Car has been sitting all weekend. Fired it up this morning (wasn't plugged in) and it started fine. Did short odd trips around town without any complaints. Parked at home again, fitted my new battery blanket and now she won't start.

I had to lift the battery up a few inches just to wrap the blanket around it. I didn't disconnect the battery. All connections look fine. It turns over but just doesn't fire up. I checked the fuel related fuses and even replaced, they are fine.

As per picture, is it possible the live battery connection touched the fuse box/relay things attached to side of the bay? I'm not sure what they are for exactly though...



Other than that, I've went through and parked in some deep snow as our parking lot is snowed under at the minute.

Any help appreciated, I just sold the Jeep yesterday so don't have a second vehicle for work.

Since the coil is right beside the battery did you knock any wires off the coil?
On a no start where the engine cranks start a logical diagnosis,
- is there gas in the tank?
- is there spark?
- is there fuel?
- ....

have you physically checked for spark/fuel (pulled plug and checked for spark // smell for gas in engine?)

Thanks for the suggestions guys...

I went with the spark suggestions and fitted the new spark plugs I got (only last week!). It took a couple of turns but she finally fired up. Let it run for a while, turned it off and fired it up a couple of times and she fires up a lot more crisp than before.

I don't know if that's the culprit though... I mean, she wasn't struggling to fire up previous to today and it just happened all of a sudden? I'm just glad it starts up now. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

I really appreciate the quick response. Trouble shooting and electrics really aren't my strong point.

just went through this on both my dads, and buddies, 240's, both LH cars. My dads car fouled the plugs so bad it wouldn't run after a couple of days- O2 sensor. Trevors, would start, then randomly stall and stop running- traced it down to bad ground on the intake, but I still need to check the in tank pump and fuel pump relay as I'm not convinced that was the only problem.

i got stranded in fort mac in the -30 or so days from the same thing, it's as if the injectors tend to stick open in extreme cold, some new plugs and all was good though.

Or maybe not... -35°C and she fired up this morning just fine. Drove it down the road and she died. Wouldn't start. After a few tries she eventually fired up. Then died 10 feet later. Started, then died again. Wouldn't start. Got peeved off, started yanking on battery wires and after a few more turns she fired up again. I managed to limp home via the same method as above. It's too bloody cold out there to be sitting about.

This has to be battery connection related, especially after fitting that warmer. The connections appear fine and are solid upon pulled. I don't know... I already called AMA for some support but no doubt they'll do jack if it's going to start, plus it's 1 hour 45 minutes waiting.

It could be a 'cold thing' but I've got a knocking/tapping noise, as if something is hitting the bulkhead. There also seems to be like a 'static noise' from around the engine, is that normal in weather like this?

It's pretty cold out there but when it lightens up I'm going to try and freshen the battery connections.

The other problem we had with 240 #2 was bad plug wires. you could see voltage leaks in the dark. the tapping noise might be the injectors.
I would clean up all your grounds, including the battery, again. sounds exactly like what buddies car was doing. fire up, go a couple of blocks, die, fire up for 10 seconds, die, mess around with wires, fire up, good for a while longer, die....

Bloody hell, it's cold out there!!

As per suggestions, I have good news; I've traced the problem to a faulty ground on the engine. If I giggled the wire it would die. Wouldn't start again until I giggled it once more, etc. It's not sensitive, but obviously enough to kill the power. It makes sense, as the wire would have been 'pulled' slightly when I lifted the battery yesterday.

All I need now is a new connector. It looks like the ground wire is about to split on the end so I'll have to re slice it. It's bad timing as I just sold the Jeep on Saturday and I don't have any friends in Leduc to help out. I think I should be able to make it to the Canadian Tire parking lot at least, then I can fix it there, hopefully. I'm going to wait a while for it to war... not be as cold outside, first.

Appreciate the help guys.

Koochie Koochie Koo...

All fixed. And it wasn't no bloody ground wire!

So I took the risk and managed to drive the 242 to work that morning. It ran fine with no problems en route. Later that night I fired it up and just as I left it started missing, or what I thought, was missing. It would miss, then die. Giggle the battery ground and it would fire up, miss then die again.

So with the help of a workmate mechanic we got it back to the workshop. He took for granted it was genuinely missing, especially after I swapped the spark plugs yesterday. He checked them and we fitted my new wires, distributor cap and rotor. He found some strange things in the bay; the odd pipe here and there disconnected, another with a screw in the end, and a hose that runs to the PCV system had torn off and somebody plugged it with an old spark plug.

Replaced that hose, changed over the ground between the battery and block, refreshed the ends of the corroded live, turned it over... nothing. To cut a bit of confusion short, the culprit was the connection(s) to the coil; they were just loose and needed cleaning. Everytime I giggled the ground, it moved the wires to the coil. That's what made it feel as if it was 'missing' too. Go figure!

He also adjusted the timing for me slightly, and the idle control screw (or whatever it's called?). What a difference. It no longer sounds like it has a farty exhaust or feel as if it's about to die. Just a nice smooth idle. It's a lot nicer to drive around town, or in lower speeds/gears. It's reeving a little high at idle right now but he's still to adjust the timing properly.

As for that knocking / tapping noise... there was a bloody nut missing from the bolt that holds the power steering fluid case in place and it just vibrated like crazy.

Thanks for all the quick help and suggestions.