my starter started acting up two days ago. it would stall or not want to do anything when I turned the key. I could try it a few times and it would eventually start. then yesterday, nothing at all. no amount of jiggling or banging the starter would make it work. no clicks, no whirring, no nothing when the key is turned. all lights and dials and normal stuff comes on, just no response from the starter.
so I read this post about starters: http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f9/st...g-read-853439/
got out my meter and started testing, following the instructions from the post above. battery is an older Red Top, but has always been strong, pulled the winch, cranks every time, etc. tested the voltage both static and with the key turn and it seems good.
tested the power to the starter...same thing, seems to have the same voltage as the battery.
tested the ignition wire on the starter and here's where my first question is...when the key is off, I get no volts, which is what it should be. but when I go to start, the volts only come to around 11.3-11.5 or so. not the full 12.5 that I got from the battery testing.
the post above says that if the ignition gives no volts or "low voltage" when the key is turned, then it's a bad ignition wire. so my question is, how low is "low voltage" for the ignition? is in the 11s too low? if so, how do I figure out where the wire is having issues? it seems like the wire goes into a big fat wire loom and is lost forever, haha. is there something I can test at the key end of things?
side note: I had a broken key cylinder two years ago that I had to replace. not sure if that has anything to do with what's going on now.
2nd question: Neutral Safety Switch...I have a 98 Sahara, but the PO installed a NV3550 when he did the motor swap. where do I find the NSS and how do I test that? he had the shop that did the swap do the NSS bypass so the Jeep starts w/out having to push the clutch in. maybe that has something to do with this issue?
TL;DR: 98 Sahara w/NV3550, starter not clicking or anything, battery & starter seem good, possible ignition wire low voltage.
I can roll the Jeep & pop the clutch to get her going, so it's not the worst situation to be in, but I don't want to go replacing the starter if it's something else.
J.