Engine randomly died started again much later

Hi Guys,

I have a 1999 Jeep wrangler sport 4.0. Around 270k miles on it. It has been trouble free for the 4 years that i have owned it. I garaged it in september in preparation for the winter, i was going to replace the shocks, it ended up sitting until early january. I finally got the changes done, and the car wouldn't start. Just relay click then nothing. After some investigation into whether the battery was ok, I ended up replacing the starter motor and it started up fine, seemed to be running well. I was driving back to Oreily's to return the old starter and while stopped at a red light the engine cut off. No rev reduction, didn't struggle and then shut off, just died. I cranked for a few minutes, nothing. No sound of the engine even trying to start running, just the starter motor sound. I thought it might be a bad battery connection to i removed the battery terminals and tightened them back down, same thing engine crank and nothing. I hoofed it over to Oreily's and there was some guy that suggested that i may have jostled the crankshaft position harness while installing the starter motor, I guess with chrysler cars and issue with the crankshaft sensor could cause this. I walked back, and tried to see if there was in issue with the crankshaft sensor, looked to be ok. It is on the other side of the transmission than the starter motor. Pushed on the connector, tried it again and just starter sound, nothing else. I called a tow truck, and messed around for an hour until tow truck said it was on its way. I tried starting it one last time and it started up fine after about 4-5 seconds of cranking and i drove it home. It is parked now, and i have started it up a few times with no issue, but am paranoid right now to even drive it somewhere to pull the codes, as it is 4 degrees right now where i'm at and i don't want to be stranded.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

update: it wasn't the crankshaft sensor. Car was running well after replacing the sensor, let it idle for 15 minutes, ran fine. Backed it up to the back of my driveway and the car is dead again. Won't start, only cranks.

I may have to buy a remote OBD2 reader to get the codes. I might try replacing the fuel pump.

LittleTankTJ said:

Check your grounding strap and make sure it's not failing. Also check if you have spark. If you have the distributor you have a single primary coil that can prevent all spark.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply! I will take a look. I have also started to suspect something with the ignition system. Perhaps one of the cylinders gets flooded and it will only start again after the gas evaporates, would that explain why it dies and will start an hour or two later?

Update: OBD2 sensor reads P0118 code, coolant temperature sensor stuck high. I took a look at the sensor, and resistance seems to be correct. Reading 35k ohm while outside, when i take it inside it goes down to 4k. I took a look at the harness, and it seems to be receiving 5V, but the GND has no resistance when I measure resistance to battery -. Will see if i can diagnose the wire harness.

I took a look at the harness and it looks like the GND wire was corroded. I bought a new harness and spliced it in, the code is gone and the car is working well!!

Issue is solved.