rick1t

Gentlemen

Since it is winter here in Michigan I thought I would ask for some advice and or known problems..... maybe save a step or two......

2000 Cherokee.....stock 175K used primarily as a tow vehicle for 3 years or so... It has been well maintained.

I will give a full description with details which may be important.

For the past six months or so she seemed to turn over a little harder that typical......always started...... has a slight belt squeal on a occasion. sometimes I thought I heard noise from the water pump. I have not tried to confirm that.

Last month I started her up to let her warm and idle in the yard as I did outside work.....I heard a fairly loud rattle.....I used a screwdriver to try and hear from were the noise was coming from.......I could not tell wasn't the water pump or the A/C compressor. I could not reach the alternator, but thought that could be it......soon the rattle stopped. I let the old girl warm up nicely.....shut her down then finished my work. I went to restart to put her away for the winter.....nothing she would turn over......faster than normal without a fart.........I did spray some fuel into the intake to see if I could get anything....but no........

Could my timing chain broke? Is that common? Any other thoughts? Should I start with a compression checK?

Any thoughts and suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Rick

rick1t

Any Thoughts? Should I start with a compression check?

Thanks
Rick

diskman

Engine needs 3 things to run. Fuel, Air, and spark. Start with the spark... Then can you hear the fuel pump turning on? An engine with a broken chain will sound very strange when trying to start..

Remove the oil fill cap and see of you can see the rocker arms moving when someone tries to start the engine. If they are moving then the chain is at least still in one piece. No guarantees of being in "time" tho.

I'm assuming that your 2000 doesn't have a distributor. Maybe someone will chime in on testing for TDC/Spark timing on that year... Other than pulling the valve cover and spark plugs and watching the intake rocker on #1 in relation to the piston travel with a piece of wire down the spark plug hole to test for chain "jump".

rick1t

Diskman
Thanks for the reply.........such a simple check pulling the oil cap..... I'm out of town for a few days I will check when I return.......no noise when it turns over........just faster than normal which is what puzzles me.

I will let you know what I find out....

Thanks
Rick

CCKen

Op,


It's unlikely that a timing chain broke. I would put money on a dicked up oil pump drive/cam position sensor.

rick1t

I changed the cam sensor........ no change...... But just looked at it again......the alternator is seized.....and the serpentine belt is broken........wwould a bad alternator cause a turnover with no start scenario?

Thanks
Rick

GreaseMonkey17

Yep had a car towed into my bay before as a crank no start and alternator was seized . Couldn't spin itself over fast enough to fire with the seized alternator .

rick1t

GeaseMonkey17
Thanks for the feedback...... In the next week, I will install a new alternator and belt. I will keep you posted. If that doesn't fix it I will need more advice on diagnosis.

I appreciate your help.

Rick