electrical problem 2000 Trooper
 

My daughter has a 2000 Trooper V6 auto/ non 4x4. has 160k on speedo. problem she is having is sometimes it wont start as in the battery is dead.

She bought a new battery and was fine for a bit. she will drive it for a couple days then wont start again. i have had the Battery checked, the Alternator Checked, the Starter Checked, and all check good. when you jump it, it jumps off immediately and runs fine for a day or so, then the same thing. now has started to idle high and then die, about 3000 rpm and then dies and has to be jumped off again.

is there some kind of relay between the battery and alternator maybe that sets and trips, maybe getting week or something ? its killing me. she goes to school at night and i dont like her getting stranded in the school parking lot at night

Ok got something to add to it. I was messing with this truck because it did this again last night. well it was dead, so i turned the head lights on so i could see when i was wiggling wires to see if anything was loose. well i wiggle for awhile and nothing. i was stairing at it, ( trying to figure out how to blow this thing up :-0 ) and felt the cables and the NEGATIVE CABLE WAS HOT, I MEAN REAL HOT. Then something clicked (not in my head) and the power came on, head lights came on, however the negative cable was still hot. I tried to start it and it still would not start but it tried, like a low battery, still not enough to start it. Then it clicked and everything went out again. I am thinking the AUTOZONE battery maybe had a short, so I exchanged it. it still checked good. well replaced it anyway and its started fine, ran smooth, except when I first started it, the idle went up and down about three times and then smoothed out, im thinking this is just resetting everything.

if anyone has any ideas, PLEASE let me know, or i will be blowing this thing up next time.

Sounds like a bad or dirty ground cable at the battery.

Thanks, I cleaned them and the problem continued. I replaced the battery a second time and all seams fine now. Has not had any further problems. I think the battery had a short in it

still no more problems with it. I think it was a bad battery

Hi Jeff, I know you cleaned the terminals at the battery but did you clean where the thin one bolts about 6" towards the firewall and the heavy one bolts to the engine. The reason I am asking is you said they were very HOT. I know you replaced the battery again but corrosion can build up at the other ends as well. And even where the cable goes into the clamp or bolt end. At that time you can just replace the end and not the complete cable.

Hope this ideas help.

Ok, it started again, but different symptoms this time. Was fine every sence last post but it started again, it would not start. Well I jumped it off today to check it out. When I got in, noticed the dome light come on real slow as if now power. Jumped it off, drove it around for a little while and did not turn it off. I did notice that if it turned on the head lights or flashed the brights, it would disrupt the power to the radio, the dash indicators lights came on then went off and then back to normal . Did this several times. I pulled it into my garage and turned it off and tried to start it, NOTHING, nothing at all. I took the battery out, took it to Autozone and had them test it and it show FULLY CHARGED. I brought it back home and put it back in and it started and everything worked fine, not even the symptom with the head lights.

I'm thinking it has to be some relay or something that is getting weak or something. It's still good right now but I don't know how long.

I know you do not want to hear this but I will wager you have a dirty battery cable either at the battery or at the ground. There is NO relay on the interior light. You also could have a faulty dome light switch or bad door switch. Just remove the fuse that is for the interior light and see what happens. My guess is it is a BAD ground. Could be at the engine. It might look good but I really do not think so.

Let me know if this helps.

Well I loosened the small ground strap, just didn't feel like getting under the thing to get to the main ground strap. I would be ecstatically happy if that is what it is beings IM DADA AND WILL PROBABLY END UP PAYING FOR IT .....

BTW, I didn't mean a relay for the dome light or such, it's works fine when the car is working fine, I meant a relay for the starter. That there is, I can see it in the underwood fuse panel. Just wondering because its kinda like it resets something when the battery is removed ( disconnected ) and then reconnected

Jeff,
Remember you were the one who say the ground cable was HOT before. This is due to a bad ground. You never told me if it was the smaller one or the larger one. If it was the smaller one that means the larger one has the BAD ground and needs to be cleaned. Loosen (barely) the cable where the GROUND goes to the motor. NOT the one that goes to the starter. and wiggle it so it will make a GOOD connection. You can leave your headlights on hi beam and you should see it get brighter when you wiggle it. OR the cable at the battery is bad where it is fused together. Sometimes you need to replace that end. See the battery was still fully charged so you now know it was and is not the battery.

Let me know what you find. Just because it is working one day does not mean it will be working the next. That is usually a bad ground or a bad cable for when you jump start it everything is OK that is because you are running off of the alternator and your bad ground is still there.


Electrical problems are a pain. Shame you are not in my area. Really is a quick fix when you know what and where to look and what to look for.

Hope this helps. Let me know.