Hi all. so my girlfriends 1995 jeep grand Cherokee Laredo 4.0 AT died on me on the freeway last week.. it just cut out, no sputtering or anything. now it will crank all day but wont start. im new to jeeps but not to working on cars. it has fuel pressure at the rail and no spark. so after reading up a bit, i think most signs point to the crank position sensor. it seems like a daunting task to me and im still not sure enough the cps is the problem to go and buy the not so cheap part. i went to the yard today to practice pulling one and maybe buy one if its cheap and easy to swap but i don't have the types of extensions or skills apparently to do it.. the car is parked outside and i would have tackled this full on if i could get it in my garage and knew anything about this car. so basically im looking for someone in the Portland Oregon area that has some experience with this and wouldn't mind helping me get this thing on the road.. ill supply the beer or give u some bucks just let me know. i know there has to be someone around here that done it allot and can come over and bust it out no prob. im afraid i will break something or drop a bolt in the hole haha. We're on a budget and moving soon and with my car down for a while as well, its getting tough to make everything happen. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

Hill.......ok,,,,the replacement is not as tough as you think.....

if you open the hood, stand at the driver side fender near the firewall,

look CLOSELY at the wire harness which leads from the back of the INTAKE manifold and DOWN onto the TOP of the point where the engine meets the transmission, (its usually in a corrugated wire loom protector sleeve) you WILL see the CPS clearly bolted up to the housing of the block. the actual connector is usually at a hold-down bracket bolted onto the intake manifold. With a SMALL sized ratchet ( 1/4" i think) and methinks a 10mm socket, you can remove the CPS. A LOT of leaning here mister! feet will probably be up in the air and you will appear to be diving into the motor and wife may panic! but no worries. it can be done.....

just get a new one from JEEP not from parts store, although I have heard CARQUEST has some pretty reliable ones. They are worth it.

when you do replace it, c'mon, man up mister! show her what yer made of!

and get it nice n tight when you do......

you should be golden!

my two cents, and a pint!

cpnwrench

 

Thanks for the info and encouragement cpnwrench! OK I'll take another crack at it but im still open for physical help so the small socket wrench will fit?? the angle seems all wrong but I'll get in there again. does this jeep have the one bolt sensor then? not the two? so is it most likely the cps in your opinion? golden.. yes, thats what i want.. i want to be golden! cheers!

 

Yep, sir, there are two bolts, dont drop 'em! when you take them out.

take your time, breathe and do it slow, being in a hurry causes too much frustration and your body tenses too much to be able to reach them hard spots.

go get 'em tiger!

cpnwrench

 

When I replaced the CPS on my daughter's 96 XJ I dropped the front drive line. It made the job much easier and it is not that difficult to pull the front drive line.

I realize were talking about GC rather than a regular Cherokee, but I don't think the job would be that different.

My two cents.

 

my plan of attack usually leads to getting roughly 4-ft of socket extensions and laying under the jeep and feeding my extreme extension all the way the side of the tranny.... MUCH easier done with a lot more swing room of the wrench..

Also a quick tip... start with the bolt that "on top" or higher up on the bell housing.... and if you have a small flex head rachet or flex head combo wrench it will go alot smoother running the "swallowed by jeep" route

 

Hey jeep Guy!!! I was only trying to tell him if he was in a right now situation with limited tool resources, its great to be eaten by jeep.

the elegant and technical one is as you described, yet that does entail some degree of tactile "feel" with the extensions and jockeying the extensions up and in.
I know first hand about that! top two trans bolts on my 84 vette!

had about 5 feet of extension on 3/4 drive with 18mm bolts... not fun.

anyway Hill, you do what is comfy, if you have any kind of reach you can get to them from the top, just gotta be a squeeze and patient. if you got the extensions go for it (jus have lots o light so's you can see!)

either way does work!

cheers!

cpnwrench

 

I figure tween the 2 of us this kid will be set for life

its always nice to have a plan B in case plan A fails ya know what i mean

 

you got it sir!

'specially if he gets the GF's jeep goin on his own, he'll get nookie for weeks on end!!!!



cpnwrench

 

"FWS"...?? Funky Wire Syndrome? You can unplug it and see if it's putting out 1/2 a volt of AC while you're cranking. Anyway, a view from above.

 

haha yes!! thanks for all the info everybody. now i feel like i have two good plans of attack.. i just gotta track down some more tools. and there is a car quest just down the street, score. ill let u guys know what happens. wish me luck! thanks again!

 

Please note that the crank sensor plug on a 95 ZJ is on the right side of the block about six inches back from the oil pressure sending unit. I just did my crank sensor the other day, I removed the front drive shaft (8mm socket or wrench) from the front axle and swung it out of the way. Be careful not to let the ujoint caps fall off and lose the needle bearings! I removed the shifter cable from the bracket (someting to gently pry the end off of the lever and needle nose pliers to squeaze the tangs in at the bracket). I then used an air ratchet with an 11mm wobble socket to remove the screw that holds the sensor in. Pull up on the sensor until it clears the hole and pull it out. I tied some mechanics wire to the connector of the new sensor and fished it behind the block to the right side. Then I just installed the new sensor and put everything back together.

 

idk if anyone else has said this or not but i replaced mine simple 2 bolts i think the whole reason for mine not starting in the first place was that it was just covered in goop in the first place if you clean it off it looks brand new. but scenes how i bought the new one i just threw that one on there anyways. but my jeep wouldnt start this morning so thats what i did exact same problem you have and mine started right up.

 

well now i feel stupid.. i tracked down some extensions and in the cold windy rain got that sucker out from underneath. went a bought a new one and got it in. went to start it and same thing, crank and no start . cap and rotor look good.. any good way to test the coil? i cant spend any more on this till i know for sure what it is.. the alarm system is kinda screwy but i reset it and no change.. thanks for all your help. im really bummed it wasn't the cps. i did notice a little white plug with one offset prong hole that wasnt pluged into anything but there doesnt seem to be anywhere for it to plug into nearby at all.. hmmm. its located right out of the harness on the drivers side directly above the cps area near the back corner of the valve cover.. anybody know what this is?