Had my XJ for 30 years now and the CPS finally gave out - all sorts of intermittent stalling. Finally had it towed to a nearby Jeep dealer who replaced the CPS and everything's fine again. What I'm wondering is.... now that the CPS has been replaced, is it liable to go wonky again or was there some kind of updated part that fixes the problem - should I carry a spare? I don't know where the dealer got the part as they are no longer avaible thorough Chrysler (I assume he used the local auto supply joint) so I have no idea of the make and model.

 

Problem? The part lasted 30 years I'd say that's pretty good longevity. Can you find out what brand they used? I've got an NTK one in my spare parts bin I got from Rock Auto.

 

In my 1996 XJ, I replaced mine in 2012ish and it was probably the connection, or some other wires, rather than the CPS. You should clean those connectors out with a plastic safe electrical parts cleaner, like CRC, get some rubber safe silicone onto the gasket (Liquid Wrench makes one), with dielectric grease in all the pin cylinders. This might be a good place for that Ox-Guard goes well here, I don't think there is any aluminum in there. Make sure all three retainers engage when you put the connection back together. When stalling on mine started again, I did all that and put a zip-tie around the big retainer tab. Stalling stopped.

 

After the CPS failed on our 95 GC, years ago (similar drivetrain as an XJ), I replaced it and ran another 150k or so miles. I don't think it failed again. I tend to buy high-mileage vehicles and I have gotten into the habbit of replacing the CPS right away and put the spare in the glovebox. The thinking is if it fails on the road somewhere, I'll at least have access for a shop to put the spare back in. But I've never had the replacements fail. Now that you've changed it, I wouldn't worry about it. They're readily available at parts stores ...but if it does bug you a spare in the glove box can't hurt ..although you'll probably never need it.

According to the manual, you can ohm out CPS's to know if they're getting out of spec. I forget the readings...

 

Definitely get a spare, sometime in the next 29 years

 

Don't use oxguard on multi-pin conductors. It's conductive.

 

Yea, knew there was some sort of reason why it shouldn't be in there. Science, eh.

 

CAUTION! SCIENCE CONTENT! Make sure brain is engaged before putting mouth in gear.

 

Eventually 30yr old electronic sensors (and computers) will fail

I was lucky enough to buy a box containing at least 2 of every vital OEM sensor of a fellow wrecking some XJs, there is some new ones as well, for some reason he only wanted $40 for all of them.
Carry one of each in a small pouch under the rear seat

Owning some vehicles 50-75yrs old, you learn to snap up vital spares when you get the chance...if you want to keep you XJ for a long time
I also have a complete spare XJ I bought for $450. it is only 59 VIN of mine, and works fine..a perfect test bed for any faults that develop on my DD

 

Replaced mine August 2021, and again this month.
O'Reilly limited lifetime warranty Standard Ignition 3 Terminal Crankshaft Position Sensor - New Line: STD | Part # PC41

New guy at counter was kind of odd. First he wanted to know what was wrong with the old CPS. "It doesn't work." Then he kept insisting on using the wrong information to look up my previous purchase and wanted to charge me full cost for the part. When I calmly got that sorted out, he noted that there is a price difference between last year and this year, so insisted I pay an extra $4 and change to keep the warranty. He also wanted to keep the box for the old part. Kept my cool and paid it, kept the box for both receipts, installed new one, and wrote customer service. CS says it should not have been a charge and call in Monday to straighten it out.

Just over one year old, this time it crapped out with rough running engine and loss of power while driving. No codes. Last time I got knock codes, and oddly high mileage.

From another thread, either an 11mm or 7/16" wrench fits the bolt heads. I did not determine the threads on the bolt to figure out which standard they use there.

Also, O'Reilly has decided to improve their website some more. When I find a list of parts for my 1996 XJ Sport, and click on any of them, it goes from perfect fit to a warning of does not fit. Sweet.

They do carry NTK, which is a little cheaper that Standard Ignition, but it only has a 3 year warranty.

 

I thought i just purchased a mopar cps sensor on line 2 weeks ago, from a mopar dealer...it was a little over 100 bucks. Will try to find details tomorrow..hope I wasn't taken

 

I find the lifetime warranty on cheap parts is an indicator of poor quality, especially if it's a remanf part. They're basically letting the customer be the quality control.

 

$80+ is not cheap, and it is new.