Stinking Electrical

PAJeeper · #1 (**permalink**) 07-20-2003, 08:00 PM

I am just finishing up restoring a 78 CJ7 . Fiberglass body is on and we are almost goon do go. Today was the faithfull day when she startes for the first time in 4 months. Guess what NOTHING. I turn the key nothing. Clean the contacts on the starter relay, take the distributor out take the cap off clean all contact surfaces, and put everything back in. The thing tried to turn over it would go rrr, rrr, rrr then die for a second and repeat this. So I pulled my distributor and rotated the shaft 180 degrees. It turned over for about 5 seconds then died. Everything was just DEAD. I tried to jump over the starter relay, got one spart and dead. Everthing is completely dead, dead, dead. Help me out fellas Im almost done. :-x [addsig]

dingus · #2 (**permalink**) 07-20-2003, 08:00 PM

take a step back and think simple here. relax. are you getting spark? fuel? starter moving fast enough? its always something stupid. you have gas in the tank? :)[addsig]

PAJeeper · #3 (**permalink**) 07-20-2003, 08:00 PM

Well I got out my voltage meter and started snooping around. With the key in the On position I have no power anywhere. I have good voltage from the battery but nowhere else. I have no dash lights, head lights, nothing. I trtied jumping over the relay and dont even get spark. I did a bench test on the starter and it works fine. It has to be something stupid to cause this much trouble. :-?

[addsig]

cjshag · #4 (**permalink**) 07-20-2003, 08:00 PM

rrr.rrrr.rrr.dead! I'm not sure I'm following you. Is it turning over at all? Are you saying it's not a battery/charging problem? My Jeep has a factory tach., and one time the thing went bad and the Jeep would die. It would do this going down the highway and at idle. I by passed the tach with the factory connectors until I got a new one. I agree it is probably something simple. I know that fiberglass bodies can cause electrical problems for a lack of a good ground and that you must ground electrical items to the frame. Good luck![addsig]

PAJeeper · #5 (**permalink**) 07-20-2003, 08:00 PM

It would turn over about 3 times then go dead for a second then turn over three times and go dead for a second. This happened right after I reinstalled the distributor. I attributed it to the idea that I had the distributor intalled 180 degrees off. i.e. the engine was stroking but was not sparking at the same time. I should organize my questions better. I have a feeling Im gonna be on here alot for help. Thanks fellas.[addsig]

Tug-n-pull · #6 (**permalink**) 07-20-2003, 08:00 PM

Let me see here if I have what you are saying. You just rebuilt the jeep. Tryed to fire it up. the starter rolled over enought to turn the motor ove about 3 rolls. the it dies no power. then it rolls about 3 more rolls. No power to anything after the switch. power to the switch? I had a Trooper go dead much like this and it was a "main fuseable link" I don't even know if Jeeps have one but check it to see. might help. Let me know if I have this straight. Tug I feel you pain! :-? [addsig]