Commander not starting

[ErtsRide1]

Hear me out!

I find it hard to believe that a battery tested in 3 locations with various types of testing, that tested fine at all locations, is bad...

Analog and digital load tests were applied to the battery and alternator tested fine too...

It is weird to me that a battery can be bad, if the the lights and the radio worked and were not/did not dim...
In my experience a bad battery has either crapped out and not produced anything...or had enough power to turn on lights and some accessories but as soon as the ign switch is turned to the start position, those deminish and the solenoid just has a series of clicks...

So...

Is there a slight possibility that the starter or another part of the electrical/starting system could be malfunctioning...???

[Matt]

Yes.

[Matt]

But just an FYI, your experience with battery failures is a bit limited.

Having worked as a tech, I have seen plenty of occasions where batteries have died, but the lights/accessories did NOT dim when you attempt to start the vehicle. It depends on how the circuitry in the vehicle is designed..... and these newer vehicles have a lot of modules which require signal conditioning; so its likely there are controls in place to prevent surges from dead batteries drawing too much current.

[Sal-XK]

Could it be the infamous yellow starter wire maybe?

[The_War_Wagon]

This is one of those inexplicable things on Jeep's part - of all the guages you COULD put in a dash, HOW could you leave off the amp meter and oil pressure guage?!?!

Granted, bean counters probably DON'T think of bogging or crawling a Commander; neither do soccer moms or mall commandos add a rack of KC's to the roof. STILL... it seems the factory would make some sort of aftermarket guage pod - to snap on the top of the steering column - so WE could add them ourselves.

I mean, I didn't bog or crawl my Mercury Grand Marquis - but the Big M has carried BOTH guages for the last TWENTY YEARS!!! What's Jeep's excuse?

[07JeepXK]

I found this out the hard way, but on our Commanders, you cant just go to a local auto parts store and have the battery or alternator tested like a normal vehicle. I cant remember the exact reason why this is but I promise you the test will give you false readings. About a year and a half ago I left the house to go to work and the XK started no problem. Drove about a mile down the road and stopped at the corner store for a pack of smokes. When I got back in the XK it wouldnt start. Had my friend come and jump it off of his truck and it started right up. I took it to the local parts store and had a test done on the alternator and battery. Batter tested fine and alternator tested bad. Swapped out the alternator later that day with a new alternator from the dealer and the Jeep wouldnt start. I was furious. I called the dealer and told them they gave me a bad alternator. They had me bring in the old and new alternators and ran a test on both of them. Both tested Good at the dealer. Of course the dealer refused to take back the new alternator because they have a no return policy on electrical parts. So I reinstalled the old alternator and purchased a new battery from the dealer as my battery was 3 years old. The Jeep started right up and I havent had a problem since that day and over 30,000 miles later! I went back to the local autoparts store that told me I had a bad alternator and explained that it ended up being the battery and that I was out well over $200 on an alternator that never needed to be replaced. Needless to say after several phone calls and a lot of bitching, I got a store credit for the price that I paid the dealer for the alternator due to their screw up and still got to keep the new dealer alternator!

[Sal-XK]

Hear me out!

I find it hard to believe that a battery tested in 3 locations with various types of testing, that tested fine at all locations, is bad...

Analog and digital load tests were applied to the battery and alternator tested fine too...

It is weird to me that a battery can be bad, if the the lights and the radio worked and were not/did not dim...
In my experience a bad battery has either crapped out and not produced anything...or had enough power to turn on lights and some accessories but as soon as the ign switch is turned to the start position, those deminish and the solenoid just has a series of clicks...

So...

Is there a slight possibility that the starter or another part of the electrical/starting system could be malfunctioning...???

The thing is your thinking with common sense and I can follow your logic here and if I haven't read a dozen threads that started out just like this one and ended up being the battery (granted a few where other parts gone bad) I would be thinking the same thing you are.

[ScorpionCrawler]

Well... the suspense is killing me what was it.
My vote is battery.

[ErtsRide1]

Starter... had it replaced today...

But thanks guys for all your help...

[NeilSmith]

Starter... had it replaced today...

But thanks guys for all your help...

I told you so.