I did go to @ Wrangler fix, they said they would get back to me and did not other than to respond they would get back to me. Sorry, I tried, when a business does not respond I usually move on as I think most people do.
1999 Jeep Wrangler TJ Will Not Start
- Thread starter Westlotorn
- Start date
As mentioned above, I did contact @Wrangler fix, they did reply they would get back to me and never did?
I was looking that direction first.
May have been a poor choice on my part but I figure when a business does not get back to you it is time to go somewhere else. Could have been my fault as I asked a lot of questions rather than say, I want to order this part.
I was looking that direction first.
May have been a poor choice on my part but I figure when a business does not get back to you it is time to go somewhere else. Could have been my fault as I asked a lot of questions rather than say, I want to order this part.
This is not normal. Your check engine light should stay on as long as your key is in the accessory position. This is the case with any vehicle. If it’s turning off after five seconds, that means something is wrong.
It sounds like you’ve already bit the bullet for a PCM, but between the CEL, the improper voltage that you’re reading across certain pins, and the dead wire on your OBD port, it sounds like a computer issues.
Mark at wranglerfix is extremely helpful and usually on the ball when it comes to helping us out. I would try and reach out to him again. Mistakes happen and I don’t believe he intentionally ignored you.
I had a similar no start problem in our lj a while back...No communication, no start ect. The solution was a swollen corroded wire in one of the ecm harnesses behind the battery, the affected wire looked intact at first glance but upon further inspection was rock hard and upon cutting it open, it was only making contact by a couple of strands. The rest of the wire had corroded to a greenish white powder. I would carefully pull all the tape from the wire harness, and feel each wire individually for hardness or discoloration. A bad wire like that may still show continuity, but cause the problems you're experiencing.
This is a nightmare to read. Now I can’t go back to sleep. Kudos and I’m praying for you.
OK, we have a WRAP! Fire in the hole.
Installed the new PCM today, all gauges worked properly right away. No Start. I should mention as caution and to clear any voltage in the system we disconnected the battery and clamped the two battery leads togeather before removing the old PCM. Installed the new PCM hooked up the battery and tried to start it.
No Start.
Started checking everything, again, Volt meter now works, Temp gauge now works, Oil Pressure now works, Fuel level now works. All Looking good.
Hooked up the Scan Tool, WOW, it now works normally. Progress.
I am working with my nephew, same nephew who was driving this Jeep when it failed.
We start talking about the failure.
I learn the gauges failed before the engine died. Dang, wish I had known that at the beginning.
So now we know the Headlight issue was not an electrical issue and the guages died prior to the engine failure.
I checked power at the ASD and with the new PCM it is working properly.
Fuel pressure is good.
Checked the Spark at a spark plug. No Spark.
At the beginning we had spark at all 4 plugs. This was confusing to me.
So I pulled the Coil connector, Power at the positive wire, 12 V, check for ground.
No ground on the second wire. With the test light on the second wire we turn the engine over.
Light flashes as it should as the computer tells each plug to spark. Now I know, we have a good crank sensor and a good cam sensor or this would not happen.
Pull the Coil and test the leads. BAD COIL.
Install a Standard Ignition BLue Streak Coil, not built as well as the OEM coil but it tested good prior to install.
Hooked up the new coil. Turned the key and BAM. Engine started in less than 2 revolutions and purred!
No mess or fuss, just started and ran perfectly.
I never mentioned when this car died we did not have time to start working on it so it was parked for a YEAR.
When the engine fired up I could smell the gas was old. Old Gas makes a strong odd smell. I can't describe it but once you smell it you don't forget it. I worked in engine machine shops for 30 years, I know this smell.
If you run a good engine on bad gas the gas turns to a varnish like substance and coats the piston heads and the valves. The pistons end up pretty looking but the valves stick in the cylinder head and the only fix is a total tear down and rebuild of the head. I knew better than to do this. The Smell is the key, if it does not smell like gas burning Shut it down. It is easy to drain the tank. Very hard to do a valve job on a previously good engine.
We shut it off and used the fuel pump to pump the gas out of the tank. Easy to do. Pull the Fuel line off the fuel rail, use a piece of large fuel hose, I think we used some 5/8 heater hose to go over the fuel line connector and allow us to divert the fuel into a fuel jug. Now pull the fuel pump relay. Under the hood by the battery. Use a paper clip to jump between the top two relay pins and the fuel pump actuates, key on or key off the pump runs so be careful. We pumped 10 gallons of bad gas out of this tank. I was not concerned about my heater hose failing in the gasoline mix. One time use, only took 15 minutes and then we washed out this hose. It worked for what I needed in this short time frame.
Installed 1 quart of ATF fluid and 3 gallons of PREMIUM gas into the tank.
ATF, has been used for years to lubricate injectors and clean fuel systems. In the Diesel world this is common to use. Very effective, cleans and lubricates. Not EPA approved but better than most if not all injector cleaners.
If you suspect sticky injectors use this tip, add a quart to a full tank and the injectors start working normally again before 1/2 tank of gas is used up.
Fired up the engine with new gas and held it to a 2,000 RPM fast idle for 10 minutes. Wanted to make sure we got the lifters spinning again so I don't get a flat camshaft.
All is good, the TJ is purring. The little 2.5L runs strong. It only has 35,000 miles or so since we did a total rebuild.
Remember compression was at 140 all 4 holes so our cylinder finish and rings are sealed well and the valves are all working as designed.
Now for the bad news. My nephew had purchased a new Subaru same time the Jeep died. The Jeep was rebuilt to get him through school and he has been working his butt off trying to make it into a fire department. He did his part, the Jeep was his daily driver, he commuted 180 miles each way to a fire job in this beast. Now he says lets sell it. The Subaru is quiet, gets double the gas mileage and is more comfortable on the highways.
The Jeep was a ton of fun, off road and as a first vehicle but he is done with it. Dang.
You guys rode along as I struggled to fix this beast, Thank You. I needed the therapy along the way.
The FS1 computer did work exactly as represented so Thank You to them, still wish we could have had it in 6 days as advertised but no complaints, it works.
With straight information up front the fix would have been much faster. I kept trying to tie in, Headlights, Gauges and No Start. Could have focused on No Start if I had known all the details.
Still don't like that we had spark at all four plugs when we first tested and no spark later.
The bad coil we removed today did work off and on today when we tested but did not work each time.
I should have spent more time verifying spark.
We drove it around today a fair amount, the code reader shows no CEL codes at all. There are still a couple of systems that need to test but that is normal, it will need to be driven a week or two for every system to test OK on the code reader. This forum offers a ton of good information if you need to repair one of these TJ jeeps.
Installed the new PCM today, all gauges worked properly right away. No Start. I should mention as caution and to clear any voltage in the system we disconnected the battery and clamped the two battery leads togeather before removing the old PCM. Installed the new PCM hooked up the battery and tried to start it.
No Start.
Started checking everything, again, Volt meter now works, Temp gauge now works, Oil Pressure now works, Fuel level now works. All Looking good.
Hooked up the Scan Tool, WOW, it now works normally. Progress.
I am working with my nephew, same nephew who was driving this Jeep when it failed.
We start talking about the failure.
I learn the gauges failed before the engine died. Dang, wish I had known that at the beginning.
So now we know the Headlight issue was not an electrical issue and the guages died prior to the engine failure.
I checked power at the ASD and with the new PCM it is working properly.
Fuel pressure is good.
Checked the Spark at a spark plug. No Spark.
At the beginning we had spark at all 4 plugs. This was confusing to me.
So I pulled the Coil connector, Power at the positive wire, 12 V, check for ground.
No ground on the second wire. With the test light on the second wire we turn the engine over.
Light flashes as it should as the computer tells each plug to spark. Now I know, we have a good crank sensor and a good cam sensor or this would not happen.
Pull the Coil and test the leads. BAD COIL.
Install a Standard Ignition BLue Streak Coil, not built as well as the OEM coil but it tested good prior to install.
Hooked up the new coil. Turned the key and BAM. Engine started in less than 2 revolutions and purred!
No mess or fuss, just started and ran perfectly.
I never mentioned when this car died we did not have time to start working on it so it was parked for a YEAR.
When the engine fired up I could smell the gas was old. Old Gas makes a strong odd smell. I can't describe it but once you smell it you don't forget it. I worked in engine machine shops for 30 years, I know this smell.
If you run a good engine on bad gas the gas turns to a varnish like substance and coats the piston heads and the valves. The pistons end up pretty looking but the valves stick in the cylinder head and the only fix is a total tear down and rebuild of the head. I knew better than to do this. The Smell is the key, if it does not smell like gas burning Shut it down. It is easy to drain the tank. Very hard to do a valve job on a previously good engine.
We shut it off and used the fuel pump to pump the gas out of the tank. Easy to do. Pull the Fuel line off the fuel rail, use a piece of large fuel hose, I think we used some 5/8 heater hose to go over the fuel line connector and allow us to divert the fuel into a fuel jug. Now pull the fuel pump relay. Under the hood by the battery. Use a paper clip to jump between the top two relay pins and the fuel pump actuates, key on or key off the pump runs so be careful. We pumped 10 gallons of bad gas out of this tank. I was not concerned about my heater hose failing in the gasoline mix. One time use, only took 15 minutes and then we washed out this hose. It worked for what I needed in this short time frame.
Installed 1 quart of ATF fluid and 3 gallons of PREMIUM gas into the tank.
ATF, has been used for years to lubricate injectors and clean fuel systems. In the Diesel world this is common to use. Very effective, cleans and lubricates. Not EPA approved but better than most if not all injector cleaners.
If you suspect sticky injectors use this tip, add a quart to a full tank and the injectors start working normally again before 1/2 tank of gas is used up.
Fired up the engine with new gas and held it to a 2,000 RPM fast idle for 10 minutes. Wanted to make sure we got the lifters spinning again so I don't get a flat camshaft.
All is good, the TJ is purring. The little 2.5L runs strong. It only has 35,000 miles or so since we did a total rebuild.
Remember compression was at 140 all 4 holes so our cylinder finish and rings are sealed well and the valves are all working as designed.
Now for the bad news. My nephew had purchased a new Subaru same time the Jeep died. The Jeep was rebuilt to get him through school and he has been working his butt off trying to make it into a fire department. He did his part, the Jeep was his daily driver, he commuted 180 miles each way to a fire job in this beast. Now he says lets sell it. The Subaru is quiet, gets double the gas mileage and is more comfortable on the highways.
The Jeep was a ton of fun, off road and as a first vehicle but he is done with it. Dang.
You guys rode along as I struggled to fix this beast, Thank You. I needed the therapy along the way.
The FS1 computer did work exactly as represented so Thank You to them, still wish we could have had it in 6 days as advertised but no complaints, it works.
With straight information up front the fix would have been much faster. I kept trying to tie in, Headlights, Gauges and No Start. Could have focused on No Start if I had known all the details.
Still don't like that we had spark at all four plugs when we first tested and no spark later.
The bad coil we removed today did work off and on today when we tested but did not work each time.
I should have spent more time verifying spark.
We drove it around today a fair amount, the code reader shows no CEL codes at all. There are still a couple of systems that need to test but that is normal, it will need to be driven a week or two for every system to test OK on the code reader. This forum offers a ton of good information if you need to repair one of these TJ jeeps.
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@Westlotorn nice job documentig the experience and nice job diagnosing despite things going south during the process.
I think u should reward yourself by purchasing a TJ for yourself.
I think u should reward yourself by purchasing a TJ for yourself.
My brother in law, my nephews father just retired Jan 30th and had to turn in his company car. This left him and my sister with one car in the family. I dropped the Jeep at their house to get it out of my garage and they were all smiles to have a running 2nd car show up. Perfect for trips to the store/gym etc local stuff. The Subaru showed up at the right time also, my nephews jobs and travel have put 42,000 miles on the new Subaru in one year. The Jeep is running great, engine is smooth and the little 2.5L moves it right along. I am just happy it is working again.
What did you find out because I have a 99 Jeep Wrangler 4.0 L motor their stalls on the highway hold over and it's still not restarted ever since check fuses but had limited things that I could do it was too cold and I was two and a half hours away from home don't know what is wrong with it someone told me something about a timing chain but I can't see that happening
What did you find out because I have a 99 Jeep Wrangler 4.0 L motor their stalls on the highway hold over and it's still not restarted ever since check fuses but had limited things that I could do it was too cold and I was two and a half hours away from home don't know what is wrong with it someone told me something about a timing chain but I can't see that happening