Jeep Just Died

I changed my fuel pump Saturday on my 304. It had been sitting awhile so I charged the battery and she fired right up. I was drinking when I fixed the fuel pump so I didn't drive it until Monday. I drove it around for about an hour and she died in the middle of the road on the way to work. I thought it was the alternator at first but I went by there after work and the headlights are bright, but when I turn the key it just clicks once and does nothing. It sounds like it could almost be the starter but that was replaced less than a year ago. Any ideas?

 

Check all of your connections are clean and tight.
Donnie

 

Sounds like an alternator to me.

 

I currently have the exact problem happening to me. Click. After banging the hell out of the starter on a trail, I realized it was the starter solenoid. I jiggled the cables at the solenoid and was able to start it probably 5 more times over the course of 3 or so days. Last night I just could not get it started. Going to fix it now. It's freezing out but I wanna go wheeling. Not sure if its a bad ground, bad solenoid, or the cables are getting bad (the insulation is cracked). Hope that helps.

 

Do you have a voltmeter? If not, go get one. You should test for voltage drop in the starting circuit. The test will give you 100% certainty that you find the faulty part(s).

I'm too lazy to type it all out, but if you do a search, you can find the instructions for the test. It's quite simple.

HTH

 

Solenoid.

Common problem......

Mine just died a couple of weeks ago....after running for about 20 minutes just to charge the battery, I went out and.......just clicks.

Full charge...changed soleonoid - started right up!

 

ck connections on the bat. and starter if good probly the solnoid.

 

A starter solenoid is easy to check. Just take a pair of pliers and touch each handle to each of the large posts of the solenoid. with itbypassed the engine shold turn over normally. This basically bypasses the solenoid. If the engine turns over normally and you have current thru the small wire when you engage the starter switch your solenoid is bad. If the starter dosnt crank normally when bypassing the solenoid you have a problem with the starter, charging, battry or cables. Obviouslly the pliers cant be the ones with the insulated handles.

 

Just please be careful with doing the above tactic... I had the starter wire wander too close to the header and it would ground out on the header once and a while. Took me a while to figure out what was happening. Might explain why it would up and die on ya.

 

The other thing is bad ground which is very likely I would say the a good 75% of Jeep electrical problems are bad grounds.

Strider I would almost guarantee that is your problem. The big clue is that it gets worse in the cold weather. Bad ground.