Buddies jeep won't start!
Thread Starter
CF Veteran
Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 2,550
Likes: 1
From: aurora colorado
Year: 1991
Model: Cherokee
Engine: 4.0
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???
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???
CF Veteran




Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 5,840
Likes: 117
From: In the middle of Minnesota!
Year: 1999
Model: Cherokee
Engine: 4.0
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.
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.
Thread Starter
CF Veteran
Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 2,550
Likes: 1
From: aurora colorado
Year: 1991
Model: Cherokee
Engine: 4.0
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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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?
Thread Starter
CF Veteran
Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 2,550
Likes: 1
From: aurora colorado
Year: 1991
Model: Cherokee
Engine: 4.0
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?
Thread Starter
CF Veteran
Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 2,550
Likes: 1
From: aurora colorado
Year: 1991
Model: Cherokee
Engine: 4.0
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?
CF Veteran
Joined: Oct 2011
Posts: 1,339
Likes: 0
From: Yakima
Year: 1990
Model: Cherokee
Engine: 4.0 I6
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.
Thread Starter
CF Veteran
Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 2,550
Likes: 1
From: aurora colorado
Year: 1991
Model: Cherokee
Engine: 4.0
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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