cangooner

Hi all,
Here's what happened:
I was in a neighbouring town yesterday when my beloved Blondie (87 Cherokee 4.0l) refused to start. Turned over fine, but did not fire at all. I did some googling on my phone and came across a suggestion that this could be somehow related to a faulty oil pressure sender. As my oil guage has been maxed out off the charts for several months now, this made sense to me and I thought I would check it out. I removed the plug from the sender, cleaned the contact as best I could away from home in a different town on a holiday (!), replaced it and it started fine and I drove home.

Fast forward to this morning. I gave it a try and all went well - it started as per normal. Later in the day when I actually had to go somewhere, it started fine, but then stalled in the middle of the lane after I backed out, and refused to start again. I tried the temporary solution that worked yesterday with no luck. I have also cleaned cable & connection leading to distributor. Again no luck.

Because it is intermittent, am I right to suspect an electrical problem (faulty wire, loose connection, bad switch somewhere)?

I live in a small town and won't be able to get a pressure sender in for a couple of days, so I was hoping someone could answer a couple of questions:

1) does it make sense to you that a faulty sender unit could cause this starting problem?

2) what should be my next line of investigation?

Thanks very much!

claygrassmann

yup ive heard of that one before, as always check connections make sure they are clean and tight, also you might wanna look at your cps, its on the top of the bell housing at about the 1 oclock position its a really PITA to get to from the top to replace it but from the bottom with a universal an 11mm socket and some extensions you can replace it, however before doin so check the cps at the connection for resistance if you have resistance then it is bad, i just did this yesterday and replaced it and it fired right up

shintastrife

hey when you go to turn it over does it click but not start im having trouble as well. but then again i run mine hard. its kind of funny told every one that i would not be running it much off road and here lately its be every weeken.

huntingman2706217

read his first post man... you share nothing in common with him... best to start your OWN thread...

cangooner

@claygrassmann: Thanks much for the CPS suggestion. I'll definitely check that out.

@shintastrife: No clicking on mine. When I try to start it it sounds perfectly normal apart from not, well, starting. It just turns over and turns over...

I have to be on the road out of town tomorrow (thank goodness for friends who can lend trucks!) and so won't be able to reply to, or try, suggestions for a little while. But please do keep 'em coming!

Thanks

shintastrife

that is why i asked him, why start a new thread if he jeep is doing that same thing. its easyer if you got ppl with the same prob b/c of can bounce ideas off each out, try this or try that, i have tryed this or that.

and mind had did that, i got mad and slamed the hood down and it cranked over like it should

huntingman2706217

thats why i said to read his first post... because it had nothing to do with the same problem you listed you had...

shintastrife

i missed read it, but you never know. mine turns over find , when its fills like it. but didnt put 2 and 2 together when he said its turns but does not fire

cangooner

Apart form the pressure sender and cps, any other suggestions?

Thanks!

cangooner

An update and question...

I picked up a new oil pressure sender, and that didn't immediately fix the starting issue (although my oil gauge is much happier now!). The first time I tried starting it, the same issue occurred (turning over but not firing). I then disconnected, cleaned, and re-connected every electrical connection that I could get my hands on in the hopes of avoiding having to change the CPS.

Then it worked fine.

Started perfectly several times, drove nicely without stalling, started several more times.

Sooooo... if this was *your* Cherokee, how confident would you be that the problem has been solved? I'm still a bit leery and expecting it go die again any minute.

Also, when I picked up the oil pressure sender, I also checked prices on the CPS unit. They had two options: high altitude and not high altitude. ??? What's that all about? I had no idea what that was about and the parts guy was baffled too. I will google it shortly, but thought I'd check with the experts as well.

Thanks.

huntingman2706217

not really much choice but to ride it out... only time will tell man... as for the CPS... i dunno... never had to buy one yet... but i guess do you live at high altitude or no? would guess the most common is the one they have in stock...