Hello all, been looking here for a while but have not posted. New to MJs but not new to Jeeps.
I picked up an 88 Pioneer about a month ago as a new project to replace my recently sold CJ. 4.0 with AW4 auto short bed 4x4. Since it only has 73,000 miles on it, I had to have it. Have driven it a little bit to get a feel for it before I start 'fixing' it. I spent a few hours cleaning up the grounds and some simple maintenance. It was a little slow to crank so I cleaned up the battery terminals. Still slow to crank. I disconnected the starter to clean the cables up and found the small wire (neutral safety switch?) was so corroded I had to cut the wire to get the starter out. The whole starter was coated in a healthy coat of rust so I replaced it instead of trying to remove the rusted bolt. I cleaned up the connections and replaced the end I cut off. Installed the new starter and ... no start. I cranks like a champ but no start. I did get it to catch once after it sat about an hour. As soon as I tried to put it in gear it died and will not start again. I tried the search function but did not find what I was looking for. I am guessing its in the neutral safety switch but am not sure... Any help would be appreciated!