dudeinthepnw
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- PNW
I'll try to keep this fairly short. A couple weeks ago, my 95 XJ 4.0/Auto started developing the fairly common long crank issue. It was mildy annoying at first, but I would always be able to get it started and get to where I needed to be.
Slowly it got harder and harder to crank and fire. I was picking my son up from his mom's work a few nights ago and I cranked on it for so long that the battery died (Battery is less than a month old FYI). My GF came to jump me and the Jeep started up and I drove home without issue.
The following day, I replaced the fuel filter (which looked like it had never been done), I replaced the plugs/wires (champion copper .035 gap) and replaced the rear pcv valve because it was cracked.
After finishing those up, the jeep fired right up, idled smooth and seemed to be good to go. I was pretty happy and was attributing the fuel filter with the most credit. I put 50-60 miles on it after doing those things and it was running great and firing up on the first crank too which was making me pretty happy.
Then, yesterday on my way home with my 7 year old son, we were stopped at a light. The Jeep sputtered, I tried bringing the rpm's up and it died. Stuck in the middle of an intersection, I was unable to get it restarted. Naturally it was raining and cold. A nice gentleman and his wife stopped to help. He and I ended up pushing the jeep nearly half a mile to a parking lot. Again it was cold and pouring rain, not to mention the road was just barely uphill enough to make it a completely defeating experience. Finally got into the parking lot and I started going over the basics. Double checked everything I did the previous day. Made sure I didn't leave a fuel line loose, checked the plugs/wires/coil wire, checked for obvious vacuum leaks etc.
Luckily, I had a tarp and some rope in the jeep, so I macgyvered myself a little bit of a shelter to at least keep me partially out of the downpour while I tried to figure out what the deal was.
Sometimes I would be able to get it to fire up, sometimes it would idle for a minute but then sputter and die. Sometimes I would be able to hold the rpms up at 2-3k for a minute, but it would again do the same.
For shits and giggles, I was getting frustrated, my kid was cranky and cold, so I summoned an uber who took me to oreilly, I picked up a new coil and replaced it. Fired it up, it idled, seemed relatively smooth. I became cautiously optimistic. And then it died again. After spending about 3 hours in the freezing rain of a retail parking lot I traded in my mancard and bestowed a tow truck to come rescue us from the grips of hell.
Got the Jeep home, let it sit over night. Went out this morning, fired it up, idled for a minute, then died. Got it started again, was able to actually move it under it's own power to a different parking spot that has tree cover (apartments, yay). I pulled the throttle body off, clean the TB, cleaned the IAC, and further inspected for any pesky vacuum leaks. Nada. Same thing.
My inclination at this point is most likely the fuel pump is weak. I don't have a fuel pressure gauge and no friends nearby to shuffle me back and forth to the auto parts store. I've been looking at pumps online and I would really prefer to replace the entire assembly if I'm going to do it, but it doesn't seem to be an option. The common thing seems to just be the replacement pump itself. If anyone could point me to a link of a fuel pump assembly that would be great. I found one that was like $500, no thanks lol.
FPR is the other thing I wanted to test, but couldn't get it to stay running long enough to pull the vacuum line off and check for differences.
Sorry for the novel. I need my XJ brothers (and sisters) to tell me I'm missing something stupid here. It's my only rig at the moment and I gotta be able to get my kid to school and all that fun stuff. It's crunch time tomorrow (which thankfully looks dry weather wise).
Slowly it got harder and harder to crank and fire. I was picking my son up from his mom's work a few nights ago and I cranked on it for so long that the battery died (Battery is less than a month old FYI). My GF came to jump me and the Jeep started up and I drove home without issue.
The following day, I replaced the fuel filter (which looked like it had never been done), I replaced the plugs/wires (champion copper .035 gap) and replaced the rear pcv valve because it was cracked.
After finishing those up, the jeep fired right up, idled smooth and seemed to be good to go. I was pretty happy and was attributing the fuel filter with the most credit. I put 50-60 miles on it after doing those things and it was running great and firing up on the first crank too which was making me pretty happy.
Then, yesterday on my way home with my 7 year old son, we were stopped at a light. The Jeep sputtered, I tried bringing the rpm's up and it died. Stuck in the middle of an intersection, I was unable to get it restarted. Naturally it was raining and cold. A nice gentleman and his wife stopped to help. He and I ended up pushing the jeep nearly half a mile to a parking lot. Again it was cold and pouring rain, not to mention the road was just barely uphill enough to make it a completely defeating experience. Finally got into the parking lot and I started going over the basics. Double checked everything I did the previous day. Made sure I didn't leave a fuel line loose, checked the plugs/wires/coil wire, checked for obvious vacuum leaks etc.
Luckily, I had a tarp and some rope in the jeep, so I macgyvered myself a little bit of a shelter to at least keep me partially out of the downpour while I tried to figure out what the deal was.
Sometimes I would be able to get it to fire up, sometimes it would idle for a minute but then sputter and die. Sometimes I would be able to hold the rpms up at 2-3k for a minute, but it would again do the same.
For shits and giggles, I was getting frustrated, my kid was cranky and cold, so I summoned an uber who took me to oreilly, I picked up a new coil and replaced it. Fired it up, it idled, seemed relatively smooth. I became cautiously optimistic. And then it died again. After spending about 3 hours in the freezing rain of a retail parking lot I traded in my mancard and bestowed a tow truck to come rescue us from the grips of hell.
Got the Jeep home, let it sit over night. Went out this morning, fired it up, idled for a minute, then died. Got it started again, was able to actually move it under it's own power to a different parking spot that has tree cover (apartments, yay). I pulled the throttle body off, clean the TB, cleaned the IAC, and further inspected for any pesky vacuum leaks. Nada. Same thing.
My inclination at this point is most likely the fuel pump is weak. I don't have a fuel pressure gauge and no friends nearby to shuffle me back and forth to the auto parts store. I've been looking at pumps online and I would really prefer to replace the entire assembly if I'm going to do it, but it doesn't seem to be an option. The common thing seems to just be the replacement pump itself. If anyone could point me to a link of a fuel pump assembly that would be great. I found one that was like $500, no thanks lol.
FPR is the other thing I wanted to test, but couldn't get it to stay running long enough to pull the vacuum line off and check for differences.
Sorry for the novel. I need my XJ brothers (and sisters) to tell me I'm missing something stupid here. It's my only rig at the moment and I gotta be able to get my kid to school and all that fun stuff. It's crunch time tomorrow (which thankfully looks dry weather wise).
