I have a 88 base and I bought it from a used car dealer for $1500 and it only has 98,xxx miles. and when I bought it they said it dose not start on its own so I thought it was because it was sitting for a wile but i drove it home about 100 miles. and let it sit for a couple of days and when I went to start it it did not make a starter click or any thing so i jump started it and bought a new battery and drove it back to my house. and it died agin so I did a volt test and the alternater is working fine so I heard that it chould be the grounds at the ignition chould this be the problem or chould it be the starter.

 

Fully charge the battery. New batteries are not necessarily fully charged when take off the shelf. If the starter still will not turn over the engine with the fully charged battery, check the cable connections at the battery and at the starter. Then check the ground connections. Check for continuity between the various connections to eliminate a wiring problem somewhere hidden in the wiring harness.

If you have a fully charged battery, the ground connections are good and the connections to the starter are secure, the engine should turn over. If it doesn't, pull the starter and have it checked at a shop or at your local auto parts store.

BTW, you should get a copy of the factory shop manual from one of the links in the 2nd gen FAQ at the top of this forum section. There are troubleshooting matrices in the FSM that should help you track down the problem.

 

It could be the starter, starter solenoid, grounds, or ignition switch. The starting sytem is pretty simple, the Haynes manual covers it or you can download the FSM for free from the sticky at the top of the sub-forum.

 

And even if the car doesn't run we can still see some pictures, right?!??!?!

Hope you get it running soon and start enjoying it!

Cheers,
iSP33D-for-J3SUS