TJ randomly will not crank after sitting, even with new battery

ehirst83

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Nov 4, 2022
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Salt Lake City, UT
I recently inherited a 2001 Wrangler Sport S auto in Velocity Yellow when my father passed away in July of this year. 170k miles and not much done to it yet, but I have some fun plans in the future to start building up with my twin sons. For now it has a 3 inch spring lift ( I think, not sure what brand), BestTop seat covers, HID Headlights, LED Fog Lights, Alpine receiver, etc. I'll post some pics and an official intro as soon as I can.

For now, the issue I'm struggling with is that every so often after it's sat overnight or in the parking lot of my office at work. I'll try to start it and the radio, fuel pump, etc. come on, but it will not even attempt to turn over or start. I've replaced the battery terminals and battery within the past two weeks and it just happened again today at lunch so I had to get a jump from a co-worker. The really weird part is just as he (my co-worker) had taken the positive cable off on his end to re-adjust the connection, I turned the key and it cranked immediately and fired right up! What could be causing this? Steering column/key tumbler worn out? Transmission lockout sensor? Bad MAF sensor? Any input would be greatly appreciated, there is no CEL or any codes coming up, I'm stumped.
 
At 170k I'd be looking at the starter. You can test voltage to the starter easily. I believe the outside post on the starter comes directly from the battery, and should always register 12 volts. The post inside, closer to the block, should see 12 volts when the ignition is switched to start. If you don't have 12 volts, or have 12 volts but no start, the starter solenoid is likely bad. Sometimes you can tap on the solenoid with a hammer and it will start.
 
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My experience with the pin breaking is it won't start at all if that happens. In his case, it starts sometimes.
 
Sounds like you have an intermittent open circuit in the starting circuit. Could be the ignition switch, starter solenoid, relay (if there is one), shifter, etc.
When it acts up, try to move the shifter, tap on the column, move the starter wiring around, tap the starter with a hammer, etc.
Ideally, a second person would be helpful so one can hold the ignition switch in the cranking position while the other does the chasing.
If the old jiggle and wiggle test doesn’t work then it’s time to get out the DVOM and some wiring diagrams.

Sorry to hear about your dad, it’s been 10 years since mine passed.
It’s cool you’re keeping it and building it with your boys.
 
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I recently inherited a 2001 Wrangler Sport S auto in Velocity Yellow when my father passed away in July of this year. 170k miles and not much done to it yet, but I have some fun plans in the future to start building up with my twin sons. For now it has a 3 inch spring lift ( I think, not sure what brand), BestTop seat covers, HID Headlights, LED Fog Lights, Alpine receiver, etc. I'll post some pics and an official intro as soon as I can.

For now, the issue I'm struggling with is that every so often after it's sat overnight or in the parking lot of my office at work. I'll try to start it and the radio, fuel pump, etc. come on, but it will not even attempt to turn over or start. I've replaced the battery terminals and battery within the past two weeks and it just happened again today at lunch so I had to get a jump from a co-worker. The really weird part is just as he (my co-worker) had taken the positive cable off on his end to re-adjust the connection, I turned the key and it cranked immediately and fired right up! What could be causing this? Steering column/key tumbler worn out? Transmission lockout sensor? Bad MAF sensor? Any input would be greatly appreciated, there is no CEL or any codes coming up, I'm stumped.

When mine do that ,I just tap the gear shift into park, even if its already in park.That has seem to work everytime the nostart happens.
 
Like the first few answers... look into either the actuator pin, or the ign switch contacts. Chances are if it's the actuator pin, the key will not spring back from the crank position. Other is corroded contacts in the switch.

You can pull the switch housing with the contacts, carefully open it and clean the contacts with sandpaper, regrease and put back in for the cost of a little time. While there, you can check on the actuator... there are a lot of YouTube videos on the actuator replacement so you can see what you are in for... it's easy. I think it took no longer than 1.5 hours to pull apart, clean, and re-assemble when I did mine.
 
I have an auto and check your neutral safety switch on the transmission, I have had one cause a problem before.
 
When mine do that ,I just tap the gear shift into park, even if its already in park.That has seem to work everytime the nostart happens.

Yep, had the same issue on our old XJ that mimicked the OP's random no-starting issue. My daughter hit a deer and totaled the XJ (not to mention what it did to the deer) so that took care of the annoying finnicky starting issue...😬🤣
 
My experience with the ignition pin was that if you turned the key to far, it would go to a bad spot speeding past the "good" spot. Since your is intermittent, try turning the key slowly to start or turning it all the way and ever so slightly turn it back. See if it catches a good contact.
 
Thanks so much for all the input! It just happened again today and I'm leaning toward the ignition pin or trans safety switch. I just slowly turned the key back and forth, then moved the shifter from P to D and back, then it fired right up. I think I'll pickup a spare ignition switch actuator pin to keep in the toolbox and if it happens again I'll replace it. Thanks again for all the help, it saved me a ton of time not knowing where to even start.
 
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