What causes this?

[RynoMJ]

I've been at this all week switching switches, checking wires and I'm puzzled.

[Motion Offroad]

Neutral Safety Switch (NSS).

 

Try putting it into (N) and see if she'll start. If so your NSS is bad and will need either cleaned and/or replaced.

[pwrliftin]

I don't know if the MJ's have this, but there is a fuse in my monte carlo that went out and it did the exact same thing. Once I replaced it fired right up. Could be that, if the MJ has something similar

[drcomanche]

I know of a few reasons this could happen. For me, and this only happened a few days ago, my battery was shot and couldn't hold enough of a charge to actually turn the engine over, even though all of my accessories worked. I would try the neutral start first, like motion said, and if that doesn't work check your battery terminals and do a voltage test. If that comes up short, it's your battery. If not wiggle them around a bit and then try again. Sometimes the terminals get dirty and it gives a bad connection.

 

Another problem it might be is your starter is gone.

 

In any case, it sounds like you aren't getting the power somewhere in the system. Does the starter click at all when you turn the key? I couldn't hear anything from the video, but you would be able to hear it.

[RynoMJ]

Battery is fine i checked that, truck was in neutral, no clicking from starter it started fine a few days ago and started fine before I took the dash out and put it back in.

[drcomanche]

Have you checked all the fuses under the hood? If you were messing with electrical components when you did the dash removal, it could have blown a fuse.

[87Chief]

get under it, hit the starter with a hammer and get someone to crank it over while your doing that. If it struggles a little, or won't turn over at all, check the cables/fuses, or you need a starter.

[RynoMJ]

I'll check that but it literally started fine yesterday for some reason but now just does the same thing again. Could that still be the starter?

[drcomanche]

It could be, although it would be unlikely. Do you have a wiring diagram? And have you checked up the wiring to and from your ignition switch?

 

 

Sounds to me like you either blew a fuse or relay, or one of your wires isn't connected like it should be.

 

What was entailed in your dash removal process? Did you take everything out? or just the dash cover?

[RynoMJ]

I pulled the whole dash to do the heater core, didn't mess with any wiring, I was thinking a relay too but what one would that be?

[drcomanche]

There are multiple parts numbers since there is a large aftermarket production of these, but just hop onto ebay and type in Jeep Comanche starter relay.

 

but if you haven't touched the wires, I don't know where it could have gone wrong. What condition are your battery cables in?

[RynoMJ]

Battery cables seem fine. Could it be something with the ignition lock switch or like motion said the neutral safety switch?

[RynoMJ]

Replaced the starter relay today but it's still not clicking. Battery is fully charged, tighted and cleaned the cables, checked the ignition switch again and the truck does the same thing. I couldn't locate the neutral safety switch, I'm not really sure what I'm looking for.

[maddzz1]

http://gojeep.willyshotrod.com/HowtoNSSrebuild.htm

This will explain the neutral safety switch. Its mounted on the pass side of the trans. Can be tuff to pull off.

 

It sounds to me like a wire must be or came off when you did the dash. It doesnt seem like the ignition switch is either not getting or sending power to the starter when you turn the key

[cruiser54]

NSS? Am I missing something or should I believe his info in the original post that he has a manual trans?

[RynoMJ]

Thought I was missing something.

[ICEBOX]

On my MJ sometimes it will not start same as yours. If I push the shifter forward a little it will start . Hope it helps

[RynoMJ]

On my MJ sometimes it will not start same as yours. If I push the shifter forward a little it will start . Hope it helps

 

At this point I'll take any advice haha

[RynoMJ]

I think I found the issue for a minute at least. I was playing around with wires on the starter relay and the ignition switch trying to trouble shoot if there was a short or something. I ran A jumper from this green wire on the relay directly to the back of the switch and it turned over. (Don't mind the wonderful PO tape jobs.)

 

 

 

So I figured one of those wonderful factory splices had come loose or something so when I went to wire in this new wire for further testing I discovered a relay spliced in the middle of this green wire. I don't believe this is factory and I assume this was wired in for the radio.

 

 

Well now I don't have any results, radio is now completely dead, fuse is fine, and I'm not getting the truck to turn over. Battery connections and grounds are fine, the rest of the connections on the starter relay and ignition switch seem to be fine. I tried a different relay in place of the PO radio one and nothing. I'm even more lost now. My only thought is that I screwed up something with the PO relay maybe didn't put a wire back on correctly. I even tried two different starter relays. The new one was clicking at first, and the old one was humming when I first put it back in. Now I hear nothing and I'm back to square one.

[RynoMJ]

Does anyone know if this relay is factory?

[ICEBOX]

what year is your jeep. I can go and look at mine if we have the same model. And I have never seen a relay inline to a radio .

[ICEBOX]

your mj is a stick shift ?

[ftpiercecracker1]

Ok, if all you care about is getting you mj to run again here is what you do. Hook your radio back up the way it was. Then run some kind of wire, nothing to light, from the inside of your cab down to your starter solenoid, then run a wire from the hot side of your battery to the inside of your cab, don't let it touch anything grounded. Buy a electrical switch from your auto parts store, install it using your newly run wires. If you do this right and its about as easily as 123 you should be able to turn you key to the run position, flip the switch, let it crank a few times and verroooom! you should be good as gold, just DO NOT forget to turn of the starter switch. FYI this is the exact setup on my MJ and has never failed me.

 

P.S. you might have to drill a hole in your dash if you wish to mount the switch, I will post pictures on this thread of my setup if you would like me to do so.

 

best of luck

[RynoMJ]

what year is your jeep. I can go and look at mine if we have the same model. And I have never seen a relay inline to a radio .

 

Its an 89 5 speed.

[RynoMJ]

Ok, if all you care about is getting you mj to run again here is what you do. Hook your radio back up the way it was. Then run some kind of wire, nothing to light, from the inside of your cab down to your starter solenoid, then run a wire from the hot side of your battery to the inside of your cab, don't let it touch anything grounded. Buy a electrical switch from your auto parts store, install it using your newly run wires. If you do this right and its about as easily as 123 you should be able to turn you key to the run position, flip the switch, let it crank a few times and verroooom! you should be good as gold, just DO NOT forget to turn of the starter switch. FYI this is the exact setup on my MJ and has never failed me.

 

P.S. you might have to drill a hole in your dash if you wish to mount the switch, I will post pictures on this thread of my setup if you would like me to do so.

 

best of luck

 

I'm not sure how my radio was wired up i must have screwed something up because now the radio doesn't work either.

I was really trying to fix the factory way but after 4 weeks of endless troubleshooting this might be the only option.