Weak Starting YJ

[outerbeachyj]

Starter? Alternator? or Battery? :?
Everytime I start the Jeep is sounds as if the battery is very weak. It cranks few times (very slowly and weak) but it starts almost every time. I only had to jump it once out of 10 times. Obviously you would think it is a weak battery, but it is a less than year old Yellow Top Optima! I even had it on trickle charge and the Jeep still was weak starting. (Voltage meter showed normal and charger indicated full charged battery) Could it be the alternator or the starter? I had it on trickle charge while in storage this winter with the battery still connected, could this have caused damage to any thing electrical? Thanks for your help!

 

[west747]

sometimes the copper in the wires can get corroded (lots of water where i wheel) and this can cause a very weak connection. on my jeep it wasnt too hard to tell which wires were corroded but mine is also an 89 yj.

 

[jps4jeep]

Voltage regulator???

 

[west747]

also my experence with deep cycle battery's is that they dont put out enough amperage to get a good start. try with another battery. i went through about three before i got a good one. all "showed 12 volt" but two of the deep cycle batts had a bad cell. finnally went with an energize 845 cc amp batt...i love it starts her up in the -35C weather.

 

[graewulf]

could be any of:

bad battery - just cause its a year old doesn't mean its still good
bad/dirty terminals/connections
bad starter
poor ground on any of the ground straps (at starter, battery, etc.)
did i miss anything?

 

[outerbeachyj]

O.K. here was the problem:

I had the jeep on trickle charge while in storage with battery still connected. Problem is I gues you are not supposed to trickle charge Optima batteries! I ruined the battery (hopefully still under warrenty but I bought online and have no recipt!) I also burned out the starter because all the power was diverted to the electrical starter motor all winter. So new Optima $120, new re-built starter $200, lessoned learned, don't trickle charge Optimas and disconnect batteries if leaving on trickle charge...

 

[graewulf]

i dont think the trickle charge damaged the starter, the low voltage starts is probably what did it.. the starter is disconnected from the hot side when the key is off so no juice flows through it.

 

[outerbeachyj]

Cool, thanks for all your help. Turns out Optima is going to send me a new battery, no questions asked, no recipt or anything, just a friendly phone call to their customer service department is all I had to do! What a great company. I strongly vouch for companies that back thier products like this one did for me!