Anyone got some ideas for me.
1993 stock XJ with 163K on the original engine.
Twice now it has just quit running after running perfectly.
First time I stopped unloaded someone, got back in it to leave and it cranked but did not start. Gave up after five minutes and moved everything from the rig to a friends car and gave it once last try and it started.
After that drove about 700 miles and then cruising along at 65mph it just stopped running. Coasted to a stop and tried to restart. Nothing! Gave up after 10 minutes and was about to call for a tow back to town when I tried once last time. Fired right up with no hesitation (I might have heard a mocking laugh first) and took me back home.
Only common thread I can think of is both have been at night. Temp is normal, charging is normal.
I spend a lot of time in way remote areas and while it has started up again so far, the time might come when it does not. In which case i will be in trouble.
Before the latest episode I replaced; crank position sensor, throttle position sensor, MAP sensor, distributor cap and rotor, plug wires, coil, plugs, fuel filter, oxygen sensor.
Since it has been night I have not started to determine if there is spark or fuel. But my feeling is that it is electrical, not fuel
At this point it seems as if I have to throw parts at it and see what happens.
I would appreciate thoughts from anyone. These intermittent problems are a pain.
Thanks in advance.

 

I had a problem similar to this, and it ended up being a bad battery. At first this would happen every once and a while, then about a month later it fully gave out and it wouldn't even crank over. I'd have your battery tested! If not the battery, then potentially the cables need replacing or there is a bad ground somewhere. The ground strap on the back of the motor that connects to the firewall on my car was also pretty shot.

 

Battery is less than a year old and I just had that tested a few days along with the alternator. Both checked out fine. But grounds are a possibility and I'll look those over. Thanks for the input.

 

I'm back yall. I missed you.

So, the Jeep Cherokee is a Strongly Groud Wire/Wires Necessary Vechicle.
I CANNOT stress this enough...
if you are New to XJs, having clean, pretty, SOLID connections to your NEGATIVES, "meaning" your Engine Block, your Frame, Battery Terminals, mean EVERYTHING...
if There's RUST of Corosion, it Limits how the Jeep works. The wire need the Return Connection...
Please follow Cruiser54's Tips! WWW.CRUISER54.COM. On how to clean, and Eliminate a lot of issues/problems..
this will probably solve your issues...
Whem it does, please throw a shout out to say thanks.

Cruiser54 wrote the XJ Bible on the necessary clean/sparkly grounds that are easy, and free to make sure this vehicle works...

Look his Posts up..
I believe they are Pinned....
Pinned.for a Reason.

God Bless, and Welcome to the Addiction.

 

Thanks BillyBoy for a direction to go in. Will start on that once it stops snowing here in Nevada. Have looked up Cruiser54 posts and will follow his advice. Also looking at the cable set from jeepcables.com as he suggests. Hope it fixes the problem but I'll have to wait and see if it does not happen again, which might take a while. So a shout out and thanks in advance.

 

I know you just replaced the crank sensor, but this sounds like classic CPS failure. Won't start when hot and intermittent failures. Aftermarket CPS sensors are very poor quality and it's common to get one bad right out of the box or have it fail within 6 months. Genuine mopar is preferable.

Avoid "throwing parts at it", as you might be installing a CRAP (chinese replacement auto part) on there and causing more problems.

 

Yes, I was wondering about that too. I am in a rural area with limited local shopping options and got got one from the local Napa. I am looking online for a Mopar one but it seems as if they are discontinued and i am not finding any available. A suggested second choice? Anyone got a part number for it? Any difference between a manual trans and an auto? Mine is 5 speed manual. Thanks all for the suggestions and valuable advice.

 

So what was it OP?

 

Well, I replaced the cables, with Jeep cables as suggested. Cleaned all the grounds.
I put in a new CPS and went for an more expensive one. And have a spare one under the seat just in case.
Replaced the alternator (although this was because the old one quit working).
I have about 1000m on it now and so far the problem has not repeated.
Thanks to everyone who gave me some advice.

 

are you saying you replaced the battery cables? Where did you buy them? Do you recall the part number?

 

I followed up on BillyBoys suggestions as earlier in this thread and looked at posts from Cruiser54. I got the full cable kit from jeepcables.com and put that in replacing the main cables and grounds. The vehicle is 30 years old and can do with some additional TLC when chasing down the issue. Not sure the exact culprit since I replaced a number of components but so far have not been stranded so all is good.

 

did you install the mopar branded crank position sensor also?

I’m chasing this intermittent gremlin too on my brothers jeep. Will go for 12-15 miles and die. Then takes 30 minutes of sitting and cranks right up.

 

I could not find a Mopar one. They show up in a search but I could find no one with them in stock. I ordered a Crown one through Quadratec. So far so good.
Good luck figuring it out and is a real PITA. Mine would be good for a couple of hundred miles and then give me problems. For me about 15 minutes of waiting before a restart - generally about the time I was getting ready to start walking. If you get a solution do let me know what you figure out.

 

I bought the Mopar one! It’s just taking like 10 days to get it delivered even with expedited shipping:


I will update the thread if this fixes it. Next will be the cable kit. Already did the alternator.

 

It’s been a week. Looks like the Mopar part did the trick. Crazy.