93 XJ being tarded

[SquiDMonkeY]

Okay, so suggestions please. here's what's going. I was driving home from work friday, stopped at DQ to get the wife a blizzard. Got back into the jeep and it would not start. Figured it was the NSS (have had problems with this before) and it just needed cleaning. usually rocking the jeep will get it working again. So I rocked it back and forth and shifted through all the positions to try and get the switches unstuck. Ended up leaving it in the DQ parking lot for the night and had a tow truck come saturday and tow it to my house, after i tried to jump start it. Took out the NSS and cleaned it. Sure enough the switches on the inside where stuck, the springs were not pushing them out. No contact was made. So after cleaning and re-assembly. Started it up just fine. Well sunday mornin I tried to start it, no luck. I checked my battery voltage and it was low. Tried to jump it, nothing. Took the battery out and took it to autozone. Charged up the battery and went home then it started up just fine. yay. Tuesday morning it was dead again. Again it would not jump. Took it to Auto zone and they charged it, and it started just fine again.

So summary.. Wont jump start, and battery keeps draining. A few people told me to check the alternator. i wont be able to do that this weekend when I got more time. Any other suggestions? also, just in case the alternator is bad, I do plan on turning this into just an offroad vehicle (in a few years of course) including some external lights and such, What size alternator do you guys recommend?

Appreciate it.

[irish1371]

I find that when it wont jump you need to look at the grounds and neg cable. next time you try to jump it feel the jumper cables and see if they are getting warm.

If your neg cable is shot then the smaller grounds will usually let most systems work but the batt will not charge properly and the other grounds will not be enough for a good circuit to start the vehicle.

[SquiDMonkeY]

the vehicle will start, if i put a freshly charged battery in there. Starts up no problem. However, I'll check that later on tonight when I get off work.

[Ghost00TJ]

while running the local autozone (at least here) can go outside and check the battery and charging system while in the car, load tester I think is what its called.

[irish1371]

in that case it sounds like a dead/shorted cell in the battery. A load test would show if the battery is good to go or not. Good luck with it bud let us know how it works out

[friskeljr]

I had something similar happen to the 84 trans am that i had. I checked everything and the negative battery cable had a spot where the insulation had rubbed off or what ever and so it was shorting out. after i replaced that i took it to autozone and they did that load test or what ever its called, and the battery and alternator were both shot because of the short in the ground wire from the battery.

[SquiDMonkeY]

I've had the battery tested at autozone and their test says it's good. I didn't get any time to check it out last night, probably wont be able to look at it tonight either. Going to have to wait till friday and this weekend. Recruiting duty blows.

[SquiDMonkeY]

so, just thought id let everyone know what happend. Saturday came around and I had time to work on the Jeep. Removed the alternator and had it tested. Failed all 3 tests at autozone. While i was there I had them charge my battery as well, just to make sure it was fully charged and good to go. Put the new alternator in, as well as replaced the serpentine belt, figured since I had it off, might as well replace it. Anyways, got it all set up, and tried to start it. Nothing. I was furious. Figured it was getting late, so I would wait till sunday. Started working on it sunday, figured "hey, maybe I had more than two things go bad on me.. (the NSS was first and then the alternator) So i busted out the Fluke meter and started taking some readings. Everything read fine. So i figured "lemme double check the battery just to see..."
I put the fluke across the battery leads and checked voltage. 12.35 Little low for a "Freshly charged" battery. Im begining to think autozone didn't let it charge completly. Anyways, I told my wife to crank it so I could see what kinda draw I was getting.. Well I'll be damn if the thing didn't start right up no problem. Could it be possibly the teeny tiny amount of amperage from my flukes 9V battery was enough to give it that extra omph it needed? No clue, and I dont wanna wast time with the math either, All I need to know is it starts now and I got no problems. Battery charges from the alternator and everything is good. Now onto that lift kit...

[supr_fly03]

COuld have been a bad contact on the battery. Good luck on that lift kit!