Stalled while driving.

1. Has gas
2. Will turn over but won't crank
3. Spark plugs not getting fire
4. Have power but gauges not working
5. 275k miles
6. No warning lights or anything when it was running
7. Have tried distributor cap still won't crank
8. Trying CPS next
9. Battery and terminals are good

My apologies if this is the wrong community if someone could instruct me on how to get to correct forum for my jeep. Any suggestions about jeep are welcomed. Thanks.

 

Hi, Tina. Welcome!

As you seem to have guessed, you are in the wrong spot. Since you have a Grand Cherokee (which is not a Cherokee), you have your own forum, here.

Also, "crank" means the same thing as "turn over". It does NOT mean, "start". Think about the old Model T being.... cranked. Yep, they literally cranked the engine with a handle to get it to start. Cranking the engine means making it go around and around. Starting is what's supposed to happen next.

Don't replace your CPS yet. It's s prime suspect, but let's do some testing first. A good one ain't cheap, and a cheap on ain't good. Seriously, on the CPS, don't ever buy aftermarket. Their track record is horrible. They may be bad out of the box, work a few days, weeks, or months. Get the real thing. Mopar labeled, or NGK/.NTK (who makes the Mopar parts).

By the way, I flagged your post as being in the wrong area, so it's likely a mod will move it soon. Just hold off a bit on starting a new thread.

 

It's in the right place now!!

 

Hmmm. I think a 96 may have the same setup as the Cherokee, which would include an ASD relay in the PDC (Power Distribution Center). If so, the ASD relay should be checked before spending money on the CPS. You can do a quick check by just swapping it with another relay in there. If it fits, it's good. They are all the same.

If that doesn't difference, try testing your CPS. It's way cheaper than throwing parts at it.

 

Sounds like it may be your Crankshaft Position Sensor (CkPS) to me. If it were because of the Automatic Shutdown (ASD) there would also be no fuel. With having no sparks there is a pretty high probability it could be the CkPS. Best to test it, as it could obviously still be something else such as a wiring problem etc...

The ZJ crank CkPS sensor is a type called a Hall effect sensor. There is no reliably accurate test available to test it for resistance..

It is an on/off signal sensor based off measurements of the magnitude of a magnetic field. It's 5V

You can test it though. Turn the key on and hand crank it to see it provide 5V on/off as you rotate the crank by hand.

You can test it for ground and for power feed. Ground is less than 100 milivolts with key on, and also less than 100 milivolts with the engine on and running. If you pull the ASD relay, the ground will greatly increase if you test it while you are cranking the engine. It could read up to 200 milivolts You should probably see around 10 milivolts normaly.

The power feed is 5V. It is a shared power feed with the other sensors too, which is good to know. You should see a 5v reading on a DVOM with the key turned on. You should verify that the power feed to the CPS remains at 5V while you are cranking it too, to be extra certain it is a good power feed. If you want to, just pull the ASD relay first to test it while you turn the key to crank it (it is safer with the ASD relay pulled). When doing this you could also hook up a scanner and be able to see the engine cranking RPMs between 100 - 500 RPMs while cranking. A bad RPM reading.. or, no RPM reading at all means the CkPS has totally failed.

Black DVOM lead to a good ground point (neg battery terminal works), and the DVOM red lead to probe the sensor for all the readings.