meter should be 13v - 14.9v
Congrats! And thanks for the follow-up.
When we first bought my wife's '96 XJ 4.0, I dropped it off for new tires to be mounted. The shop called me a couple hours later to say the rig would start, but immediately die. It had the same issue with the previous owner (he had told me as much), but ran fine when he charged the battery. I got online, and somewhere I found that if the battery is weak, and the voltage is too low, either the IAC or the TPI (I've forgotten which one it said) cannot function properly, and the results would be what I was experiencing. So, I bought a new battery, dropped it in, and have never had that issue again in five years. Might be time for a battery. Just a thought...
Edit: I think I just responded to the wrong thread! LOL There's someone else who was having a sudden stalling situation, as opposed to a no-start issue. Sorry! I'll leave my post up anyways, as it's good information, if nothing else.
Edit: I think I just responded to the wrong thread! LOL There's someone else who was having a sudden stalling situation, as opposed to a no-start issue. Sorry! I'll leave my post up anyways, as it's good information, if nothing else.
Last edited:
I had a kickstart Noton Commando with aftermarket electronic ignition. If the battery voltage dropped below 11 it would move to 100% advanced spark and nearly rip your leg off with kickback. 11 or over it started first or second kick.
Some electronics are just super finicky with voltage.
Some electronics are just super finicky with voltage.
Damn!
No kidding squatch my 850 Commado threw me over the handle bars more than once. I only let people ride it if they could start it. I only knew one other person who could start it lol.