Cranks but won’t start

Pony

New Member
Original poster
Joined
Feb 4, 2021
Messages
15
Location
Houston
Hey everybody, new TJ owner here
So a few weeks ago I did something stupid and left my headlights on, killing the battery. I was able to jump it and get it back going, but was noticing that it was having trouble starting. It would still start but was acting like it was going to stall out shortly afterwards. Now this morning it would crank but not start, even with the jump. If I give it a bit of gas while cranking it the engine would start but then immediately die after releasing the gas. Everything was working great before the headlight mistake, so I’m hoping it’s just the battery. However, reading up on this issue suggests it could be one of a dozen other things and not the battery
Any help would be more than appreciated

Specs
2000 TJ Sport 4.0 manual transmission
 
Do you have a scan tool? Do you have a fuel pressure gauge? Battery tester? Volt meter (multi meter)

How old is your battery? Don't guess...it will have a mfg date on it.
Nope on all those. Already ordered a battery tester and will be ordering the rest of those. I’ll update once I’ve got them all in
Don’t know the age of the battery, will check when I get home and update
 
first make sure your battery is fully charged, then do a global reset.

Disconnect both the + and - terminals from the battery.

Hold the +and - terminals together for a minute. This will drain the capacitors in the pcm.

Reconnect the battery terminals, go drive it for 4-6 miles and see what happens.
 
Update, so last night I try to start it again, this time keeping my foot on the gas to keep it at about 1k rpm for a while to see if I could eventually get it to idle without stalling out. After a few minutes it did, and I let it run for about twenty minutes or so, turned it off, and then back on with no problems. This morning it starts again and I got to work no problem. Try to get home and I get a few slow cranks and a popping sound
Electrical components still come on when I turn the key, and I’ve gotten no CELs during the whole ordeal
 
first make sure your battery is fully charged, then do a global reset.

Disconnect both the + and - terminals from the battery.

Hold the +and - terminals together for a minute. This will drain the capacitors in the pcm.

Reconnect the battery terminals, go drive it for 4-6 miles and see what happens.
Will try this tomorrow now that I have a battery tester