Commander not starting

[ErtsRide1]

I find it hard to believe that a bettery that was replaced in September of 2010( after being tested many times) is bad.

Alternator and battery tested fine across my hometown

I am really leaning towards the starter...

It starts and runs fine right now at this very moment...

I will see if it does it again and check in with my synopsis

Garrett

[superacerc]

I wouldn't rule it out. I took back a battery I purchased new in february this year in june. It too tested fine. It didn't work. If it were your starter why did putting a battery charger on the battery help it start? The starter is completely inependent of what you did with the battery charger. Just sayin...

[Sal-XK]

The battery tests produce false positives ( good battery) do to the new design that relies on a mathematical equation to calculate if the battery is good or not. The old testers use to put a load test on the battery to test it and it was fool proof but change ushered in and now people are replacing part after part for nothing more then a bad battery testing good. The age of your battery is approaching the life expectancy of batteries in our jeeps anything over 4 years is a gift of good will and good luck. Not with standing that point on it's own putting a charger on and having your issue solved is basic 101 mechanics the battery is having trouble(why?). Were getting into that transitional period of weather again folks, cold nights warm days just reeking havoc on batteries and exposing all there weaknesses. This is the time of year that battery issues start flooding all the forums LOL. 3 years is a little early to have a bad battery but considering you put a charge on it and your problem went away leads you in two directions, alternator or battery. Alternator is a easy check just drop you meter on there and measure what it is putting out. The battery well, that's a different story. The only true way IMO to test it is to test it under a load...... No fancy math involved put a load on it and see how long it holds the amps period.

[Matt]

The battery may not the the root cause... since its a relatively new battery but obviously lost its charge, you could have an accessory drawing current when the vehicle is off. Check the circuits for current draw.

[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!