1987 4.2 - cranks with the key in my pocket!...

[defmornahan]

The saga continues.
I had the PO's 5 yr old battery die on me last night while I was trying to start the beast. It started out making sickly weak cranking noises, recovered some on a subsequent attempt, and was in the middle of cranking and then it just cut off. Took it in, had 3 some volts on it, got a new battery. Put the new battery in, screwed down the red cable, touched the black cable to its post and the POS starts cranking. Like the title says, the key was in my pocket. I dropped the cable and examined the ignition switch position, and of course it's "off". I put the key in and rotate it backward more, maybe a quarter inch, so there's some play in it, but it's nowhere close to the "start" position. I go back and touch the cable to the post and it starts cranking again.

Besides my wife's idea of getting the diocesan exorcist in, where do I start with this one? I'm discovering that truth is stranger than fiction with Jeeps...

 

[LVRockCrawler]

sounds like a stuck solenoid on the starter... you can try tapping it with a hammer to see if you can break it loose... but i doubt its in the ign. switch on the column... check the starter and let us know.... g'luck!

 

[TerryMason]

And keep it in neutral!

 

[defmornahan]

I ended up getting a new starter relay and battery, which fixed the problem for a day. It ran fantastic. But the next day it cranked weakly and then buzzed. I took the battery in tonight and found out it was drained. Do I maybe have a short somewhere else that's draining power? The alternator tested fine at the store...

 

[LVRockCrawler]

first... with everything off... see if you have a "dead draw" problem... check for sparks b/w the neg term and post as you touch them and seperate... that will indicate a draw or if you have a meter that measures amps... put it between the post and terminal and see if there is any current flow... -if so... there are two ways to check where... - start pulling fuses and see if the meter drops this is to see if its a problem in the harness and lets you focus in on the circuit... the other way is to disconnect components (the biggest culprits are the starter and - believe it or not- the alternator - as a bad component inside like the bridge (rectifier) can draw current) = fyi - i had a similar prob w/my old 91 - turned out the under hood light's internal mercury switch was stuck so the bulb never went off... eventually killing my battery overnite (like leaving a door open..) i hate these type problems! good luck killing that gremlin! and let us know....

 

[defmornahan]

LV--Thank you so much, that helps a lot. I called somebody local and he said to check the rectifier too, so I have that to look at as well.

BTW, I noticed that the idle relays look quite nasty when I unplug them. Do those do anything now that someone has removed the idle solenoid and I replaced the Carter with a Weber 34? Should I cut off that socket thing and get rid of it?