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SCJEEPER'S Build to Now!

But if the ballast is on the ignition coil as shown, shouldn't the starter still turn over.
 
Sounds like you have a short in the battery or possibly alternator that ran both batteries down. Do you have a volt meeter to check battery voltage?

As mentioned above, The failed ballest resistor would prevent engine from running but has nothing to do with cranking of the engine or engaging the starter.

I always had a spare resistor mounted directly below original so "when" it failed all I had to do was switch wires to backup, then install new one next opportunity . :wave:
 
zr10054 said:
But if the ballast is on the ignition coil as shown, shouldn't the starter still turn over.
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MrBeep said:
Sounds like you have a short in the battery or possibly alternator that ran both batteries down. Do you have a volt meeter to check battery voltage?

As mentioned above, The failed ballest resistor would prevent engine from running but has nothing to do with cranking of the engine or engaging the starter.

I always had a spare resistor mounted directly below original so "when" it failed all I had to do was switch wires to backup, then install new one next opportunity . :wave:
Click to expand...

Correct.
That is why I asked whether it cranked or not. It sounds like a fusible link may be the cause of "no crank"
The best way to check is with a good 12volt supply at the battery and a voltmeter as mentioned.
Also, since the resistor is cracked, now would be a good time to replace it.
 
The new resistor is waiting on me to pick it up. I will take the battery out of the Scrambler and try it in the 7. What could have happened?! Did I burn something on the 7 while trying to jump the scrambler? There was no smoke or anything and the 7 was running like a champ until I turned it off to go to the parts store.
 
You stated that both batteries were left hooked up with the jumper cables and now you get nothing. I'm assuming that this was for a couple hours and this was a few days ago by now. I believe something was pulling enough power to drain both batteries.. Leaving batteries dead for periods of time is what zaps the life out of them. I wish you would have charged both batteries before doing anything else. Charge the batteries and don't try jumping again till you get the problem solved is what I would do.
 
The cables were left hooked up for about twenty minutes while I went to the parts store and back. That was on Sunday. The scrambler battery is fine. Something has killed the switch on the seven and I am going to verify this afternoon after work but I doubt any voltage is making it to the starter. I will check the battery voltage on the seven before I do anything. I am thinking that I fried or shorted something trying to crank the scrambler for extended length of time off the 7. The scrambler is fine and ran under its own power last night. It ran like crap and choked itself out but it ran. I'm thinking that the distributor is not in the correct place due to how it was acting while it was running. So ready to get it running perfect so I can move on to other things that I want to do.
 
Well I am ashamed to say that I have given up. I have realized that I don't have the time or mechanical expertise to get the 8 running correctly. Luckily I have a buddy that owns a shop about a mile from my house that is going to tow it there and button everything up for me. I'm just ready to drive it again and move on to other projects I want to get done before we start the addition on our house. That is the good news on the Scrambler. The bad news on the 7 is that I'm not getting power to anything from the battery apparently. The headlights don't even work. The voltage on the battery was like 12.8 last night when I put the meter on it. I'm going to start at the post on the battery with reading voltage and work my way out until I find what's going on. :banghead:
 
SCJeeper said:
Well I am ashamed to say that I have given up. I have realized that I don't have the time or mechanical expertise to get the 8 running correctly. Luckily I have a buddy that owns a shop about a mile from my house that is going to tow it there and button everything up for me. I'm just ready to drive it again and move on to other projects I want to get done before we start the addition on our house. That is the good news on the Scrambler. The bad news on the 7 is that I'm not getting power to anything from the battery apparently. The headlights don't even work. The voltage on the battery was like 12.8 last night when I put the meter on it. I'm going to start at the post on the battery with reading voltage and work my way out until I find what's going on. :banghead:
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Nothing to be ashamed of. It seems like you may just have gotten overwhelmed. That's easy to do when you have two CJ's a building project, a job and a life to live. I would say you are pretty normal. Hang in there.
 
Nothing to be ashamed of at all, the key here is to talk to your friend about the fix and learn from what he found so you can add that to your knowledge for the future. Everyone's been there and needed some help.

Have you connected to a local Jeep group? This place can be awesome to help out with things but there's nothing like being able to stand in front of the Jeep yourself to lay hands on it and that's where a local club can help. Sometimes it just takes the right person looking at it with a fresh perspective.

Good luck with both of them and hope you're up and driving soon! :cheers:
 
BASICS: Did you clean both positive and negative posts AND BOTH ends of cables, especially negative contact point on engine block along with ground from engine block to chassis. :wave:
 
SCJeeper said:
The bad news on the 7 is that I'm not getting power to anything from the battery apparently. The headlights don't even work. The voltage on the battery was like 12.8 last night when I put the meter on it. I'm going to start at the post on the battery with reading voltage and work my way out until I find what's going on. :banghead:
Click to expand...

You have a 12 volt power source and a volt meter so it's just simple diagnostics now.
I'm out of town right now, so unable to access my 8 or manuals, here is a link that may help.
Start at post #5.

http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f8/fuse-link-1302364/

This is in response to headlights not working but it gives the basics on fusible links and their locations.

I'll see if I can locate an electronic copy of the FSM.
 
Here is a schematic for the fusible links.

fusible links.PNG

Note that one goes to the firewall connector (C100) for the fuseblock and feeds the lighting as well as the ignition switch.
The other goes to the alternator.
This is for a '83 CJ, not sure the year of your 7.
Also, as stated earlier be sure to check your grounds.
Maybe the ground cable on the battery is loose from connecting the jumper cables?
You can also jumper out the battery positive to the positive at the solenoid going to the starter to see if your ground connection is good at the battery and engine block. (Of course be sure to have parking brake set and transmission in neutral)

HTH
 
Life is in the way again. I haven't gotten to do anything with either Jeep since the last post. My 10 month old has hand, foot and mouth virus right now and is just pitiful and we are having a little cold snap that is too cold and windy outside to mess with it after work. I'm sure that it is one of the fusible links from the battery. It has to be because there is no power to anything beyond the battery post. You guys rock!
 
Get the kids better, the Jeep will wait.
HFM is no fun, both of my kids had it at one time and a host of other little kid colds/infections/croupe, etc.
They get better though, amazing how resilient they are!

cb
 
Enjoy them! My baby turns 40 Feb. 9th. She will be older than her mom then. :thumbsup: :wave:
 
SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO excited that i will hopefully be driving the Scrambler by next weekend!!
 
I got to play with the 7 for a few minutes yesterday trying to diagnose the issue with no power going to anything. Biggest issue I found was loose battery connections and old soft cable ends. As soon as I got the cable ends fixed I had power and got her to fire off. The issue now is that the switch seems to have an issue. As soon as you let the key turn back to the run position it apparently looses power and the jeep turns off. Bad ignition switch?
 
Make sure you have power to the coin in the run position. Many jeeps have a fuse link that controls the power to the ignition. When the key is in the start position the coil gets power through a different wire (12V). When in the run position the coil gets reduced voltage (I believe around 7 or so volts). Some aftermarket used a fuse to do the reduction. Some engines had the 12V come from the starter relay and switched off as the starter switches off. I haven't run the 258 in 10 yrs so I would have to check wiring diagrams to be exact. But this is probably your problem.
 
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