1997 TJ sputtering and stalling

old jeep new to me

TJ Enthusiast
Joined
May 13, 2018
Messages
134
Location
georgia
On my way to the beach the other day in my 97 TJ it was running normal and all of a sudden it starts to sputter a few times. I slowed down my acceleration and got there. When leaving it didn't want to start and thought the battery was going to die but I finally got it started but it stalled a few times while I was leaving so I drove home with a foot on the brake and a foot on the gas and made it home. Today I drove it 20 minutes and it was running great then I drove it again this afternoon and on they way home again it did it again, I would best describe it like it had water in the gas. Backing into the garage it must have stalled 4 times. For some reason a TPS came to mind but that was just a thought. My Jeep is a 4 cylinder and an automatic. Any ideas would be appreciated.
 
If No codes check the crank position sensor, they can go bad Like that… I’m dealing with a similar problem that started last week… I changed the crank position sensor and it ran fine for a day then it died and will not start… seems the 97 - 98 TJ‘s can have a problem with the PCM going bad… I’ve got one ordered now..
 
An easy thing to check is the fuel pressure, the early models in the 4.0 had a shrader valve above the head (I'll assume that the squirrels model does as well). You could call @Wranglerfix if you think it might be the computer, he can point you to other things to check like the grounds, etc.
 
No shrader valve on rail on the 4 bangers… Crank no start no comm no 5v ref… I’ve been reading and testing for 2 days… good voltage at a2 and 22 and good grounds at 30 and 31 on the PCM… all grounds are solid…pretty sure it’s the pcm.. I opened it up and found a bad capacitor on the board… Amazon will deliver me a few capacitors tomorrow and hopefully I’ll have it fixed in the pm…
 
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No shrader valve on rail on the 4 bangers… Crank no start no comm no 5v ref… I’ve been reading and testing for 2 days… good voltage at a2 and 22 and good grounds at 30 and 31 on the PCM… all grounds are solid…pretty sure it’s the pcm.. I opened it up and found a bad capacitor on the board… Amazon will deliver me a few capacitors tomorrow and hopefully I’ll have it fixed in the pm…
Let us know the outcome. Mine won't start now either,
 
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