Changed starter in 06 KJ and it still wont start

I recently changed out the starter and battery cable in an 06 KJ with the 3.7l engine. Because of the size difference between the new battery to fuse wire and the existing wire on the fuse box the splice was crap and came apart.
After redoing the splice it was discovered that wire wasn't in such great shape so it was replaced/bypassed completely.
Now the starter does not click and the relays buzz violently when i try to start it.
I've been fighting with it for a few days now and I'm at my wit's end.
The battery is in great shape, it was on of the first things I checked, the relays themselves all check out as well.
The only thing i can think of at this point is that a connection I cannot see was disturbed while we were messing with the splice the second time.
Any advice or suggestions would be appreciated. I'm a self taught mechanic and I'm not really that well versed on automotive electrical systems

A few questions and a couple possible solution for you

Did the new starter work at all out of the box?
Is it OEM or Amazon aftermarket?
NIB or rebuilt?

If it is aftermarket or rebuilt, it is sad to say, but also certainly possible that it is bad right out of the box.



My advice would be to start by checking ALL battery connections AND grounds for cleanliness, integrity and tightness.

It is ALSO possible that if one of the connections was bad (like the one you mentioned) that when you tried the starter, it only engaged partially and is now stuck in an intermediary position.

After double checking all the connections. you can try tapping on the starter woth a hammer or dowel, while some one else turns the key, and see if that does anything…


Just my .02

NTH79 said:

I'm a self taught mechanic and I'm not really that well versed on automotive electrical systems

Click to expand...

Hopefully, you knew to disconnect the battery ground before doing ANY of the electrical work.

PLEASE be sure to do that, before following any of my advice here, and then reconnect ONLY when you are ready to try the starter again.

seafish said:

A few questions and a couple possible solution for you

Did the new starter work at all out of the box?
Is it OEM or Amazon aftermarket?
NIB or rebuilt?

If it is aftermarket or rebuilt, it is sad to say, but also certainly possible that it is bad right out of the box.



My advice would be to start by checking ALL battery connections AND grounds for cleanliness, integrity and tightness.

It is ALSO possible that if one of the connections was bad (like the one you mentioned) that when you tried the starter, it only engaged partially and is now stuck in an intermediary position.

After double checking all the connections. you can try tapping on the starter woth a hammer or dowel, while some one else turns the key, and see if that does anything…


Just my .02

Click to expand...

It is a brand new starter that matches oem specs. It was working just fine until that splice worked loose.
The the connections are clean and tight, although i am having some issues finding the 3 grounds i need to check.
Ill have to wait to try your suggestion, i don't have another set of hands around at the moment.
Thank you

Great guidance above. If all the grounds, timing signal and the starter check out, potentially an issue with the PCM. Never know, the splice could have been coincident.

NTH79 said:

It is a brand new starter that matches oem specs. It was working just fine until that splice worked loose.
The the connections are clean and tight, although i am having some issues finding the 3 grounds i need to check.
Ill have to wait to try your suggestion, i don't have another set of hands around at the moment.
Thank you

Click to expand...

I know it's probably a lot of work, but you can take the starter back out and do a bench test on it. Like everyone else is suggesting ensuring wires are connected properly. There could be other splices in the cables as well. Some cables may also have fusible link in the cable itself, so you may want to check continuity in them too.

A few random thoughts:

I'm assuming you've retraced and checked all the electrical connections - a common trouble area is where your 3 electrical connections attach to the starter and it would be easy for 2 of those to be touching and shorting out on each other - that would probably be the first thing I'd check.

If you still have your old starter you might want to disassemble the solenoid and check that the plunger moves freely - the grease inside mine was solid and a good cleaning and re greasing got it working perfectly again - if it turns out that was the original issue you could reinstall and see if that fixes your problem. That would be a way to check if there is some issue with the new starter. If it was more of a worn out starter motor issue on the original starter you could pull off and service the old solenoid / plunger as above, install the old solenoid on the new starter and see if that fixes it.

This is unlikely, but with a new starter and an old worn flex plate there might be issues with how the teeth mesh and the starter gear might have jammed in the flex plate gear and can't retract which might be confusing the electrical. Getting that to release by a) whacking the starter with a mallet or hammer or b) rocking the vehicle back and forth while in gear or c) turning the engine over with a wrench in neutral or d) pulling the starter back off might identify that as the issue.