Hello everyone, my name Dan, and I'm new to the Cherokee Owners Community. I would like to share with you what my wife did a month ago. She mentioned replacing her 2006 Honda Ridgeline which had been getting along in miles, with another Honda Ridgeline, which I agreed needed to be done. A couple weeks into this process I arrive home to find a 2000 Jeep Cherokee Sport sitting in the drive way. I asked who the Jeep belonged to? She stated I bought it, and had it towed from Park City, Utah to our home, which is 70 miles. (A $300.00 Towing Bill). You did what, it doesn't run, I asked? It runs, and dies at about 20 mph and then it dies, restarts fine, but doesn’t go over 20mph, you can fix it right? Honey, what happened to the Honda Ridgeline you were going to buy? Well, I spotted the for-sale sign and wanted to take a look. This young man who was selling it couldn't figure out what was wrong. And his dad had bought him a brand new 2024 Ford truck. (It must be nice to have rich parents.) He said he had put a lot of money into it, and that he had lost confidence in it. Its important to note that my wife is 62' and I'm 64'. She said he wanted $5,500.00 for it, but I negotiated him down to $2,250.00. Wow, I thought, wait how many miles does it have? Only 281,453 she replied. At this point I had to go outside and catch my breath. Skip to one week later, I arrive home to find a brand-new Tacoma sitting in my drive way. Honey, who does the Toyota belong to? Oh, it’s mine, The Cherokee is just too old, so bought a Taco. You bought a what? First time I had ever heard they were called Tacos. How much did you pay sweetheart? I paid $---------! And outside I went again to catch my breath. The Lord knows I love my dear wife. But I have to tell you people, there are these moments when she leaves me in an utter state of confusion. Ok sweetheart, um...what about the Jeep? Oh, you can sell it after you fix it right? I had been incredibly busy up to this point and hadn't given much thought to the Jeep. And decided I would evaluate it, and just sell it out right without putting any more money into it, since I had a rather hefty Tacoma bill to pay. Please Note, I'm not trying to sell this Jeep here, I'm just including the listing I ran for a month to try and get it sold as is. (2000 Jeep CHEROKEE XJ 4x4. 4.0 with 281,453 Miles. My wife purchased this XJ and had it towed home. And then decides a week later that it’s too old, and buys a brand-new Taco. Engine starts just fine, shifts fine, accelerates to 15-20 mph and then dies. Restarts just fine, and repeat. I'm no mechanic, but my best guess is a sensor issue? Doesn't leak anything. Frame has no rust. A few little dings, nothing I’d write home about. 4" lift, HD spring set. Rear Side Window Protectors with Molle Grills. Fold in Bush Mirrors. Air Conditioning. Heater. Perfect Glass. Fender Flares. Weather Tech’ Tub-Style Carpet Protectors. Snorkel intake. New Transfer Case. New U-Joints. Various Steering Components. Top Rack. Upholstery in good condition. XRC Swing Away Spare Tire Carrier. Push Bar with Winch Mount. CARR Light Bar with Four KC Off Road Lights. 5x New (Nubs are still on them) 33” x 12.50 Mud Claws Comp’ MTX R15 Lt. Mounted on five new American Racer Rims. Thank you. But something strange happened over the last thirty days. Despite being a dedicated all-year-round PIG rider (DR650), and having no clue as to what its mechanical issue is, I told my wife that I was going to keeping it! And there ya have it. That's how I became the newest member to the Cherokee owner community, till death do us part. PS if anyone has a good guess as to what the problem I described with it is, and where to get started, please let me know, it would be kindly appreciated.

 

Congrats!
This is my drill, because I'm bad at guessing - get a shop manual, a VOM and a cold one. I use alligator clip leads to grasp push pins that pernitrate the wires. Assuming your air filter is clean, spark plugs, cap & rotor and wires are good, check for dangling wires grounding. The wires coming up from the O2 to the fuel rail wiring harness are a good place to start. Craw under it and survey the wiring and the evap line. Then open your shop manual and test your sensors: the temp sensor, idle solenoid, MAP, CPS and TPS. In my experience, the crank position sensor is good - or you stranded by the side of the road - but test it anyway. If they are good and your throttle body is clean, move to the injectors: clean them and test the resistance for each one. You can pull them and use a 9v battery to produce a click unless it's defective.

 

Hello Red, picked up a manual last week, just as we got buried in snow. Can't wait for it to let up a bit to get to work on figuring out the issue with it. Noticed the manual title header says 84-01 but below it, states Cherokee 93-98? Mine is a 2000, but figured I could use the hardcopy resource anyway.
Your suggestions are greatly appreciated, and will get me started down the road of becoming 'ONE' with my XJ. I did screen one YouTube video, the only one that seemed to cover the subject of what I'm experiencing. (1998 Cherokee / No Acceleration / FIXED) In your more educated owner opinion could this be the problem? I included a pic of what I assume is the CAT' on mine, through it doesn't look like one I've ever seen before? But it wouldn't be to hard to take it off and give it a shake or two, to find out?
Thank you Kindly.
Danny

 

unlikely
Do NOT replace parts like this guy - test them and only spend money on bad sensors. Usually, carb cleaner can bring a stuck idle motor back to life. If all your sensors test OK, check the fuel pressure to the fuel rail. You can't simply disconnect the exhaust to see if it is a cat - the O2 sensors are needed. A hand-held heat sensor can be used to test the cat. Good luck

 

Copy that Red', will do.
Thank you.

 

UPDATE Problem Solved, Throttle Position Sensor. Special thanks to VERY RED XJ for the encouragement. : )