I have a 99 Jeep Grand Cherokee V8 80k miles.
About 2 weeks ago, I was driving and my accelorator stopped working, my car shut down (elec stayed on) and I was able to coast to the side of the road. The only light that came on was my low fuel warning light (even though I had about a 1/4 tank left. I figured it was a hot summer day and maybe some vapors were clogging my system, so I added a couple of gallons of gas, was able to restart the car and drove it to a gas station to fill-up (I also added some injector cleaner just to see if it helped).

I was able to drive the car again for about a week, but the same problem happened, this time with a full tank of gas. It has now happened about 4 times, and I have always been able to turn the car off, put the keys back in and start-up right away. Until last night...

I was driving down the road going about 40 miles per hour and the jeep shut down (while moving - not at a light). This time, it wouldn't restart right away and I had to push the car to the side of the road. Here are the warning lights that came on, low fuel, check gauges, sentry key and check engine.

After 3 hours I went back to my car and it started up right away (no warning lights) and drove it home.

I am not a mechanic, but I would think if the fuel pump was bad, it would remain bad and not allow me to keep restarting and driving in between shutting down and I would think fuses would be the same way. I was wondering if it could be the fuel pump and/or ASD relays?

Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks,
Fitz

 

Could be a fuel pump acting up, the crank sensor acting up when it gets warm, or the pick up coil in the distributor failing when it gets warm.

 

a couple gallons of water! Theres your problem!! You shouldn never run water in your gas, unless u have dehydrated gas, but that stuff is hard to come buy these days

 

I have the same problem. I changed fuel pump and filter. Still nothing. Then changed oil temp sensor. Help!

 

Test the crank position sensor

 

Where's that located. Bottom left side of block?

 

Top left side (drivers side) behind and under rear of intake. The connector is at the back of the intake by the back of the valve cover.

 

sorry to bump an old thread, but what is the location of and procedure for testing a crank position sensor on the XJ SE. My stepdad has a 97 XJ with the 4.0 that is doing a very similar thing - just shuts off while driving - give it a min or two, and will start right back up. It's also throwing codes 12, 43, 11, 43, and 21 (in that order). he's thrown some money at it trying to fix it (PCM, TPS, MAP and lord knows what else) but never checked the codes (had my little brother check them today). I'm 2.5 hours away at school at the moment, but will being going up in 10 days to try and fix it for him. Any help or suggestions before I get up there would be appreciated.

 

Welcome to CF.
I answered this in your other thread.

 

I am posting this for those who might search at a later time.
Symptoms: Car would suddenly just shut off at low speed and on the highway it would make a sudden lurch like you tapped on the brakes.

I thought that the fuel pump might be going bad so I replaced it and the filter. After thinking about it, I realized that it acted like a sudden electrical failure in the ignition system. There was no sputtering like you would think that a fuel pump might cause. I should have listened to my instincts on that. So anyways, that wasn't the problem. I did lots of searching on the net and found things like bad grounds and ECM/PCM going bad etc. The one that made the most sense to me however was the Crankshaft Position Sensor. The only problem was I never got an engine code, let alone a CE light warning so I was a little concerned. Anyways, I pulled mine out took it to the autoparts store along with my multimeter and I compared the resistance readings between pins A&B on each and B&C on the old one to the same pins on the new one. They were way out of wack so I bought the new one put it in and the problem was FIXED.

A note on replacement: The sensor is located on the top side of the transmission bellhousing where it meets the engine on the driver's side. The connector for it is on the PASSENGER side attached to the block about right under where the dash board starts, looking from the engine compartment towards the cabin.

I found people who took off the transmission cross member and people who went in through a small access hole under the dash from the cabin side. That all seemed like alot of work to me. I looked at mine and decided that from under the car with 30" of extension (I used two 6" and one 18") and an 11mm standard short socket, I could go over the transmission cross member and attack it straight on with NO swivels attached. (they can be such a pain to get on when you cant reach a bolt with your hand as they keep "going limp" while trying to hook them up). I easily removed the single bolt, letting it drop and used a hubcap tire iron to GENTLY pry the sensor up and out of it's hole but I left it hanging right there without moving it.

At this point I moved to the passenger side of the engine compartment and I unhooked the connector. I then took some string and made a slipknot (lasso type) and noosed the string over the neck of the connector. I made sure I had plenty of string waiting there. I then let that be and moved to the driver's side of the engine compartment. I removed the air box, took a coat hanger and easily fed it down to the dangling sensor and hooked into the now empty bolt hole of the sensor. I then fished it up the driver's side. (the string comes with it and allows you to attach your slipknot to the new connecor and reverse the process.) Don't unhook the slip knot from the new one until you have it connected. (cut the sting at that point)

To install the new one, I layed down on top of the engine and I took the new sensor, the little wire guard bracket and the 11mm bolt in my right hand and was able to reach down from the top and get the bolt started. I then moved to underneath the car and used the long extension to tighten the already started bolt.

This whole process took no more than 10 minutes and involved only removing the air intake box so I could lay up there.

A thought that came to me afterwards. My jeep is a 2WD version (rear axle) I don't know if maybe there is something about a 4WD version that wouldn't allow you to attack it with the 30" extensions or not but check that FIRST as it makes the job so easy.

I hope this helps someone.