ok so i was driving today and my '91 XJ just died on me. i have full power to everything. and yes there is gas in the tank. all it does crank. theres not even any sputtering like it wants to start. what could be some causes of this? please help.

 

You have OBD, is your CEL on or are there any codes? do the "code trick" and tell us if there are any.

Is it getting spark?
Can you hear the fuel pump prime when you turn the Key to "run"?

 

i can here the fuel pump prime when i turn the key on yes. spark im not too sure yet. didnt have anyone around today to help with that. i just got towed home after sitting on the side of the road for a few hours. luckily my mom had AAA that i could use. also what is OBD and no there is no CEL on or anything like that. i'm gonna try working on it tomorrow if its not ****ty out.

 

OBD stands for On Board Diagnostics. Its the computer system that turns on the CEL and gives the code.

Do what I have quoted in my earlier post and report back any codes, or if you have a camera, just record the flashes and post it on youtube. (A code 55 is normal, that means "end of codes")
What are you gonna "try working on" when you have no idea what the problem is?

Fuel: good
Spark: unknown
Codes: need to be checked
Compression (if fuel and spark are present): unknown

 

well i was gonna change out the CPS (crank position sensor) and see if that helps. a few of my buddies said to check that.

 

ok from what i could tell i got these codes: 12, 36, 33, 33, 54, and 55. don't know why 33 came up twice. what do these mean??

 

ok well i found out that i wasn't getting spark and i changed the ignition coil and still nothing. took the cap off the distributor with my old man today and realized that something flew off. narred up the whole inside of the cap and screwed everything up. got a brand new full distributor setup coming tomorrow hopefully.

 

ok so i got my jeep running finally after many attempts to get it timed right so it would fire. haha. now i got a new problem. it hesitates when you hit the throttle at idle and then catches itself and i have a real bad rock knock and main bearing sounds like its really screwed up. i was hoping i wouldnt have to dump much money into this thing. what do you guys suggest i do with it?

 

sounds like timing is way off, u sure it is rod and main bearing knock and not detonation

 

Why was the timing off? Was that from putting in the new distributor incorrectly?

I have a 99 Cherokee and it wasn't getting spark.. Replaced the CPS, coil, cap and rotor and now the coil sparks every 5-8 seconds. I'm thinking this could be a timing issue, but have been told it'd be nearly impossible for this thing to throw it's own timing off.

 

yeah at first we didnt put the new distributor in right so it was really retarted and not starting. just backfiring. we read a few pages of the Haynes manual and found out the oil pump needs to be at 11 o' clock for the rotor to be at the number one spark plug so we did all that and it fired right up. but now theres hesitation in the throttle and its definitely rod knock and main bearing grinding i am hearing. and i also dont feel safe driving the thing due to death wobble really bad. and i dont have the money to have someone put my new tie rods, gear box, power steering pump in, and mount and balance my new tires and align everything.

 

I would double check your timing. Get you #1 cylinder at TDC on the compression stroke. Your rotor should be pointing at the #1 wire. If not pull your distributor out and adjust it till you get. You may need a screw driver to turn the oil pump to get it to drop in.

 

we did that. we did turn the oil pump and got everything to sit in just fine. it could just be ****ed up plugs from cranking it so much and just dumping fuel.