stroker vance

the engine light came on and I took the Cherokee in to the shop. They did a scan and it pointed to the fiiring system. They drove the car for two days and couldn't find anything wrong. The car did idle rough sometimes after starting it soon after it had been driven short distances. I asked them to turn the light off for me. I plan on bringing the car home and replacing some emission system hoses and related air flow parts(evaporation). I was also planning on getting some electrical contact cleaner for all the electric connections that I can unplug. Does anyone ever recommend some kind of injector cleaner? Any thoughts from anyone is appreciated. Oh-- it's a 01 Cherokee sport in line 6 BTW.Thanks

cranesrule

Ok.... What were the codes? What are you calling the firing system? Why would you be replacing "emission system hoses" and whatever else you're talking about? Slow down, be more specific and don't replace anything til you have a diagnosis.

macgyver35

^x2
Before you start throwing money and frustration at the problem, let us try to help you with some deductive reasoning and the wisdom of past experience.

We've got the year and the engine. Now what we would first ideally like to have is the exact code(s) associated with the check engine light.

Second, it would be helpful to know if anything was changed, replaced, or maintained on the engine just prior to the start of your troubles.

Third, It's important to pay attention to behavior and establish chronology. Take note of not just what it does, but under what conditions and at what intervals. For future reference, examples of what kind of ancillary info helps us would be things like...
Engine hot or cold, while in motion or not, while in gear or not, under acceleration or not, etc. etc.

This could be anything at this point.

stroker vance

They didn't tell me the code #. Engine is warmed up when after driving short distance I'll turn it off and park. Then sometimes when restarting it idles a bit rough so I'll let it idle and rev it slightly the put it in gear and then no more rough idle. That's the only thing I've noticed about the car. It has 127 K on it so it's old. I've had old cars and am pretty good at keeping them running okay by knowing about things from my experience with old high mileage engines. I'm 57 so I've had a few of those especially back inna day. Don't worry I'm not freakin' out and going to throw money at a bunch of parts I don't need. Been there done that when I was young. I'm much slower now and smarter. I think.

All the guy told me is that what code they found was for the firing system- I would think that he meant items associated with everything delivering gas and ignition - electrical etc.

As for me putting some new vac and air hoses on- that's my kind of deal where I replace any old worn hose. The cleaning of plug ins' can't be a bad thing. Right? I mean the car is an 01 with 127K so I'm just being nice to it cause I figure it's kind of tired. I noticed alot of electrical plug ins and they have grime around them ........I'm messaging the engine a bit I guess.

Anyway I got the Cherokee back today and they turned the light off and I'm having no problems so far but I haven't driven it but 10 miles.

I've never used injector cleaner so I was wondering about that. I haven't had a used car since 1998 and that's about the same time I gave up my driveway mechanic badge. Thanks for being patient with me guys.

cranesrule

You may have had one or more misfire codes... Pretty common with these Jeeps. I would suggest letting them read it again if the light comes on and have them give you the exact codes.

That being said, there are two injector cleaners that I have used with great results. Lucas Fuel System Cleaner and Chevron Techron. Both do a good job. Can't hurt to try em... But your best bet will be new NGK copper plugs for your Jeep. Change them, and see if you have any more symptoms.

stroker vance

Okay -- thanks- I'm going to get into it tomorrow- only thing is that it's going to be 95 degrees so that may slow things down a little.

93XJLI

get the code #s, hopefully it isnt a coil pack issue. those things are terrible and the replacements from parts houses are notoriously unreliable.

macgyver35

On the surface, what you describe sounds like heat soak issues. However, the last 2 or 3 years were supposed to have a heat shield installed around the intake and injector area that is supposed to mitigate that. Do you see a textured foil-covered thing-um-a-bob installed near the valve cover that covers up the gaps between the intake and exhaust manifolds? maybe yours is missing. Mechanics will sometimes not put those back after doing other work.

My '02 Wrangler would occasionally give me similar symptoms, and it turned out is related to the coil pack failing. It was about $220.

stroker vance

Okay- I'll look for that-- I guess it would be easy to spot or not to spot if it's not there. I have the haynes book- would it be in there? *****disclaimer****=== I know the Haynes book is not all that great of a guide but I think it's worth having. I don't want to afford the big book.

Okay that's out of the way.... I'm looking for a textured foil covered thing-a-ma'-bob near the valve cover..... I'm looking at the coil pack issue.... and I avoiding spending allot of dough on it. All is well so far today.

Thanks

macgyver35

If you check the link below, it will take you to a thread on NAXJA forums discussing hot soak issues. There is also a good pic of the heat shield I was referring too.

http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthrea...1031365&page=5

Hope the information there is of some help.

stroker vance

I have the shield. It was almost 100 degrees here today and it's going to be the same tomorrow. I cleaned some grimed up electrical plugs. One had a red kind of safety cip on it that broke. It still plugs in though. At least its clean. I am putting off getting down into it untill the weather breaks a bit.