Starter Click of Death!

JeepFan

JeepFan

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A few months ago my '09 Jeep JK started experiencing an intermittent issue with starting. When turning the key, the starter will click once. On the second turn of the key, the engine will crank and start right up. Now it seems to be happening more frequently and when it does happen, it does it 2-5 times before the engine cranks over. When it finally does crank, the engine turns over normally and starts right up.

I installed an Optima Yellow top battery 2 1/2 years ago and it currently passes a load test.
I checked all battery, alternator and starter connections which seem to be tight.
I checked the ground strap from the engine to the chassis and it looks good too.
I haven't tried wiggling the auto trans shifter or shifting into neutral when it happens yet. Plan to test that the next time it happens.

My first guess is maybe the neutral safety switch is bad.
My second guess is possibly a bad ground. Even though all the battery cables and grounds look good there may be some corrosion that I'm not seeing.

Has anyone else run into this issue? If so, did you ever figure out what was causing it and what was the fix? Thanks in advance. :D
 
Happens to me every so often, but not regular enough to get me to try to fix it. I am in the tap the auto shift and starts right up mode.
 
What I will suggest is that you remove all of your connections and clean them and re-connect them, like you said there could be corrosion you can't see and giving them a good cleaning is the only way to know 100% that they are clean.
 
This sounds what use to happen in my old car. It would click, say 10 times max, until it found the right starting gear then turn over. If it didn't start after ten tries I would get a hammer out and tap on my starter and it would turn over right away. Turned out the starting gears would get stuck. Fixed it by putting in a new starter.
 
Mine has been doing this for about a year now. Somtimes it starts 2 or 3rd try.
Light go off on dash at random, even while sitting still.
Never throws a code except for lost communications codes. I have rewired and cleaned connections. Cannot figure out whats going on. Guess im gonna take it in and have them check ignition cylinder.
 
Happened to me also. Once I replaced my starter it started back up...I did do the push the brake 3 times for luck thing tho at the beginning 😅


Life's a beach
 
Mine does it a lot especially I'm the summer heat. It is the switch inside the trans that tells it that is in park. Next time it happens push the shifter forward farther into park and it will start right up.
 
Been there, done that, and nearly sold my Jeep because the problem became such a headache. Do yourself a favor and immediately and install a supplemental ground cable to the starter where it mounts to the transmission bellhousing, and install a new starter while you're at it. For my ground cable, I added system that ran from the battery negative to the alternator mounting bolt and down to the starter mounting bolt.

There is a lot of speculation as to what is wrong, but the best guess is that the location of the factory ground cable is poor and provides an insufficient path to ground for the transmission range selector (internal component of the auto transmission that also serves as the neutral safety switch) and the starter. In addition, the starter burns out on the JK rather often. Be sure to buy one from a parts store that has a lifetime warranty!

If the Jeep were starting but dying 2 seconds later, then it would be the WMP/SKREEM. But the symptoms that you described indicates the classic JK bad ground/bad starter issue.
 
Wow! This problem is more common than I originally thought. Thanks for all the great feedback and info. I will definitely be adding supplemental grounds as recommended.
 
Mine just did this for the first time this afternoon. Brand new battery was installed a month ago. I will continue to watch this thread for more information about this issue.
 
txjeeplover said:
Been there, done that, and nearly sold my Jeep because the problem became such a headache. Do yourself a favor and immediately and install a supplemental ground cable to the starter where it mounts to the transmission bellhousing, and install a new starter while you're at it. For my ground cable, I added system that ran from the battery negative to the alternator mounting bolt and down to the starter mounting bolt.

There is a lot of speculation as to what is wrong, but the best guess is that the location of the factory ground cable is poor and provides an insufficient path to ground for the transmission range selector (internal component of the auto transmission that also serves as the neutral safety switch) and the starter. In addition, the starter burns out on the JK rather often. Be sure to buy one from a parts store that has a lifetime warranty!

If the Jeep were starting but dying 2 seconds later, then it would be the WMP/SKREEM. But the symptoms that you described indicates the classic JK bad ground/bad starter issue.
Click to expand...

Same thing on my '09. But I didn't replace the starter. Wanted to see if the ground wire would make a difference first. Never had a problem after installing the extra grounding. It's a very simple fix to try.
 
Mine does this as well. Put it in neutral than park and it will start right up (works every time). It don't do it enough for me to take it all apart to fix.

Sent from my Surface Pro 3 using Tapatalk
 
Well, I may have found the problem. While inspecting the main engine ground to the passengers side engine block, I found the nut that holds the cable to the stud was loose.

ImageUploadedByWAYALIFE1406388468.762509.jpg

I then proceeded to check the wire connections at the starter and found the yellow wire barely had any tension against the terminal and the plastic clip that locks the wire onto the terminal no longer locks in place.

ImageUploadedByWAYALIFE1406388607.918640.jpg

I'm going to remove the main engine ground at the block (PITA) and clean the terminal and mounting stud. Then I'll see what I can do with the starter relay wire.

I plan on cleaning every ground I can find. Lol
 
Just got around to reading this thread now. The problem you have is pretty common and a loose ground wire can definitely be a cause. I would definitely check all the ones along the sides as well - the ones along the edge of the engine compartment. I have seen where people have used a ground point for their lights or other accessory and didn't get the nut back on tight enough and that ended up causing issues for them.
 
Checked and cleaned all grounds. The starter relay wire connector was cracked so I wired in a new connector and for piece of mind, I'm going to replace the noisy old starter.

ImageUploadedByWAYALIFE1406399660.913707.jpg

ImageUploadedByWAYALIFE1406399689.613645.jpg

ImageUploadedByWAYALIFE1406399703.660103.jpg

Stay tuned.
 
Starter replaced all grounds cleaned and tightened. Replaced starter solenoid wire connector. So far so good. Time will tell if it's fixed. ;-)
 
Checking and cleaning your ground connections is a good idea, but I did that bad ground search as well. I even replaced the entire battery cable. Helped for about a month, before I went back to searching for a new solution when the problem returned. Do yourself a favor, and install the auxiliary ground to the starter while you have everything apart.
 
txjeeplover said:
Checking and cleaning your ground connections is a good idea, but I did that bad ground search as well. I even replaced the entire battery cable. Helped for about a month, before I went back to searching for a new solution when the problem returned. Do yourself a favor, and install the auxiliary ground to the starter while you have everything apart.
Click to expand...

I'm not opposed to adding auxiliary grounds but first, I want to see if the repairs I performed make any difference. For as often as the click of death has been happening lately, I should know in a day or two. I bought some 8 gauge wire and large eye terminals just in case the gremlins return. I'll report back on this in a few days or sooner. :yup:
 
JeepFan said:
I'm not opposed to adding auxiliary grounds but first, I want to see if the repairs I performed make any difference. For as often as the click of death has been happening lately, I should know in a day or two. I bought some 8 gauge wire and large eye terminals just in case the gremlins return. I'll report back on this in a few days or sooner. :yup:
Click to expand...

I don't know what the problem is as you can always get me started big boy.
 
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