Some fine sand paper will do the trick for that. Oh and don't forget to change your oil/filter as well! You don't want that extremely old oil to be in your motor

 

Just found this thread…after swapping my fuel filter in a 1996 Cherokee. Didn’t depressurization with the Shrader valve 1st. Now it won’t start. Any ideas?

 

Hello and welcome to the site... Don't forget to add your jeep's info with your profile... Did you cycle the key a few times ?? Depending on how empty the line was it may take a few key cycles to get the fuel back up to the rail....

 

cycled it several times. Tried to catch once, but just keeps cranking. Hoping I don’t need to replace the pump also…

 

fuel filter should not cause this. Did you have this issue before changing the fuel filter?

 

To all users of CF:

PLEASE, before posting technical questions, take some time to help others out, by adding details in the user control panel. There's 2 ways to do this. First, in the upper left corner on the front page of the site, is a menu button labeled UserCP.




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Please take the time to click on the highlighted sections and fill out the vehicle information for your vehicle. The signature link is also helpful for any additional information like mods done, links to your build or other vehicles owned.

This helps EVERYONE out by informing them immediately about your year, make, model, etc.

These details are necessary for responders to accurately answer your questions without guessing or having to ask what are the specifics of the vehicle you are referring to. You can add these details easily and permanently by creating a signature or adding your truck details to your existing signature.

5 minutes of your time doing this now will save a ton of time and effort later.



Thanks!!!

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can’t figure out had to add vehicle info on here yet, so 1996 RHD XJ Sport, 4.0, 6 cyl. Had under wash done in vehicle, started sputtering, and acting like it wasn’t getting fuel a few days later. Looked at fuel filter, and it looked like it could have been in there for 15 years. Still started, but sputtered, and stalled while driving. Replaced fuel filter and now it won’t start at all. I’m hard of hearing, so take this for what it’s worth when I cycle the key, I don’t think I’m hearing the fuel pump engage. But seems strange that it would start, run/die, before the swap, and now won’t fire. 182,000 kilometers on the engine.

 

Strange or not, test your fuel pressure now.

Post #21 has step by step instructions on how to add vehicle info.

 

ok, vehicle info added. I will try and figure out a way to test fuel pressure. Don’t have the gauges for that. Also considering checking the fuel pump relay as other posts seem to mention that as a common issue. Any ideas why it would start but run rough before a fuel filter change, then not start at all after?

 

To me that says the fuel filter wasn’t the problem (but was good to do it anyway with it being that old). It says that whatever was causing it to run rough, finally failed. The fuel filter was just coincidence.

Only thing I can think of related to changing the filter… is while you were under there, you disturbed the fuel pump wiring. And it was old, bad connection, bad wiring, etc.

 

So, I got home tried again. Battery, which is a week old, was dead from all the cranking I did. Hooked up a jumper and tried again. Same results. Decided to swap the fuel pump relay with the ASD relay. First attempt it tried to start. After several minutes of cycling the key and trying, it caught and is running. A lot of smoke out the tailpipe, but that has gotten better.

Only issue I have now, is finding that relay in a store. When I look up 1996 XJ fuel pump relays they are all bigger like the one on the left in that pic. ABS, I need a smaller rectangular one.

 

Great to hear you got it running. I would just go by the part number on the relay. 4608650 brings up lots of results in google. Yes I agree with the next post that came in while I was editing. Swap the relays back to confirm if the relay is bad, or if it was just coincidence.

 

Is it now running smoothly like nothing was ever wrong?

What if, and believe me, this is a hypothetical, but what if (Quote from Office Space) the pump was already weak and now that there was a break in the line, the pump cant push fuel up to the fuel rail as good as it could before there was air in the system?

Can air get stuck in the fuel lines and not escape through the injectors? Or can the air move along with the fuel to escape out the injector or test port on the fuel rail?

You can start the jeep and press the valve in the test port on the fuel rail to see if the fuel squirts out

And swapping relays to make it work is also a coincidence? All of that cranking you did may have finally gotten the fuel up to the rail, and it just so happened to start after you swapped relays. Have you put the "bad" relay back in to see if it will start again?

I just like theorizing and troubleshooting haha...

 

It is running smooth, just went for a drive with no issues.

Your thoughts on the fuel pump crossed my mind, wondering if it was weak.

I will swap the other relay back in just to see. Not a believer in coincidences, but worth finding out.

this all started after a car wash with under wash. Engine bay got wet. My current thought is that some water got in the fuse box and maybe shorted that relay a bit…I’ll let you know what happens after I swap it back.

 

Valve test produced fuel spray. Swapped relay, started, ran for 1 minute, then died. Now trying to repressurize with the other relay again.

And…it is now running again. Going to look up the relays and get it in order.

thanks all!