Hello,
I was wondering if anyone could elaborate to me what the reasons are for swapping out a distributor on a 1999 xj engine to a 2000 cam sensor when using it in a 2000 XJ aplication.

The 1999 distributor has the right sized plug in for the cam sensor as the 2000 wire harness. What would be wrong with leaving the distributor in place stricly for the cam sensor oil pickup instead of swapping it out for the cam sensor off of the 00 block?

The 2000 jeep is the one I am keeping and has the coil pack rail, ECU/bcm/pcm wire harness it was built with. What is the difference between the cam sensor in the distributor and then the cam sensor without the distributor i guess is my final question if anyone could please be so kind to answer for me.

Thank you,
vince

IDK why I can't understand what the question here is. I'm sure it's me so subscribing to this thread to get the answer.

Are you wanting to run a distributor with a coil rail?

It would look funny.

I subscribed too.
I think what he is asking is can he run the distributor in the '99 engine in his '00. No coil bar.
I think he is saying that the connector on the '00 engine harness for the cam positioning sensor fits the connector on the distributor from the '99.
For stator, pickup, or in the loosest of terms I will call it a cam positioning sensor in the distributor.
If this could happen that would awesome IMO.
Just don't see how it could. LOL.

Yeah he needs to be clear on what he's mixing and matching, but I think it could be done using the Hantek and syncing a 2000 ECU and coil rail with the pick up coil from the 1999.

I want to use the cam sensor that is the distributor and not have the change the assembly to the one out of the 2000. But i want to know why in every forum i have read people say to do so....

The coil rail is plugged into the harness out of the 00 and is giving spark to the plugs, not the distributor. The distributor is solely being used for its cam sensor and as a back rest for the coil since i dont have mounts for the rail.

The engine fires up and runs as it did in my 99. Perfect. The real issue im trying to tackle is if anyone knows if it is the absence of the sensor out of the 00 that is causing me to get no cluster readings and "no bus" or if the issues are not related. I figured id ask about this sensor not being swapped because that is the only thing i didnt do after learning from other threads.

Thanks and sorry for confusion
vince

So does it run now?

So apparently I misunderstood what was trying to get done. LOL.

Im sorry, i edited my last post with more info.

So this the alignment that you're looking for (it can be done with the DRB3 tool, but that's like a zillion dollars):



The relationship is that of the crankshaft position sensor and the camshaft position sensor (AKA coil pickup). As long as it looks like that, and since I'm guessing that's how it was on the 99 block, it should work. TTBOMK, since ECU doesn't know (or care) which cylinder is which (because it's in regard to injector behaviour) there shouldn't be any difference.

I believe if you messed up the CPS/coil pickup you'd be getting a 1391 code.

Figured I would try to see if a bad cam sensor would cause a NO BUS and gauges not to work.
Not seeing that as a symptom.
I wonder what would happen if you unplugged the connector and turned the key to the on position.
Don't start it.

says "no bus" w/ it unplugged. the guages register voltage and all go to 0 reading when key is cycled on. But thats all they do. Looking at the schematics in the hanes manual i figured the same as your findings, just figured it wouldn't hurt to ask before i start sticking my nose in all the "no bus" forums to try and figure out that problem. Figured it wouldnt hurt to register and ask you professionals if that's why everyone says to change that sensor.

Thanks
Vince

I didnt have a scanner or coolant last night when it fires up and learned the TPS. I shut it off and instantly started researching, but one i hook the scanner up ill be able to figure out if the scanner us talking to the ECU and at that point if it is I'll start with the cluster out of the 99 as i know everything on the 99 worked perfectly

Thanks,
Vince

Best I can tell that is this uncharted territory.
What I really want to know is would the Jeep run with the just the distributor and spark plug wires
But then I have to figure best case scenario is it would but throw a code for the coil rail.
Cause I am assuming there is one.