Hey all, i've got a 98 cherokee that suddenly won't start for me. i drove it over to vcisit a friend, everything seemed to be fine with it. Parked it for a few hours, went out to start it up and leave and it wouldn't start. Interior lights came on and and the motor seemed like it had enough battery juice to turn over but it just kept cranking with no start. I tried jumping it in desperation with the same results. I did notice that my check engine light came on during this time. Any ideas as to what could be wrong???

 

Sorry for your trouble. I have read so many similar posts. Drove here, parked for a while and now it will not start. Just can't figure it. Must be a JEEP THING.

See if you can read a code for the check engine light. First easy check is to see if your spark plugs are firing. If yes, you can move on to other things. If no, you can start there.

 

I guess thats a good place to start. Anyone else have some any ideas?

 

cam shaft sensor are bad about going out, try getting a code for check engine light also might try unplugging cam shaft sensor cleaning connections some times that works.

 

In the meantime, while your buddy is jackin around with trying to read codes and that non sense, back to what you need now is to get it running. Make sure your getting fuel to the rail by pressing the petcock vavle and the backside of the fuel rail. Do this with the key in the run position. If this checks out and you have spark. You can check that by putting a screw driver into one of the plug wire ends and laying it on the block somewhere. Crank it over and you should see spark. If yes, then go on to this trick. Disconnect the intake tube connecting the throttle body to the air box where it connect to the air box. With help from a friend cranking it for you, place your hand over the tube partially covering. Your just manually choking the engine by doing this. It should fire up. Mine did. Not sure what is causing this. Mine is usually in the morning or when it's cold. Could be a bad TPS, I dunno. Hope this helps. Maybe try pouring a little fuel down your throttle body to help fire.

 

Thanks 89 pioneer! Well good news...sort of. I went out this morning to start and the damn thing fired up for me. I took it down immedetly to have the codes pulled at the parts store and it threw a code of P0505 which translates to Idle Control System Malfunction. I've got the battery unplugged now to reset the computer and see if the check engine light comes back on.

 

Another update, just went out hooked the battery back up and started her up, no check engine light. It did start a little rough but I'm pretty sure it's supposed to do that after you reset the computer since the system self adjusts itself for the first few starts after doing this. I'm still not sure why she wouldn't start last night though...