Won't start, battery is charged, starter tested good.

Jeep sat 3 or 4 days, went to start it and I got the clickity-click of a low battery, so I put the charger on it and after a few minutes it showed full chg, tried again, same thing, so I checked and cleaned the cables, no change, put a meter on it, showed 12v, tried a jump still just clicking, pulled starter works fine on the bench, reinstalled, just clicks. Switched starter relay, no change. Somehow max amps not reaching starter. Suggestions?  

Me and.my buddy both had this problem mine was because the cables were touchy they had to be in the right spot to work, his battery when we tested it was fully charged the radio and.everything worked and it would start being jumped or on the charger he tested the battery while starting and the volts went way down as soon as he sealed the battery it started right up  

since you seem to have a digital volt meter.. i am taking its digital... numbers not needles..


engine off..  headlights on for ONE minute.. then turn them off..

set meter to 20 volts DC....

measure the battery voltage..

12.65 is a full charge..
12.45 is a 3/4 charge..
12.25 is a half charge..

if you have less than 12.5 volts..  you should really place it back on the charger.

clicking noises from the starter solenoid usually are either a low battery or a dirty cable..

since you have the digital volt meter out.. can you hook it from the Negative battery post to the engine block...   while somebody attempts to crank the engine..  at 20 volts DC scale.. you should have less than 0.5 volts while attempting to crank the engine..

do the same test on the positive side...    positive battery post to the big stud on the starter if you can reach it...  have somebody attempt to start it...

it takes longer than a few minutes to recharge a battery.. i am wondering if your battery has failed...

many parts stores will recharge and then load test your battery after an hour on the charger...

load testing them when discharged is NOT an accurate test..

the clicking noise when attempting to start it is the voltage dropping below the PULL in voltage as the contacts close.. this drop in voltage to the load on the system causes the relays and solenoid that were closed to pop open..  the load is gone.. the voltage comes back up.. the relays and solenoids snap closed again..  the additional loads drop the voltage and the relays snap open again...

click click click click...  

Agreed that the battery should be reading over 12V.  But if you move battery cables into some "sweet" spot, then it means that either your cables are bad, or you have a bad connection.  Clean the terminals at the battery and at least the power lead at the connection to the starter.  If you are sure you have good cables and clean, solid (all are tight) connections, try a different battery because the one you have is probably questionable.  If your battery is over 5 years old, it may be on its last legs.  
Steve  M.

2000 XJ
1983 CJ8 (in progress project)