beabout

Help! Got a 1998 Grand cherokee with 213K miles, one owner, well maintained. It was idling rough so i bought a can of seaFoam for tank (used about 1/2. Bought the Throttle body SeaFoam cleaner as well and ran it according to instructions. Ran smoother but it was bogging down when accelerating yesterday and seemed to have trouble shifting gears.

Transmission is fine.

Today it wouldn't run well at all. Now it will not start. Battery, starter motor all AOK. Yesterday I cleaned the engine compartment and used a soft stream of water to remove detergents. It started right up and idled OK. Wife drove it today and on way home it was running roughly, would shift past second and had no acceleration. Once I got it home, it started fine. Idled OK. I revved the engine up and it started racing up and down from idle on its own. Then it made weird noises and just stalled. Can't get it started. I remove air cleaner to expose throttle body. I do not see or smell fuel when trying to start it. I fear that it may have had the gas tank sediment clog up the filter or/and the fuel pump died. What's the best move. P.S. Check Engine light came on when wife was driving home. When I push odometer trip in and turn key to on, it reads 1.1. I'm outta ammo and at minimum need to get it running and get it checked for codes unless anyone has any advice. Low on $.

Bustedback

It would be safe to assume from the symptoms you described that fuel pump has given up. There is a test port on the fuel rail to check the fuel pressure.

beabout

Busted Back, I am checking it today, thanks for confirming that technique. If it has pressure, (hope not) does it make sense to see if it will start using starting fluid? If that fails, whats next?

Bustedback

Starting fluid will confirm if you have an ignition problem or a fuel problem. If it starts on the ether it means you need fuel, no start means no spark.

beabout

I actually was really skilled in auto troubleshooting and repair of cars in the pre 1970s. I was one of those guys with a craftman socket/tool set. a rubber mallet. Crowbar and Liquid wrench who rebuilt cars from fan blade to differential. Our "progress" in cars has grown beyond my skills. Unfortunately my budget hasn't grown to meet shop costs when avoidable.

Thanks for your affirmations.

Thanks,

Old B52 driver trying to catch up!

Beabout



We created nightmares and silent death

dave1123

Nice pic of the BUFF! I was chasing Russian subs off Cuba. That looks like the 'Stan on the receiving end.

Jeep electronics are pretty easy to understand if you know the things the sensors do. I've only been working on them for 7 years and I haven't had much problems, but posting on this site and reading as much as I can find on the system has taught me enough.

You can check the codes with the key on, key off method. You turn the key on until the warning lights activate, then off, on again, off, on again and wait. The check engine light will start flashing. count the flashes to get the codes. A code 55 means "end of test." You can use a scanner or take it to Autozone and they'll read the codes for you. The problem is lack of fuel pressure doesn't set a code. A-zone also has a fuel pressure gauge you can rent.

If you would like to, send me a private message and I'll try to explain how the system and sensors interact.

Bustedback

Sometimes lack of fuel will throw multiple misfire codes, but not all of the time.

ThatJeepLife

I'm having the same problem with my 98 xj 4.0l. It's really weird, it's like it's either misfiring or my fuel is being cut out. It acts like it wants to die just randomly as I'm driving it. It's actually died a few times on me while driving. I just pull over and it cranks right back up. It took for ever for the check engine light to pop up and when it finally did I immediately ran the dio. and it popped up with 3 codes. P1391, P0340 and P0320 and it sounds like it's from the CPS but I'm not quite sure if it's completely dead or just has some corrosion. Usually when the CPS is bad then it's just dead, not dead and alive. So from the sounds of it, it could be your CPS, I would just start by cleaning it up and if it that doesn't help then replace it.

BrokeJeepGirl

QUOTe

Wow...this issue with GCs from '97-2000 is a real headache. Had the same issue with my 97GC.
Turns out, a $3 dryer band around the PCM plugs stopped it.

dave1123

Okay, since this was originally posted, I used Seafoam sprayed down the throttle body to clean the carbon out. Then it idled very rough, staggered trying to accelerate, and gave me a TPS code. It seems the Seafoam got past the throttle valve shaft seal and destroyed my TPS! A new Mopar part solved the problem. When using Seafoam, it's best to put it into the manifold thru a vacuum fitting.

The throttle body isn't designed to handle anything but clean air, no liquids but water, and even that is not recommended. It's not unusual to not smell gas from the throttle body because it's only injected at the valve when it is open, pulling air in. If the cylinders are flooded, you'll get a smell from that one intake valve that's open when you stop cranking.

MCOOTSY

I just bought a 2002 jeep Cherokee and i need to know if the gear shift is engaged in the overdrive because it doesn't have the pdnlh on dash it has the overdrive gears that show up instead

MCOOTSY

The check engine light has now came on and I think I'm tearing the trans up but don't know someone please help me to understand if I'm in the wrong gears currently or what is going on?

dave1123

The gear indicators are on the console by the shifter. The dash has an Overdrive Off indicator light that lights up when the button on the side of the shifter has been pressed, limiting the trans to 3rd gear. That's for pulling heavy loads and preventing the trans from overheating. Normally the Drive range on the shifter uses all 4 gears automatically. If 4th gear is engaged, you should see around 1900 rpm at 65 mph. 3rd gear would be higher. 3rd gear is a direct 1:1 ratio so you're not overtaxing the engine anyway. Sometimes there's a snap ring in the O/D unit that breaks and it won't shift into 4th gear. When that happens you won't have any engine braking when you downshift. That can be repaired without removing the transmission by removing the transfer case and the O/D unit itself. To find out if that ring is broken, remove the trans pan and it should be laying in the bottom. DO NOT remove the O/D unit yourself if that snap ring is broken! There's an 800 lb spring inside that has to be dealt with. Running it with a broken snap ring will eventually ruin a planetary gearset inside the unit.

Jeff Lear

[QUOTE=dave1123;3136546]Nice pic of the BUFF! I was chasing Russian subs off Cuba. That looks like the 'Stan on the receiving end.

Jeep electronics are pretty easy to understand if you know the things the sensors do. I've only been working on them for 7 years and I haven't had much problems, but posting on this site and reading as much as I can find on the system has taught me enough.

You can check the codes with the key on, key off method. You turn the key on until the warning lights activate, then off, on again, off, on again and wait. The check engine light will start flashing. count the flashes to get the




any idea why my 98 v8 5.2 jeep Cherokee delays shifting from first into 2 fluid is full I already checked tht

dave1123

May be the throttle shift cable adjustment. If it just does it when cold, it probably is a sticky valve spool in the valve body. Try letting the engine run for a minute or two with the trans in neutral before starting out.