greenhornet78

Hello,
I am hoping that someone might be able to diagnose a problem I am having with my 96 cherokee, 4.0L . I recently purchased it and was running fine. Yesterday I went to start it and it just cranked without firing. I tried giving it gas using the pedal and it fired up, but as soon as I let my foot off the gas it died. I went to restart it and nothing at all happened. The starter did not do anything even seem to get power. After about 30-45 seconds I tried again and it turned over but no start unless I give it gas. I know it is fuel injected so I should not need to do this. Once started I held the rpm's around 2500 hoping it would warm up, but as soon as I let off the gas it dies. I can drive it but when I come to a stop I have to keep one foot on the gas to keep it from dying. and everytime it dies I have to wait before trying to restart.
Any ideas where to start looking or what it might be?

ivie_2006

possible fuel pump on the death issue. but the starting issue i would say is probly a relay that is having to cool down.

tjwalker

1. Clean your battery terminals and your battery posts with a commercial battery cleaner or some sandpaper, emery cloth, etc. until they are SHINY. Cannot overestimate the importance of connections.

2. Load test your battery. A marginal battery can give you lots of symptoms. Any parts store will do this for you for free. And yes, you CAN have a battery strong enough to start the engine, but marginal enough to give the engine management system fits and create a stalling symptom.

3. If the above checks out and the engine still doesn't turn over when you turn the key, try wiggling the shift lever while turning the key and also try starting in neutral. If either of these techniques works, you have confirmed a problem with the "neutral safety switch", which is a pretty common failure on the 4.0

greenhornet78

Thank you for getting back to me.

Ivie I will give those a try, the not restarting part had me a little confused but a relay sounds like a good place to start looking. It may be a compounded problem from multiple bad parts rather than just one.

Tj, thanks for the response. I have a brand new battery so connections are not the problem. It will crank over with plenty of battery power but is not getting gas. The not starting after running I do not think that it is a neutral safety switch because all I have to do is wait a bit to try turning the key and it will turn over.