1996 Rodeo Won't Start

Oh boy, where do I start? I bought this 1996 Rodeo used last summer. It has been nothing but trouble. It will go a couple months or a month with no problems, then it won't start again. When I turn the key, nothing happens.

Last month when this happend, I jiggled some wires near the battery, and the Rodeo started. We put a voltage meter on some of the wires and found that one wire was not getting very good "voltage" so we cleaned and tightened up some wires and it seemed to fix the problem.

A month goes by and now I am having the same problem.

When you turn the key, no lights, no noise, no cranking or turning over. The wiggling of wires is not doing the trick this time. I have taken it to the dealer, and it will start up fine for them and they have no codes on it. Also, this time, on the 5th try to start it, I did get some weird noise that sounded like a dinging noise or a chime.

Right now I get no indicator lights in the dash coming on. It's like it's dead, no electricity to it all. The dealer says they don't know what is wrong with it. I think they are full of it.

I suspect it needs a new battery cable. We thought maybe it was a short to the "fuse box" or "junction box", specifically to the starter cable/fuse. I'm sure I am not using the proper jargon for all of this, so feel free to ask me more questions. I'm a girl- so I don't have that male gene of knowing what is wrong with my car. hehe!

I just had the timing belt, water pump, etc, replaced and I have squealing belts after that. We had our uncle do the work, who is a mechanic.

Sounds electrical.

Clean up all of the battery ground points (there should be 3-5 of them).

Have the Battery and the alt load tested.

report back.

Sounds electrical.

Clean up all of the battery ground points (there should be 3-5 of them).

Have the Battery and the alt load tested.

report back.

Sorry, I should have mentioned that I already did that. Battery is good. Everything is squeaky clean.

I know it sounds electrical, but I am wondering what part of the electrical system could be causing this problem? A fuse? A wire? Which fuse or wire should I check?

We checked the wire to the starter it was not getting a lot of voltage, so we cleaned and tightened it, and that seemed to do the trick, but now it's acting up again.

It is most likely the negative (ground) cable to the battery. My wife's '94 had an intermittent starting problem with similar conditions. It ended up being internal corosion on the negative cable. Even if the contacts are all clean there can still be corosion inside the cabble underneat the the rubber insulation.

If you know someone with a DMM (Digital Multi-Meter) the best test is to see what the resistance is between the engine block grounding point (Passanger side front of engine, right accross from the battery tray) and the negative battery post is. If it is more tha 1.5 ohms you probly have a bad cable.

The same can also be true for the positive cable. Although it's symptoms are a little different because one wire goes to the main fuse/relay panel, and one goes right to the starter. So you would still have all of your lights, heater, radio and interior stuff working, but nothing from the starter.


Hope this helps.

In regards to the squeaky belts, double check the tension.