working on jeep late last night got headliner etc out. went to move jeep and it will not crank. has had intermitting immediate start up but was very irratic. it will turn over as long as you want but will not crank. i can hear fuel pump turn on. i do not have press gauge but pressed needle in and got spray out of it. the fuse is good and realy seems to be fine. keep in mind this thing ran like a champ sat night for 40 miles. i am stumpped. what areas should i be checking first. i feel right now with all the questions i have i wished i had a toll free number for the cherokee forum tech line

 

Your post is kind of hard to understand, but your saying the spark plugs are soaked with fuel?

ETA:
Sorry my bad, I some how confused "No Fire" with no spark.

Still it is hard to decipher what is or is not happening ie; "it will turn over as long as you want but will not crank".

 

He mentioned nothing about spark plugs or them being soaked in fuel. I would check your cps first.

 

i never said anything about plugs. have not checked them yet. fisher, what is the cps???? i am still fresh to this xj thing

 

crank position sensor. Here is a nice little guide on how to test it and where it is located

Edit: I may be wrong, but I think if it is the cps, you won't have spark.

 

check your groubds first.. then try to check the ceramic resitor under the hood behind the drivers headlight on the fender.. I took the wires off and connected them to a 15 amp fuse and mine started right up.. If that is the case replace the resistor. clean real good (paint, dirt, etc) from around where the screw holds it on

 

Ran and checked at lunch. Got resistance on sensor where I think its supposed to be open. Going to pick up cps this evening

 

Was your Jeep cranking, starting and running fine before you parked it and started pulling it apart?? Sensors don't just go bad from sitting unless a Jeep has sat for like years. If it was cranking fine the last time you tried to start and now it won't. Chances are something was taken apart or knocked loose. Check all connections around the battery. Check all fuzes related to starting and ignition. Check the easy and free things before you start throwing parts at it.

 

Is there an immobiliser fitted in the overhead console? Have you disconnected or knocked it when taking the headliner out?

 

Buck was running fine but intermittent on cranking. Sometimes fire up sometimes almost drain battery. According to the cps check on prev post I should not have resistance. I am getting about 5 ohms.

Coog, I am unfamiliar with that part

 

Cball, if your Jeep runs fine once started, your CPS is fine. Your CPS controls ignition timing and fuel injector pulse. Usually when a CPS goes bad it's just the opposite of what you have. Your Jeep will crank all day long but, it just won't start. I still believe you have an issue in your starting circuit. Since it would intermittently start just fine, I'd say the problem isn't your battery. Check your battery cables from end to end for burns, corrosion, cleanliness and tight connections. How old is your starter? Did you notice if the hard starting coincides with the engine being started cold or hot? It is common, when a starter starts to go bad that it will be harder to start when the engine/starter is hot. You can have your battery and starter checked out for free at your local Autozone.

 

So what about the resinstance I got with my ohm meter. If I looked at prev post i thought it stated should have open circuit. Before yest it would sometimes work flawlessly and other times almost drain battery before it would crank. Once running no trouble at all other than slight skip sometimes on hard acceleration

 

And now all it will do is turn over all day but wont crank for nothing

 

What do you mean when you say turnover?? Turnover and crank are two words that mean the same thing to me reguarding vehicle engines.

 

Cball....Not tring to be mean ... i understand what ur saying but the correct words u are tring to get across to people . no crank no start is the starter wont crank the engine over ... a crank no start means the engine cranks over but the engine wont fire up and run ...