98 V8 Grand Cherokee revs up and down till it dies.
11-25-2017, 03:40 PM
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98 V8 Grand Cherokee revs up and down till it dies.
Hey all! I'm brand new around here and this is my first post.
Anyways, got myself a 98 Grand Cherokee recently and it seemed fine for the first couple of months I've had it. Last few days however, it'll start up and run for a bit just fine, but then after a while I'll come to a stop and the engine will die in the middle of the road. It'll start right back up but then, without touching the gas, it will rev, rpms drop, then it revs higher, then they drop further, etc until the rpms drop to zero and the engine dies. I've been tinkering for a while and can't seem to find the issue. Any thoughts as to what it could be?
Anyways, got myself a 98 Grand Cherokee recently and it seemed fine for the first couple of months I've had it. Last few days however, it'll start up and run for a bit just fine, but then after a while I'll come to a stop and the engine will die in the middle of the road. It'll start right back up but then, without touching the gas, it will rev, rpms drop, then it revs higher, then they drop further, etc until the rpms drop to zero and the engine dies. I've been tinkering for a while and can't seem to find the issue. Any thoughts as to what it could be?
11-28-2017, 06:52 AM
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Hmmm. Could be a bad ground, loose ground, missing ground, an Idle Air Control Sensor, a throttle position sensor, or something down the electrical chain. Could also be fuel system related... I would tend to look for a bad ground holding on by a thread either in the engine bay or back near the fuel pump since it seems to be heat related and a damaged ground will build up resistance as it heats up (that and it's easy to look for along with being a cheap fix). Is the vehicle throwing any codes? When you say "a while" is that time period about the same? Does the car always cut out or is it intermittent?
I know it seems illogical but personally along with the ground hunt and stopping by an Auto Zone to pull codes I would be tracing any electrical wires coming off the engine looking for cracks in insulation, butt splices, or electrical tape wads as well. A friend recently got an 02 with idle and performance gremlins similar to yours but uglier and I did just what I'm suggesting here. Her vehicle had 2 bad grounds, one missing ground, a corroded charging circuit, a corroded starting circuit and a gummed up IAC. My fix ended up being the replacement of the bad grounds, charging circuit and starting circuit with 2 gauge cabling along with replacing a snapped ground cable from the engine to the firewall with a generic stainless ground strap. The IAC cleaned up with some throttle body cleaner when I cleaned the rest of the throttle body. Took about 2 days off and on to complete.
Personally I wouldn't do anything until I pulled the codes. If you're planning on keeping this car for a while consider investing in a code reader for Jeep vehicles. The OBD2 readers get some of the codes for you but not the CEM bus / Jeep specific ones.
I know it seems illogical but personally along with the ground hunt and stopping by an Auto Zone to pull codes I would be tracing any electrical wires coming off the engine looking for cracks in insulation, butt splices, or electrical tape wads as well. A friend recently got an 02 with idle and performance gremlins similar to yours but uglier and I did just what I'm suggesting here. Her vehicle had 2 bad grounds, one missing ground, a corroded charging circuit, a corroded starting circuit and a gummed up IAC. My fix ended up being the replacement of the bad grounds, charging circuit and starting circuit with 2 gauge cabling along with replacing a snapped ground cable from the engine to the firewall with a generic stainless ground strap. The IAC cleaned up with some throttle body cleaner when I cleaned the rest of the throttle body. Took about 2 days off and on to complete.
Personally I wouldn't do anything until I pulled the codes. If you're planning on keeping this car for a while consider investing in a code reader for Jeep vehicles. The OBD2 readers get some of the codes for you but not the CEM bus / Jeep specific ones.
Last edited by Jon Erickson; 11-28-2017 at 06:55 AM.