Foxcherokee

I’m new to this site (just signed up today), so forgive me if I’ve posted this in the wrong place……

Yesterday I was driving my 2000 Cherokee 4.0 home and suddenly it died. I coasted to the nearest driveway, put it in park and it fired right back up. Went another mile or and the same thing, but this time I noticed my fuel gauge began moving toward empty. I threw it into neutral while coasting and tried starting it. When I hit the key I heard a loud click and then I lost all power, as if the battery had been disconnected. I got out and messed with the battery connections and heard my key minder begin to function. Got in fired it back up and went another half mile…….at this point it started popping through the intake whenever I would try to apply throttle. I shut it off, restarted and ran fine for another 5-10 minutes, then it started popping through the intake again. I’ve read the crankshaft position sensor can cause problems like this (fuel gauge acting up, cutting out, etc.) Can you all please give me some input? This is the first Cherokee I’ve owned so I’m not real familiar with the quirks they may have. As of yesterday the Jeep acted fine, but I didn’t get it back onto the road. This was my second time ever driving it on the road. I think the heat from driving is what caused the problem to surface because before this it never acted up when idling in the shop…….

OleBlue

Sounds like a voltage connection issue to me. Check all your battery connections and your grounds, look for corroded wires/loose connections. Clean and tighten them all. The jeep computer does really weird things when it isnt getting the juice it needs.

Have your battery and alternator checked also.

asuderma

x2 ^^

Foxcherokee

I'll give it a shot. Thanks!

XJ99MN

Yea sounds like a faulty ground or loose wire somewhere.

Foxcherokee

Checked the battery connections this evening and found the positive to be very corroded. Also found the hot wire running from the battery to the fuse block only had about half the wires connected to the clamp. Cut both positive and negative and put a new set of connectors on. Started and let it idle for around 30 minutes and found it to run flawlessly. Before I did this I raised it up on my rack and looked everything over, but couldn't find anything out of the ordinary. I unplugged the connector running from the body to the fuel tank and it looked pretty clean inside, but when I shook it there was some grit that fell out. Don't know if that was related but I figured it wouldn't hurt.....I didn't notice any large chassis grounds though. I'm new to Jeeps and was wondering where the chassis ground(s) are located.

cruiser54

I would LOVE to have a ground point/distribution chart for the later XJs to address problems like these.

PocketsEmpty

Sounds like you're fixed. Issues like that with the positive terminal will cause all kinds of craziness, same thing happened on my old Ranger. All kinds of electrical problems...replaced the positive lead and clamp to the battery and it all went away.

As far as chassis grounds, I know there are a few under the carpet on the later models, and there is one on the passenger side under the backseat that I can think of. Found it when I pulled my carpet.

Foxcherokee

I pulled the carpet out and replaced it. I just so happened to check all those ground while I was at it. Just wanted to make sure I didn't miss anything on the bottom side. I guess we'll know pretty soon if she's fixed or not. Thanks for the info folks!