Hi. I just bought a 1990 Cherokee 4.0L manual trans. 410,000 clicks. I know it's a ton, but whatever, I got it for $900, and it's running well. Anyway, first problem I have had with it is this. Drove home the other day, everything was fine. About 40 minutes later im out the door again. Put the key in the ignition, turning it on. Instrument panel comes on very briefly, not even a second, then goes out. I hear a click click, and that's it. Thought it must be the battery. I jumped it, nothing happens, not even the instrument panel lighting up again. I tried several times with the ignition, and I got just flat nothing. I was in a rush, so I took my other car, and leave. Come back about 2 hours later, and I decide to try it again. This time, the instrument panel comes on briefly again, and I hear the buzzing sound for my seat belt for about a second and a half, and then nothing. So, my battery can't be completely dead I reason. Anyway, I pop the hood again, and just quite frankly, start poking around. I literally just pushed around the wires and and the cables attached to the negative and positive on the battery. I tried again with starting the car, and it roars into life. Turned it off and on again, all good. That was at about 7:30 pm. I get up in the morning at about 7:30 am, I try it again, and it turns on perfectly. I go to work, I go home, I get gas, I get food, I get oil. I make all these stops and everything is good. Then I drive over to my buddies house for all of 40 minutes. I try to turn it on when I'm leaving, and it's the exact same thing. I poke around with the wires again, and I get the instrument panel lighting up. I do this about 4 more times before I get the brief buzzing sound again, before it dies. I try it one more time, and then it's back to life. I drive home. It was sitting off for about 2 and a half hours, and it still turns on fine. I'm certain it will happen again though, just because I have done nothing for it. Sorry this is such a long post, but I'm no mechanic, and I'm 18, so I dont have a ton of money to throw around on a mechanic. I want to gain more knowledge so I can do more offroading since I'm a die hard skier and want to get to new out of resort areas. Any tips for fixing it help, and if you think you know the problem but I cant fix it, that's fine too, I just dont want the problem to progress too much. Thanks.

/Declan.

 

To me it sound like your terminal connection is loose on the battery OR your main cables going into the terminal itself are loose.
It will make that "clicking" noise your talking about if its loose.
Im just giving my best guess since im not in front of it to see it. Take em off, clean em off with a wire brush or some grit and try carefully tightening them up, just dont shock yourself! Should solve your problem i would say.

 

Okay, thanks a lot. I'll try that. kind of a bummer, but atleast I probably don't need to shell out for a new battery. Thank a lot. :)

 

Sounds like minor complications man dont get too bummed out, its all just parts and it can all be fixed!
If that doesnt do it trace your wires down to the starter and fuse box maybe something is loose there. Just take your time and dont get overwhelmed.
hopefully thats the ticket and your off and Jeepin again

 

Hey, I just wanted to say thanks a ton. I did what you said. Just a small battery problem. Now I'm up and running again.

Thanks.

/Declan.