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Buddies jeep won't start!

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Old Sep 14, 2012 | 10:33 AM
  #1  
jeepguy93's Avatar
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From: aurora colorado
Year: 1991
Model: Cherokee
Engine: 4.0
Default Buddies jeep won't start!

Soo he bought my jeep a while back and it ran fine!

Well the other day he was driving and it just shut off, now it'll crank and crank but won't fire up. The battery loses charge when cranking to. Hooked it up to another car and still just cranks...

Is it the Cps???
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Old Sep 14, 2012 | 11:01 AM
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From: California
Year: 1992
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Does it have spark? How about fuel?
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Old Sep 14, 2012 | 11:04 AM
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From: In the middle of Minnesota!
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You're missing spark or fuel. Your job is to figure out which one.

Always start with SPARK.

Take out a spark plug, keep it attached to the plug wire. Place the spark plug electrode near a good engine ground. Have a buddy crank the engine while you watch. You are looking for a strong, BLUE, snapping spark. Yellow/orange/white spark is weak spark and may not be enough to start the engine.

IF you have good spark (and ONLY if), then introduce a small amount of gas or starting fluid into the intake. If the engine runs for a few seconds with this technique, you have identified a "fuel delivery" problem.

The above two procedures are easy to do and will help you isolate the root cause of your no-start.

Report back what you find.
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Old Sep 14, 2012 | 07:17 PM
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From: aurora colorado
Year: 1991
Model: Cherokee
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Sorry I was in a rush when I posted this I have no spark but I do have fuel it's a brand new distributor distributor cap rotor plugs and wires it's got a new fuel pump filter lines fuel injectors throttle body both sensors on the throttle body this is what is leading me to believe it's the CPS
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Old Sep 14, 2012 | 07:45 PM
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From: California
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Did it run prior to replacing the distributor? If not are you sure it's indexed properly?
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Old Sep 14, 2012 | 08:26 PM
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From: Yakima
Year: 1990
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Classic signs of a failed cps. Unplug it and plug it back in, sometimes that works as a temp fix.
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Old Sep 14, 2012 | 08:56 PM
  #7  
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From: aurora colorado
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No it didn't run before, ran for 2 months no issues.

Will try unplugging it!

Would the Cps just fail while driving?
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Old Sep 14, 2012 | 09:02 PM
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Originally Posted by jeepguy93
No it didn't run before, ran for 2 months no issues.

Will try unplugging it!

Would the Cps just fail while driving?
Just to clarify I did run for two months, and then stopped running, and then you changed the dist. wires and plugs and still not running or it was running fine after you changed them for two months and then stopped working?
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Old Sep 15, 2012 | 08:17 AM
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From: aurora colorado
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Originally Posted by Rearwardassist

Just to clarify I did run for two months, and then stopped running, and then you changed the dist. wires and plugs and still not running or it was running fine after you changed them for two months and then stopped working?
I put new dist cap rotor etc in, ran fine for 2+ months
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Old Sep 15, 2012 | 08:17 AM
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From: aurora colorado
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Originally Posted by Rearwardassist

Just to clarify I did run for two months, and then stopped running, and then you changed the dist. wires and plugs and still not running or it was running fine after you changed them for two months and then stopped working?
I put new dist cap rotor etc in, ran fine for 2+ months then stopped whille driving
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Old Sep 15, 2012 | 08:46 AM
  #11  
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From: Yakima
Year: 1990
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Engine: 4.0 I6
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Originally Posted by jeepguy93
No it didn't run before, ran for 2 months no issues.

Will try unplugging it!

Would the Cps just fail while driving?

Yep, thats what they do, fail whenever they want to and the jeep just dies.
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Old Sep 18, 2012 | 01:56 PM
  #12  
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From: aurora colorado
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Cps didn't work... What else?
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Old Sep 18, 2012 | 02:34 PM
  #13  
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From: Yakima
Year: 1990
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coil?
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Old Sep 18, 2012 | 03:20 PM
  #14  
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From: Raleigh, NC
Year: 1998
Model: Cherokee
Engine: 4.0L
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Exact thing happened to my 98 XJ Sunday. I replaced the coil and crank position seonsor and neither helped. Tracked it down to a 25 amp fuse in the fuse box under the hood. Check ALL fuses, and then relays.
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Old Oct 15, 2012 | 05:53 PM
  #15  
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From: aurora colorado
Year: 1991
Model: Cherokee
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Well after he bought it from me he learned to drive stick with it, his foot slipped off the clutch and kicked the fuse box. In the ignition fuse was the wiring for my two switches for auxillary lights (wasn't ghetto rigged) and he broke the fuse on one and ripped the wiring out on the other, and the ripped out one every time it'd hit the body it'd short the car out and shut it off! All fixed now!
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