My xj died today after about 30 seconds idling. Fuel is good. Air is good. I pulled a spark plug and got no spark when cranking. Pulled the cable wire at the ignition coil and there was spark arching to the ignition coil tip. Replaced cable wires and still no spark at the plugs. The Distributor cap, rotor and plugs are 2 months old. plug wires brand new. Im at a loss for ideas.

 

How much spark ? Does it have a good snap ? I would still check the rotor and cap I have seen new ones go bad .

 

Chinese manufactured cap or rotor? Pull the cap and inspect the rotor to see if it fell apart inside.

 

Spark seems really strong. loud snap. checked the distributor cap and rotor. a little carbon on the rotor but thats normal i believe. inside of the cap looks great. nice spring on rotor also.

 

I'm not sure. I think it was a higher quality cap and rotor. I pulled the cap and the rotor was fine. some orange dust looking corrosion coated along shaft. but other than that it looks fine

 

The rotor does turn when you crank the engine?

 

Yeah so today I was curious and checked another spark plug. With the cylinder 1 spark plug removed i got a spark and she wanted to start. This happened the other night. It wouldnt start and i removed a plug in cylinder 2 and no spark. After plugging it back in and messing with the plug wires all it did was crank again. So i removed another spark plug and it wanted to start.. there was spark. What would be the reason that it only wants to start with a spark plug removed sometimes

 

So yes the rotor is turning. Im at a loss for ideas here

 

After installing the removed spark plug I tried starting the jeep. It started really rough and died after letting off the gas

 

Took all spark plugs out and cleaned them put them back in. Started fine, began a little bit of a rough idle and then died after about 30 seconds of idle

 

I'd replace the cap and rotor again. It sounds like maybe it's broken inside the cap. Could also be intermittent on the coil wire.

 

I checked the cap and rotor everything looks fine. As mentioned in a reply, With the spark plug in 1 cylinder removed all of a sudden it got spark again and wanted to start. So i put it back and she started up fine for about 30 seconds and died. Went to start it again and the engine just cranks until i give it a little gas then it sounds like 2 or 3 cylinders ignite and thats all i get out of her.

 

Your coil is bad..are the metal bars that go around it breaking thru the plastic? I had my friends 99 do the same thing...just a plain old rusted coil...new advance one fixed it quick

 

I agree.... Had similar issues and the coil would arc to the block.......Seems the OEM mopar coil is crap after 25 years....lol