I was warming up my 89 wrangler (4 cyl.) one morning, it ran for about ten minutes,shut it off and came back to start it up and nothing. The jeep had been sitting for a few days and it had been raining. (There are some leaks around the window and water will leak in and will run down my leg from the dash, maybe water shorted something out?)
When I turned the ignition to start it, nothing. Nothing worked, lights, radio, starter, etc.. It was like the battery was dead. Checked the under dash fuses, battery voltage with a meter.. 12.8 volts, connections etc. and everything was fine. I can hear a click when I turn the ignition switch which seems to be coming from under the dash near the steering column. The clock is the only thing that is getting power., but when I turn the ignition on, the second hand stops moving. I checked for power at the fuse box, nothing. There is power to the starter.... Could it be the ignition coil/module...any ideas? Thanks!

The first thing I'd do is to take the battery cables off and clean both them and the battery posts.. Then I'd reinstall them and try the starter again.
If that didn't work Id be looking for all the grounds to the body and engine and I'd take em off and clean them and the grounding surface.. Then I'd try again.
If that didn't work I'd be under the dash looking for plugs, etc. that needed cleaning to allow the lectric to pass..
Good luck.
Big JIm <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/pfft.gif" alt="" />

X2

Worked when my 94 yj quit starting. except mine decided not to start at school...

Thanks for all the advice. I did remove the battery ground but no luck (it was one of the first things i did). The posts are clean and have a protectant on them. I'll remove both the pos. and neg. cables and see if that will work. Could it be the fusible link that goes to the starter? If that shorted out would that cause the lack of power to the whole ignition system?
Thanks again!

Nope.
Big Jim <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/pfft.gif" alt="" />

Thanks Jim. I'll start trouble shooting again after it stops raining and post any updates!

Thanks Jim and The Other Guy. It stopped raining and I disconnected the postive and negative battery cables, connected them back up and the Jeep fired right up!
Thanks again for the help, much appreciated. By the way, what do you think the cause was, just a bad connection?
Cheers

Could be a break in the cable which made contact again after being wiggled around a bit. If it happens again turn the key to run, put a jumper cable on the pos terminal, and go underneath and touch the other end to the pos lead on the starter.

Did you cleane both the posts and the inside of the cable connector?
Silly things happen to OLD batteries. And they seem to happen mostly in the rain!
I betcha a new battery and new cables with some of that goop spread on them liberally would do that ride a bunch of good.
Big Jim <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/pfft.gif" alt="" />

Thanks again. I'll be replacing the cables and battery!
Cheers