Hi all,
I've got a 90 Samurai JL, and it doesn't like to start cold. There may be more than one issue at work here, so I'll just tell you what I know. I did a full tune-up less than a year ago, replaced the starter motor, the fuel pump, and the fuel filter as well. Right after I replaced the starter motor, I began experiencing some difficulty when starting. I would turn the key and the engime would turn over but wouldn't start until I let off the key. At first the engine only had to turn over 3-5 times before firing, but over time it took more and more cranks before starting up. Now, if starting the engine when the outside air temp is 50 or below, I have to sit there and crank it for a good 5-10 minutes before it starts up. Once started and warmed up though, I can shut it off and start it up no problem. If the outside air temp is 60 degrees or warmer, it'll start up easily, (only needing 30 seconds of cranking or less). I have spark going to the distributor and to the plugs, and the fuel injector is spraying fuel into the throttle-body. I'm confused b/c if it has spark and fuel, why isn't it firing? Thanks for any help you can offer.

-T

I would take the starter to some one that can see how many amps it is pulling, most of the rebuilds that I have seen pull over twice as many amps as they should.

How do you check how many amps it pulls? I might already have whatever I'd need to check it myself. Besides, I can't think of anyone I know that I could take it to in order test it. Unless I took it to a shop of course.

This is what I have used for years (for under a grand you could have one also) made by beckman it's a current clamp, and before this I had an amprobe JR that I loaned and never got back, (note to self always loan sears junk you will get it back) most of the time the problem will be the last thing you Touched on your rig,or related to it,it could be the wire connection on the starter or the solenoid could have a short in it or it could be that the wires are breaking off next to the connector, maybe you pulled a battery cable off and the wires by the battery or the fuseable link are coming apart ? or it could be the ignition switch is going out? it might be that the connectors are just real dirty or have oil on them and need to be taken apart again and cleaned real well,or get another starter even a good used one and go from there.

This is a neighbors rig (a 1990 samurai) that has close to the same problem as yours and close to the problem that I was having on my 1987 samurai, it turned out to be the Battery I got from Wal-mart that was one year and a couple of days old, I went to trade it in in for another one and they told me that they had so many problems with them that they no longer warranty those batterys, (way to go wal-mart) so as I was checking things out I came to the conclusion that the battery had broken plates in it but still had enough power to start a samurai, So I open the hood on the 1990 today and low and behold a wal-mart Battery,I will replace it and see if it cures the problem as on my 87 and go from there! I live on a dirt road and have broken many Batterys and should go back to an optima but just don't want to pay the price for them, I would like to find a good alternative but even the exide I picked up a couple of years ago that was a copy of optimas did not hold up, so!

This is what I have used for years (for under a grand you could have one also) made by beckman it's a current clamp,

For those who would like to measure starter current draw - there are AC current clamps & DC current clamps - you need a DC current clamp to check the starter current, preferably one with a "peak hold" function and a range of at least 500A.  I should also mention that the current draw can vary considerably, depending on if the engine is cold or warm, etc.