Terrible sound when starting my Jeep Grand Cherokee
Asked by Malia Sep 18, 2016 at 01:43 AM about the 2001 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo 4WD
Question type: Maintenance & Repair
My jeep keeps dying and making an awful sound when I start it. It's a loud grinding sound. The car will start easily about 3 times over the course of a couple hours after it's been jumped and then stop starting all together. I think it may be the alternator, but I am not sure. Can you please give me a place to start?
Thank you,
Malia
6 Answers
enginecreator answered 7 years ago
Other than the bad battery and possible alternator causing the dying and having to jump it off and maybe battery terminals bad too, the last time I heard that a auto was making a awful grinding noise when starting it was a starter to flywheel issue with bad teeth either on the flywheel or the starter or starter not disengaging which will destroy the teeth on both. Stop trying to start this Jeep and get it professionally diagnosed.
It starts and stays running about 3 times. Over the next couple hours I will periodically start it and it will crank, but not start. Eventually it doesn't crank and completely stops starting all together.
Thank you for your answers. I'm going to check to see if there is resistance when I spin the idle pulley. I'm trying to narrow down what the problem might be before taking it to a mechanic. I don't want to get charged an outrageous diagnosis fee. Do you think getting a volt meter would help identify whether it's the battery or an alternator problem?
Okay, thanks a lot Tom. I believe there is a stick on the battery that says 7/16 so maybe I should look into replacing it soon. I do worry a bit about the connection on the negative side of the battery. It wiggles just a tiny bit even after I tighten it. I will look into getting a volt meter.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MST70gP4K8&feature=youtu.be Here I posted a video of the sound. Check out the link.
