Heavy Rain, won't Start Now

[JT31]

I pulled in my driveway sunday around 10am, parked my jeep and didnt go anywhere till monday morning. i hopped in the truck and tried firing it up but i had nothing, no fuel pump prime, no dash lights, no door buzzer. i checked my head lights, head lights are strong. checked my radio, radio is hard wired to the battery, its also strong. tried jumping it with my brothers jeep, still nothing happens. Iv checked every fuse and started checking connections in the engine bay. It sat in heavy rain for a day so I'm not sure if thats the cause of my problems. Any ideas?

[ftpiercecracker1]

What does it do when you try to crank it? No click no nothin? Sounds to me like a loose battery clamp.

[HughMann]

Bad body ground somewhere?

[JT31]

What does it do when you try to crank it? No click no nothin? Sounds to me like a loose battery clamp.

 

it doesnt crank or anything, no sounds at all. but my head lights, fog lights and radio are still bright so thats why i ruled out battery terminals

 

Bad body ground somewhere?

 

it ran when parked so I'm not sure if thats it either

[54bobby]

only a shade tree guy here but if it's a no start and no dash lights, it's either a common ground or you have 2 separate problems. have you tried hitting the starter with a hammer?

[1989 Eliminator]

I would clean all your grounds. On the block, firewall, clean you negative post on the battery. Upgrade the grounds if your up to it! Look at cruiser54's write up. But take out all electrical connectors, clean them, and apply di-electric grease to prevent moisture getting in.

[skidoo_j]

Check your fusible links.   If any pull soft they're bad.   If all are good pull your ignition switch (the one on the steering column at shin level)  check to see if you have power there, if so replace switch, if not check fusible links again. 

 

 

fusible links are mostly all located off the starter relay by the battery. They have an eyelet on one end and then a large rubber bulb, they will burn out in this section and become stretchy. 

[JT31]

only a shade tree guy here but if it's a no start and no dash lights, it's either a common ground or you have 2 separate problems. have you tried hitting the starter with a hammer?

hitting the starter will do no good if nothing has power

 

I would clean all your grounds. On the block, firewall, clean you negative post on the battery. Upgrade the grounds if your up to it! Look at cruiser54's write up. But take out all electrical connectors, clean them, and apply di-electric grease to prevent moisture getting in.

all the grounds are good, we swapped the motor 2 weeks ago so everything was cleaned, and double checked when this occured

 

Check your fusible links.   If any pull soft they're bad.   If all are good pull your ignition switch (the one on the steering column at shin level)  check to see if you have power there, if so replace switch, if not check fusible links again. 

 

 

fusible links are mostly all located off the starter relay by the battery. They have an eyelet on one end and then a large rubber bulb, they will burn out in this section and become stretchy. 

i have checked the fusable links, they are good, so i ordered a starter relay, someone said they had one go bad once, for 15 bucks its worth a try, if that doesnt work ill check the ignition switch

[skidoo_j]

Your starter relay would not cause the scenario you've posted.

 

If when you turn your key and you get nothing as described, (no fuel pump, no change in instruments, No blower fan) you need to look at fusible links.   If you think they're all good...  Check power at the ignition switch.  If you don't have power there it's a fusible link or a broken wire(rat seeking warmth?).   The power to the ignition does not go through the fuse panel, and that ignition switch powers most of the vehicle, and controls most of all others relays.   If you find power on the "hot" side then check for power coming out of the switch when in the on position.   If you've got power past the switch then you probably have alot of other issues.   This is all assuming your ground points under your dash are clean and connected, but to me sounds more like no power then lack of ground.

 

 

If the starter relay was bad everything else would power, except it would not turn over, no clicking at the solenoid either.     To check this you could bypass the relay, as a test.   Be sure you do it with a switched jumper.     

 

 

 

quick and easy test for your ignition switch:  Pull the control wire from the starter relay,   Have someone turn the key to "start" and measure for voltage to ground at that contact, if none you don't have power going through the switch as that wire should go direct to the ignition switch with out any splices.  

[JT31]

so after further searching i found a ghetto splice into the igintion wire under the dash, so i checked it and theres no power to it, so i ran straight power to it and i can get everything hooked to the igintion to work but when i try to hit the start it doesnt try to start and every shuts off and then you let go and everything turns on again. i replaced the starter thinking i fried the starter but it still won't crank

[skidoo_j]

There's no telling what's going on if you've got ghetto wire jobs.   It's possible the ign switch is bad, as it sounds like when it goes to start position it's not keeping power to acc.   But on the flip side you have to make sure you've got good power to the switch.  What year is this rig?  sounds like youre going to need the electrical manual and a good multimeter.