Grand Cherokee Won't Start, No Action From Starter

85TrailRunner

85TrailRunner

Member
Joined
Mar 16, 2007
Location
Monroe
I also posted this in a Jeep forum also, just wanted all opinions.

History of the '98 Grand Cherokee...Three years ago a chunk on the #6 piston skirt fell off & led to the engine knocking so the Jeep was parked in the garage. Two years later I finally got around to getting the engine rebuilt, I pulled the engine myself & took it to someone to have it rebuilt. Rebuilt engine sat for several months & now I'm trying to get it back in & get the Grand Cherokee running again.

-Recent-
Put the engine back in & got all the electrical hooked back up best to my knowledge for it to have been around a 1 year so since I took the engine out. Now all the lights work, windows, horn, etc work but the starter won't spin much less engage to spin engine. I've got a new battery, battery voltage to the starter solenoid, & fuses & relays tested good. I bench tested the starter/starter solenoid & it works. Checked the grounds that I had to hook back up in the harness that I had removed & the grounds were testing to be good.

-Question-
When I'm attempting to start the Jeep should the green wire with black trace coming from the starter have 12volts? If it should then mine doesn't where should the 12 volts be coming from? Any more ideas? Test the key switch? Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks.
 
check the neutral safety switch. that wire runs to the starter relay contacts. should be hot in start position. try jumping the ground side of relay coil to ground(and put relay back in). if that works, its the NSS. if not, its the key switch.
 
make sure the oem alarm isnt active. Try unlocking the gate with the key.
 
I'll try out these suggestions & report back tomorrow after I get outta work. I have tried putting it in neutral & it still wouldn't crank. One thing to note is that I'm missing a nut that goes on a bolt on the side of the transmission that I think has something to do with the shifter(had to take loose to get better access to unbolt the exhaust from the exhaust manifold), I had bolted the bracket to the side of the transmission thats attached to the bolt with the missing nut. I wasn't going to leave the nut off or anything, was just trying to get the engine to spin over then find a replacement nut. This missing nut could be a contributing factor to the engine not starting by possibly not allowing flush contact with the neutral start switch? Thanks.

missing_nut.jpg
 
Alright I tried putting the shifter in neutral & the engine spun over, I guess the other day when I tried it I didn't hit the "sweet spot" for neutral. Thanks for the help everyone.
 
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