CrazyDuck

hi, i am brand new here and English is not my native language so excuse that please.


1. Now the important things. i bought a 1998 grand Cherokee limited 5.9 v8 that doesn´t want to run. i replaced the sparks plugs and the cable. Now i see that you can twist the housing assembly. Not sure, but i think that is not normal. How can i tighten that up ? i see no screw nothing.

2. I noticed that the two ground straps on the driver side are almost gone. one is already ripped apart and the other one is almost gone and when i try to start getting hot! and i mean really hot! I want to replace them, but where do they belong? I see no bolt or anything that hold the other end.


3. This will probably fix itself if i solve the things above. When i start the engine is just shake a little but does not really sound like it gets an ignition or anything... It just turns over and does sometimes something like a hicup

thanks for the help!

dave1123

Ground straps are just as important as battery cables. It's obvious to me the one remaining frayed strap is carrying all the electrical load if it's getting hot.

Ground straps can be attached anywhere between the engine and the body, to any bolt that's convenient. The most important one is from the engine to the battery.

Fix the grounds and see if it will start and run.

CrazyDuck

ok, i now installed two new ground wires. but changed nothing it still just turns and does sometimes his hiccups.

i will see tomorrow with my obd what the fuel pump does cause you hear its working but i think it does not give the right pressure.

furthermore i checked the resistance of the engine and depence on which point i measure i have something between 0.9 - 22.5 Ohm. Which i think leads me to the point there must be somewhere an electrical short .

dave1123

There should be a Y-shaped hold-down clamp on the base of the distributor with one bolt holding it in place. That distributor should not move at all. I think your timing is WAY off! What are you measuring for resistance?

CrazyDuck

ok, i will have a look for it when it stops raining.... in case the clamp is not there anymore, can i buy somewhere a new one? cause i felt nothing when i reached my arm behind the bank and they placed everything so perfect that you see absolutely nothing...

dave1123

I'm thinking you could get one from any Dodge 5.2 or 5.9 from a wrecking yard. Actually, any Chrysler Corp V8 with a distributor.

CrazyDuck

ok, i found the y clamp. The screw was totally loose. i tighten that up and made an earth wire from engine block directly to battery minus. nothing changed except the cable is not getting warm anymore.

dave1123

I'm guessing your timing is way off. Was this engine running when you bought it? If not, let's start with the basics.

Take the distributor cap off and crank the engine over to see if the rotor is ACTUALLY TURNING. Double check that all the wires are in the cap in the proper order; 1-8-4-3-6-5-7-2 in the direction the rotor turns.

If it is, mark the #1 spark plug wire or pull it out of the cap.

Turn the engine over to bring #1 cylinder to top dead center. The rotor should be pointing to either #1 or #6 contact on the distributor cap. If it's #6, go one more turn. If you take out all the spark plug out first, it makes it easy to turn the engine with a wrench on the crankshaft.

Put the cap back on and put a chalk mark on the distributor itself directly under the #1 spark plug tower. Take the cap back off and turn the distributor to align the chalk mark with the rotor. If it's WAY off, the timing chain may have jumped a tooth or more. Lightly tighten the clamp bolt.

If I remember Chrysler V8's correctly, the distributor has a "screwdriver" shaped tang on the drive end and CAN be put back in 180* out of timing. You need to check that when #1 piston comes up on compression, the rotor is pointing at #1 spark plug tower. You can feel the compression with your finger over the spark plug hole as you turn the engine over.

This will get the timing close enough to get it to try to start. I hope this isn't too complicated to understand.

CrazyDuck

ok, thanks dave1123. i will try that step by step as you explained. Sadly i was out of time the last days thats why i answer now.

dave1123

Come back and tell us what you find.