Erratic gauges and no start

[Weasellee]

‘02 TJ. Cheap winter ride. Lots of rust. Was running great, new battery and starter. No issues since. Suddenly went to start and the gauges are jumping up and down but the dash is black and no response to the key but the gauges move differently when turning the key.
I didn’t do anything but hook up jumper cables it started right up.
Trouble idling like the battery was drained but after a minute it idled fine.
Shut it off to test and same result.
Jump it , move it in front of garage, shut off, same issue.
Cheap replacement battery terminal i cleaned up and reinstalled no fix.
Tippy tap on the positive battery terminal and she came back to life.
Test drive times two and all is good, for now.
Tomorrow morning I’ll try a cheap battery terminal on the positive side of the battery.


Anyone had their gauges and TJ do this ?

I have a video of the dash dance but can’t seem to attach it, unless I did

 

[macleanflood]

You're on the right track with battery terminals. Next up clean your grounds... engine block, firewall, behind both speaker covers and in each kick panel.

-Mac

 

[Weasellee]

You're on the right track with battery terminals. Next up clean your grounds... engine block, firewall, behind both speaker covers and in each kick panel.

-Mac

Behind speaker covers? Front dash speakers?

 

[Weasellee]

Thanks. Tomorrow. It’s got cold out and snow is falling. Winter Jeeps should be made ready in summer and summer Jeeps in winter.

 

[AndyG]

Keep us posted Wease.

 

[Weasellee]

She’s been acting normal all day so far stop start , we got 3-4” snow last night so I am on my way for cheap battery terminals gotta be sure of this thing before I send it off


Did I mention this winter TJ is for my daughter Luci? Her ‘06 CRV transmission shot last week and we don’t want her driving her ‘95 YJ from Kansas in the NY salt. So this was actually a parts jeep Dave picked up for $900 that yesterday we put a battery and starter in and scrubbed it up.

I’m sure there will be a few more Gremlins but it was a guys daily up til about July ‘25 when his mechanic told him there was too much rust to pass NYS safety inspection.

I got it to pass

 

[Weasellee]

@macleanflood if I have a bad ground or positive connection why did it fire right up when jump started? Cheap terminal being installed.

This old one doesn’t look suspicious.

 

[macleanflood]

Just saying that might be the next problem and if you're in there doing terminals you might as well check grounds. That and gauge problems are usually ground issues.

-Mac

 

[Weasellee]

Just saying that might be the next problem and if you're in there doing terminals you might as well check grounds. That and gauge problems are usually ground issues.

-Mac

Makes sense. Certainly does. New battery terminals installed will order the military style ones and fix it up if the issue disappears. I’m hesitant to mess with the body ground it doesn’t wanna loosen feels it may break.
Tomorrow I’ll pick up new crimp on terminals and maybe build an additional body ground.
I’m gonna cross my fingers and see what happens.
Thanks again.

B