hi: i replaced the starter on my 87 xj6 with a rebuilt lucas from oriellys this morning. it started and i drove it to oriellys to get my core refund. upon leaving the store, i attempted to start the car and it barely turned over. thinking i may have drained the battery while installing the starter somehow, even though it was totally disconnected, i had my guy at orielly exchange my battery that i bought from them 4 months ago. it still barely turned over. at this point, i called for a tow truck. after waiting about 20 minutes and with no tow truck i attempted to start it and it did. i drove home and canceled the tow. i parked in my garage, turned it off and went to restart and i got the same barely turning over like a dieing battery sound. thoroughly disgusted, i cut the lawn and after several hours attempted to start it and she fired up. so???????? i have a good battery and a good starter so what else? uggghhhh:{

 

Poor connections at the battery posts and/or the starter.

Neg battery cable not well ground/connected to the body

Ground strap under the car: poor contacts or loose. This is found under the car, RH side, about where the engine and transmission come together.

Cheers
DD

 

One of the first things we did when Nix came to live with us was to put on a proper ground.
A #4 cable (actually a length of battery cable) runs from the Alternator frame to the body ground point.

Since we did this I have had NO grounding problems as long as the battery posts are clean and make good connection.
(';')

 

I did/do similar on my car/s, Lnr.

The beauty of this arrangement, as opposed to the underbody ground cable, is that it's easy to check and clean from time-to-time. It's all topside ! The underbody arrangement is out of sight, out of mind...and never gets any TLC !

Cheers
DD

 

tight connections at the starter
new battery with tight connections at both terminals
ground strap connection tight and clean

maybe the relay? in doing some www sleuthing i came upon several discussions regarding the starter relay with loose or corroded connections that can cause my scenario? could this explain why it starts after a cooling off period?

 

body connection of negative battery cable tight and clean as well

 

Remove the white/red wire and the solid brown wire from the relay. Be careful with the solid brown wire as it is always 'hot". Take notes or pics so you're sure which terminal they came from.

Touch the two wires together.

If the starter now operates properly, you have a relay problem.

If not, we'll keep digging.

I'll add that cleaning connections is never a bad idea and fixes a lot of problems. Whenever opportunity permits take a few minutes to clean any connections you can reach, including grounds. You'll be eliminating problems before they occur.

Cheers
DD

 

thanks Doug. i'll get the car to dupicate the dead-like battery symptom then conduct your suggested test and report back.

as a side note, xj jesse i has many s3 repair videos that i have found helpful. found this informative 3 minute video showing how to remove and re-solder the starter relay.