Hey guys. Love the forum, I've been lurking for a few days, and I like the place.

I bought a 94 Cherokee Sport 4x4, 2-door model roughly 2 weeks ago. Picked it up a few days before Thanksgiving. I knew it'd have some squirrelly stuff wrong from the start. The owner had it sitting on his property for 5 years without getting it tagged and just moved it around the yard from time to time to keep the parts moving.

I've already found an issue with the radio, and it looks like I'll need to flush the heater core and check some vacuum lines so I can get the heater going reliably. The heater issue I diagnosed here, using the search function.

On the first oil change, everything looked good except the oil and radiator fluids were nasty, had them both changed, and will be doing them both again in another week or so.

This morning, I started her up fine, scraped the frost off the windows and then realized I needed something from the house. Turned it off, and went inside, came right back out... no start. She's trying to turn over, it's just not catching. If I try starting back to back, it's just the starter turning over, but I leave some time in between, you can hear the engine actually start to turn a bit. I'm pretty sure it'll probably start up fine after I get back home from work.

I'm planning on running some injector and fuel line cleaner through in the next few days, before I change the oil again. I might check out the fuel filter, too. Any thoughts? Is there anything else I could check?

I'm gonna be giving my older brother a call on my lunch break and see if he has any ideas. He's been working on cars for years, and has a few cherokees himself, he just uses the Jeep Forum. lol.

Thanks guys... I think I'm gonna like it here!

 

Have you replaced the battery since you bought it? Just a thought.

 

also the flywheel? if the starter spinning and not motor maybe flywheel is missing a few teeth so it aint catching?

 

Do you have a spark? Fuel to the rail?

I had a CPS (camshaft pos. sensor) under the distributor cap that went bad on my 94, symtoms were no-start but crank. Happened when hot at first, then it just died.
Any codes from the blink test?

 

I would look into possibly the starter solenoid. You say you here the starter but its just not catching. I would try and tap the solenoid with a brass hammer or something. Have someone try to start it while you tap on the solenoid.

Hope this helps!

 

Thanks guys! My brother has something to get to in town, so while I have that extra set of hands, we'll be checking most of these out... fly wheel? That's pretty labor intensive... hope to goodness it's not that! lol

what exactly do you mean by "blink test"?

 

With key in ignition (OFF), turn ON-OFF-ON-OFF-ON (not cranking the engine) and count the blinks. For example, I get a 21 right now, which is 2 blinks – pause – 1 blink and then 55 which is "test done".

This thread explains it all:
https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f2/jee...di-obdii-3341/

 

Thanks everyone.

My bro and I went through it, looks like it's the fuel pump. Gonna go ahead and swap out the filter & gasket while I'm at it. Thinking about just having a shop do it so I can get the fuel tank cleaned out, but that's probably not gonna happen, since the labor will probably add a couple hundred bucks. Unfortunately, I had about 3/4 of a tank in it when the stinking thing crapped out, so while it'll be easy and relatively cheap compared to most vehicles, it'll be a bit messy.

I'm looking at the part stores, and the airtex sucks, so I guess I'll be getting the Delphi.

Would an oil bucket work ok if the spillover ends up happening? We'll probably jack up the front end to tilt the gas back some which should help a little, and do the prep work so it's as out and back in as possible. At least the tank wasn't completely full, right...

 

Did the pump swap... didn't fix it. Helped, yes... the filter especially was BAD. Could barely push air through the thing...

The jeep still isn't running though. The engine would really fire up and run for a few seconds, and then die... we assumed pushing gas in and the air in the tubes out, but after it did that a couple times, it went straight to cranking with no fire. At my wife's demand, it's gonna get towed to the dealership in town tonight.

One thing to note: the old pump and assembly were in bad shape. Like REALLY bad. The whole thing on the inside was rusted pretty bad. I'm not liking this at all...

 

x2. Well you have already fixed the fuel issue, next is the spark/timing. There are 2 sensors that do this. The camshaft position sensor and crankshaft position sensor. 1st on is in the distributor and the 2nd in on the bell housing at 2 oclock if your looking at the front of the vehicle.

 

Dealership says it's the fuel pump! Not building any pressure in the tank, so probably a bad pump. Stinking sucks.

 

Ballast resistor maybe not sure when jeep stopped using em its on the driver inner fender wall if its got one

 

A 94 does not have one.

 

So, ended up replacing the tank, pump, pump assembly w/floater, and filter. The dealership hunted down a salvaged tank and pump for me, so it was fairly cheap.

It woke this beast up! I felt like the thing had ***** before, but now it really gets me pumped. Tested out the 4wd on a dirt road earlier, and it works pretty nice, too!

I'm getting excited about this purchase again...

Already doing my research to redesign the sound system.

Edited to add: My daily driver before this was a Ford Escort.