Jeep wont start

[Dan9]

Hey everyone. I got in my snow covered Jeep this morning and got nothin when i turned the key. just a clicking noise. the fans and lights and everything turned on but the engine never fired up. was pretty sure it wasnt the battery but tried to jump it anyway, nothin. i also tried tapping the starter, nothin. any suggestions before i have to get it towed. it is a 2003, 4.0L Wrangler X. Thanks for any help you can give and Happy New Year!

 

[Dan9]

forgot to mention, it has always run aand started fine and was completely fine the night before.

 

[B'ham Jeeper]

I had a Honda that did that one time and it ended up being the negative cable from the battery was not grounded. Took the end off that was attached to the body sanded the spot and re-attached. Took care of the problem. I am sure others have other ideas..

P.S. Worked one day and not the next..

 

[1994YJ]

Make sure that you check all the battery connections are good and clean. The newer model jeeps use permanent magnet starters so alot of the times the magnets break in the starters causing a clicking sound. If the magnets break then you can tap the thing till the cows come home and it wont make a difference. Good luck

 

[SteelHeadz]

Sometimes in an Extreme low temperature's , the battery will take a little bit longer to charge from another car. Make sure you have 12volts on that battery before you panic and think it's something else. it may also be that the Starter solenoid is just not fully making contact to the internal post to get the full 12volts that it needs.

 

[Dan9]

i tried cleaning the battery connections, nothin. thanks for the suggestions. i had to suck it up and call AAA to get it towed. the person came, and tried tapping it more, nothin. right before we put it on the bed, i tried starting it again and it started right up. So i guess its the starter. thanks guys.

 

[kis86]

My starter went last week in my car, and it took a few hours of key-turning to get it going...outside in the cold, on Christmas day, away from home. Got it home (made sure not to turn it off at any rest stops!), ordered a starter and decided to take the current one out in the meantime. Instead of leaving it out, I decided to clean up the connectors and hit it with a wrench a couple times and put it in to see if it would make any difference lol I know, but sometimes things like that work.

I got it hooked up again, and it's working like new again! My guess is the carbon buildup inside just got knocked off enough that it has a connection for now, but I'm going to replace it anyway before it stops working again.

Just thought I'd share my recent experience...crap happens at the worst of times and sometimes you get lucky!

 

[xt master]

I had a simalar problem and mine was a bad ground,but when i tried to start mine it wiped out all the radio setting almost as if the battery was dead.

If you where not having that problem sounds like the starter