Jeep Won't Start But Not Bad Battery

[hayleys_c0met]

I have a 2002 Liberty with 194,*** miles on it. I haven't had any problems with it since buying it and have put almost 5k miles on it already. I've taken it on a bunch of longer road trips and everything's been fine up until last night. I drove to work a handful of miles from my house and after my shift went to head home but it wouldn't start. The radio, all my lights, and windows work fine and don't dim after turning on. The engine just makes the noise it usually does when I start it, but doesn't make the final click that turns it on even though I turned the key all the way and held it there for a little bit. My battery is less than 6 months old and I never leave anything on that could drain it, but I still tried jumping it (with my boyfriends cable and car and then again with my stepdads cables and car). My stepdad checked the starter and said it's not that, and thinks the engine just isn't getting the spark. Before my stepdad got there, my boyfriend noticed that it looked like the power steering rack was leaking, otherwise that's all the details I have from last night. Does anyone have any idea what it could be?

 

[cplchris]

could be a bad crankshaft position sensor or camshaft position sensor, your best bet is going to be to plug in a code scanner and see if it is giving you any information.

just to be clear is your engine cranking or turning over when you try to start it?

if it is not it could be something as simple as a starter relay or it the key feels weird it could be the ignition switch actuator pin, (available from dorman).

 

[hayleys_c0met]

could be a bad crankshaft position sensor or camshaft position sensor, your best bet is going to be to plug in a code scanner and see if it is giving you any information.

just to be clear is your engine cranking or turning over when you try to start it?

if it is not it could be something as simple as a starter relay or it the key feels weird it could be the ignition switch actuator pin, (available from dorman).

The engine is cranking, but it's not turning over. I don't think it's anything with the ignition switch because that feels fine. Not really sure how I would check the other stuff so I'll have to check that when I find a way to pick Jeepy back up from work. Thank you.

 

[MarkJ]

Cranking=turning over. You mean not starting/running?

 

[cplchris]

well from the sound of it your engine is turning over, so here is a troubleshooting strategy:

engine needs 3 things to start and run:

1)starter, (which works so proceed to #2)

2)air, (check air filter, intake tubing, iac valve, throttle body)

3)fuel, (fuel pressure test)

4)spark, (test coils, check plugs)

as I said before a good start would be to hook up a scanner, (advance auto will loan them out if you do not have access to one)

 

[ltd02]

Check the ASD relay?

 

[Billwill]

Can we get some answer here please as to whether or not the engine actually turns over but refuses to fire?

Makes a big difference as to the proposed diagnosis. Sounds to me like it is not turning over in which case the ignition Actuator Pin is the most likely culprit but there are ways to further diagnose the problem without merely throwing parts at it!