Episode 659 – What To Do If Your Jeep Doesn’t Start

This Week In Jeep

More Recalls For Jeep’s Grand Cherokee Line

Jeep is recalling certain 2022 Grand Cherokees AND a significant portion of the 2021 to 2022 Jeep Grand Cherokee L’s. What is it for this time?  Because by now you may be thinking that it seems like we’re hearing about a recall on the Grand Cherokee or its longer brother the “L” version on a monthly basis. You’re not far off actually. For being one of the most awarded SUVs of all time, Jeep has surely had a hard time with the rollout of its new generation Grand. The recall of the month,  for the aforementioned Jeeps, is because of tail light side marker assemblies that may be damaged and may not illuminate when they should. Because of this, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 108, “Lamp, Reflective Devices, and Associated Equipment.” A taillight side marker that does not illuminate can reduce vehicle visibility to other drivers, increasing the risk of a crash….which could kill you. The Federal Standards are U.S. federal regulations specifying design, construction, performance, and durability requirements for motor vehicles. Basically, if you want to build or sell vehicles here in the U.S. then they need to conform or comply with these standards. So, because of malfunctioning, or damaged (somehow) brake light, Jeep is once again recalling certain 2022 Jeep Grand Cherokee and pretty much all 2021 through 2022 Grand Cherokee L’s. 

Dealers will inspect and replace both body-mounted tail light assemblies, as necessary, free of charge. Owner notification letters are expected to be mailed Friday, September 16, 2022. In the meantime, if you want to see if your Jeep is affected, you can check your VIN at the NHTSA website for recalls –    https://www.nhtsa.gov/recalls

A familiar Jeep Returns To The Screen

OK at the risk of sounding like I’ve gone full movie geek here, I’m going to preface this story by saying its content came from multiple sources, and that I am in no way any kind of fanboy. That being said, I do nudge and point to the screen anytime I see a Jeep of any kind in a movie or commercial. They’re used more often than you’d think!  And a movie franchise you may be familiar with (in at least some sense) is Teen Wolf. Remember that one? The franchise has seen plenty of action since its inception in the 80s with Micheal J. Fox’s lovely furry character. Fast forward a couple/few decades, and a series based on the comedic movies of the ’80s arose and had a fair amount of success from 2011 through 2017. This series was a darker, more brooding MTV drama (go figure) that starred Tyler Posey as Scott McCall (the main character) who got bitten by a werewolf which gave him extraordinary abilities, allowing him to become the protector of his little town of Beacon Hill. So by this point, you may be wondering if you’ve mistakenly downloaded an episode of TMZ with all this actor and movie talk, where’s the Jeep? I’m getting there. Paramount plus, another streaming service is rebooting Teen Wolf for an all-new movie that either has or will soon be released. Now, going back to the older Teen Wolf series, there was a character named Stiles Stilinski, who was portrayed by Dylan O’Brien in the MTV drama. While Paramount Plus is bringing back multiple characters for the new reboot, O’Brien is the only actor from the original cast who is not coming back for the Paramount plus film. However, even if Stiles isn’t appearing in Teen Wolf: The Movie, an iconic vehicle belonging to O’Brien’s character will be showing up.

In an interview with MTV News, Davis addressed Stiles’ Jeep appearing in the latest trailer for the movie during San Diego Comic-Con. Davis confirmed that Paramount approached him asking to borrow the Jeep for production. O’Brien had gotten the Jeep when Teen Wolf season 6 wrapped up production, but he was only allowed to take possession if he promised that they (Paramount) would be allowed to borrow it, should the time ever come. And it looks as if the time has come. For long-time viewers of the MTV Teen Wolf series, Stiles Stilinski’s Jeep, a 1980 robin’s egg blue CJ5, was a hilarious but instrumental part of his character journey since the start of the series. Even when O’Brien was missing for most of Teen Wolf season 6, Stiles’ Jeep served a role as it helped Scott and the others remember him during the Ghost Riders storyline. A running gag about the Jeep was how it managed to still stand after everything it had gone through in Teen Wolf’s whole run. Even in the Teen Wolf series finale, Stiles’ Jeep was still running. Although the actor won’t be in this new film, his Jeep, a character unto itself, appearing in dozens and dozens of episodes across a 6 season span of a show, will once again find itself in the spotlight. So to speak. Ok, so maybe that was a bit too much Hollywood news just for a Jeep story, but what can ya do?

Tech Talk with Jeep Talk

TOPIC/QUESTION: What To Do If The Jeep Doesn’t Start?

A no-start condition on your Jeep, or really any engine, is usually caused by a lack of fuel, a lack of spark, or a lack of air (and this last one generally falls into engine compression or lack thereof). Having the knowledge that the cause of the problem lies in just one of these 3 specific areas will help you figure out what tests you need to perform to find out what’s causing your jeep not to start. In this segment, I’m going to share some of the most basic insights and tips that will help you narrow down your troubleshooting efforts if your Jeep, or somebody else’s, doesn’t want to start. Before I jump into the specifics of what causes a no-start condition, I want to clarify the difference between two common terms you’ll hear come up as you diagnose the problem on your Jeep. Cranks But Does Not Start Condition: In this type of condition, you turn the key, and the engine in your Jeep cranks (meaning the starter is working, and the engine turns over) but it doesn’t start (run). The usual suspects that can cause this type of problem are usually things like a bad fuel pump, bad crank sensor, bad ignition coil (if your Jeep is distributor equipped), etc., or worst case scenario, something wrong with the ECU. The other term applies to situations where NOTHING is happening. If this is the case, you may have a Does Not Crank Condition: This means that the engine is not cranking when you turn the key to start it. In other words, the engine doesn’t turn over at all. This is usually due to a bad starter motor, bad battery, bad ignition switch, bad neutral safety switch, or the engine is plain and simply locked up for any number of reasons. As I mentioned earlier, if your Jeep isn’t starting, it is because it’s missing one of only three basic things. Air, Fuel, or Spark. It’s as simple as that! I know, I know… I may be over-simplifying it all… but knowing that only one of three things is missing really helps to put the problem into perspective. Also, knowing this, means that when your Jeep doesn’t want to start… Your diagnostic/troubleshooting efforts are now directed/focused at finding out which one of these 3 things is missing, and not simply asking the next person that comes by for a jump hoping for the best, or wasting precious time troubleshooting a system that is actually just fine. In all honesty, troubleshooting the problem requires that you check and confirm three things.

SPARK – You need to verify that all cylinders are getting spark (verified with a spark tester – which is as little as $4 on Amazon.) Or you can get brave, remove a spark plug, hook it back up to the wire, use a pair of insulated pliers to hold the spark plug near a good source of ground in the engine bay, and have someone crank the engine. You should see a spark if the wire and plug are both good. If you have coil packs and not spark plug wires, this becomes more difficult and will require the use of a spark or ignition tester. A word of warning here, be careful not to grab a spark plug wire with bare hands or uninsulated tools with the engine cranking or running, as the current moving through these is enough to hurt you. 

I mentioned that you can test for spark using an inexpensive inline spark plug or ignition tester, but that’s not the only thing to test for. The ignition is the system tasked with creating and delivering spark to each of the engine’s cylinders, whether it has four, six, or eight. Without the spark, the engine will crank but will not start. In my experience, the most common ignition components to go bad are the coil pack(s)… and in the case of older Jeeps, the cap, and or rotor. I know, it sounds ridiculous, but you wouldn’t believe how often these are overlooked. We can’t rule out sensors either, like the crankshaft position sensor, knock sensor, or even the camshaft position sensor. Hell, any sensor in your Jeep, and if you have one built any time in the last several decades, then your Jeep has plenty of them, and anyone going bad could potentially cause a problem. Now the Camshaft position sensor is the one that’s in the bottom of your distributor if your Jeep has one and is very rarely the problem in a no-start condition. But, if you have the time, tools, and patience, all of these components can be tested in a methodical way to find out exactly what has failed (if indeed something has.) To do this, you’ll need a multimeter at the very least, and in some cases an oscilloscope, which is not something you’re just going to find at Harbor Freight or Napa. But most of the time a simple resistance or voltage test will suffice when testing sensors. If you’ve verified that each cylinder is getting a spark, then it’s time to move on to test number two. 

FUEL – You can have all the spark and air in the world, but without any fuel, you can’t start an engine. So we need to verify that the fuel pump is creating enough fuel pressure. It’s not enough to see or hear that the pump is working, we need to make sure it’s working properly. (A fuel pressure test is easy, generally requiring only one connection that’s easy to get to, and the gauge can be rented for free at most parts stores, or bought for less than $20) Outside of an actual pressure reading, all you can verify is that there is indeed fuel going to where it needs to go, but you won’t know if it’s at enough pressure. The problem we had with Guy’s YJ comes to mind in this case, but I digress. The fuel system is the one responsible for supplying the engine with fuel. The component that causes 99% of no start no fuel conditions is either the fuel pump or the fuel pump relay. (and in some rare cases the ASD or automatic shutdown relay – but this too is just a relay and acts the same as the fuel pump relay.) The fuel pump can be tested using a fuel pressure gauge as I mentioned earlier. Or if you want, you can play a dangerous game of “hey what’s inside this hose?” as your buddy cranks the engine – either way, but again, all you’re verifying is presence, not pressure. However, If you’ve determined that you have spark and plenty of fuel pressure, then there’s only one other thing that can be getting in your way.

AIR/COMPRESSION – Most likely there is nothing wrong with your intake, and chances are the engine is able to breathe both in and out, meaning your intake is not plugged, and your exhaust is free flowing without any kinks or clogs in the system. If necessary, you will need to check the engine’s overall health with a compression test. (this too is an easy test, and the equipment can also be rented or bought for less than $40) and can be used to test the engine’s ability to create pressure inside the combustion chamber.

The components that are responsible for drawing in the air that the engine needs are the: engine pistons, cylinder head valves, and all the other related components like the timing chain, lifters, pushrods, and camshaft. Although rare, internal engine mechanical problems can, and do cause no start conditions. Things like…. oh I don’t know, say the engine is blown or seized up, yea, that just might cause it to not start. But maybe it’s more subtle like a blown head gasket or a busted timing chain. OK, the list of possible things that can go wrong mechanically within the engine sounds like it could go on forever and gets pretty complicated,… but honestly it is very rare to see (or have) two different components go bad from two separate systems at the same time. The cool thing is, that there is a lot of help out there in the Jeep community and online to help further diagnose mechanical engine problems. I wanted to go into real specific procedures for troubleshooting specific systems, but this is going to vary drastically between Jeep models, and even between model years in some cases. Not to mention the information is dry, and the procedures can get quite technical, and I’m sure I’ve already bored you to no end. SO, now you at least know the very basics, and you’ll be better informed the next time you get stuck behind a stalled Jeep on the trail that just won’t start.

Links Mentioned in this Episode

NHTSA Recalls – https://www.nhtsa.gov/recalls

NEXEN Tires USA https://www.nexentireusa.com/

Trails 411- POWERING Your Adventure https://www.youtube.com/user/backcountrydriver

The 4×4 Radio Network http://4x4radionetwork.com/

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