I just traded for a jeep and I am a newbie, so I need your help please.
After letting it sit for a few weeks the Jeep would just click and not turn over, so after reading online I changed the starter. Actually, I bought beer for a friend who changed it.
Amazingly, it cranked and started and off to the Car wash I went.
Now that the jeep has sit again for a week I tried to start it and it just cranks, but will not start.
I have no way to test the voltage or compression, but will try anything.
The battery seems to be strong, as it will crank and crank, but willing to replace or jump if I need to.
Congratulations on your new Jeep, and welcome to the club.
Hmmm. There's a thing said about medical students: They hear hoofbeats outside the window and immediately think "Zebra!". In this case, you might have spent money on a starter that you didn't need to replace. "Click but won't crank" is usually a symptom of low voltage or low current to the starter, either because of a dead battery (low voltage) or dirty connections (low current).
Sure you have a way to test things.
You need three things for a gasoline engine to run: Spark, fuel and compression.
Unless your engine sounds like it is cranking absurdly fast, you've probably got compression. Nothing is going to break overnight that will rob you of that.
Pull the air cleaner off and stick you nose down the carb throat. Smell fresh gas? Hold the choke open, look down the throat and move the throttle linkage (or have someone step on the gas pedal). You should see gas squirting down by the lower set of valve plates. Yes? Then you've got fuel. (Don't crank the engine now! You don't want it to burp fire into your face, do you?) If you do this a few times the squirting will stop. Don't worry. Cranking the engine for a minute will restore the fuel in the pump. Put the air cleaner back on.
Carefully pull the spark wire that goes from the coil to the center tower of the distributor cap off the cap. Using something insulated (I'm worried about leakage through old insulation here knocking you on your arse) hold the wire so that the metal end cap is near (1/4" or so) the engine block while someone cranks the engine over. Watch out for moving parts and loose clothing. You should see blue sparks jump the gap and hear a snapping sound. I'm guessing that you won't.
Let us know what you find and someone will give you more specific directions.
If it "cranks and cranks" you don't need a jump or need to replace the battery. My guess is that you have an electrical problem. It might be a little tricky to track down, but not too hard to fix. Just don't replace parts willy-nilly -- at least, not yet.
-- "I defer to your plainly more vivid memories of topless women with whips....r" R. H. Draney recalls AFU in the Good Old Days.
I will second the congrats, and say you have come to the right place for CJ info.
I also will second looking down the carb to see if you get gas squirts when you push the pedal down. If you don't, you can toss a splash of maybe 1/4 cup r so in the carb and it might go vroom. You might have to do that twice.
If so, that means the gas is siphoning back to the tank. One reason for this is an upside down gas filter. The filter has two outlets, the center one goes to the carb and the 'top' one goes tot he return line. If the return line tube isn't at top, gas syphons when it sits. Another reason for that can be a pinhole leak in the suction line from the pump to the tank.
If you have no spark, then I would start by cleaning the contacts on the starter solenoid that sits on the fender. One wire from there controls the spark when starting. Likely a blue one on the side post.
Also the coil power plug itself is known to get punky.
Let us know if anything helps.
Mike
86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00
88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's Canadian Off Road Trips Photos: N>
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