Start the car is sounds like a battery or solenoid problem?

RDGRNSTD

MEMBER
JEEP CHEROKEE

I have a 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee with about 85,000 miles. My jeep will not start. All of the gages are acting weird. They are turning on and off by themselves even without the key in the ignition. When you try to start the car is sounds like a battery or solenoid problem. When the gages stop moving the horn will honk. The rest of the time it sounds like low voltage and just clicks a relay. I've checked the battery and the voltage is fine. I cleaned the battery post still no luck.

1 Reply

KASEKENNY

MECHANIC
18,907 POSTS

When you say you checked the voltage on the battery I suspect you just used a meter to check and make sure it was about 12 volts.

If that is the case then unfortunately that will not show is the battery is able to carry the load needed.

Here is a guide that will show how to test this:

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/car-battery-load-test

Based on all the things that you are seeing, I suspect the issue is the battery is drained.

One way to confirm this is to jump the battery when it is clicking and if it starts then the battery is weak.

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/how-to-jump-start-car-battery-using-jumper-cables

Then we will need to check the alternator just to make sure it is not the issue causing the battery to drain.

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/how-to-check-a-car-alternator

Please let us know what you find with this and we can go from there. Thanks