98 TJ 4.0 random stalling while driving

[Nitrodude]

My wife's daily is a 98 jeep wrangler tj with the 4.0.
We have had it about 6 months now. And it has started randomly stalling while driving.
It is very random-no rhyme or reason to it stalling. Doesn't stutter. Just turns off. Sometimes it will die and restart on its own if it's coasting fast enough to turn over the engine. Other times it needs to get out into park or neutral and restarted. It always tires right back up.

I have replaced the crankshaft position sensor with a mopar sensor about a month ago and i thought it was fixed but just today it died again.

The problem is it's not consistent. It only stalls out maybe 1-2 a month.
But it's a dangerous situation when it dies on the road and I need to trace the issue down and get it fixed.
I have tried wiggling the wiring harness where it goes through the firewall as well as into the computer by the battery while the engine is running and there was no change.

People saw the camshaft sensor could be bad but this one being a 98 has a distributor?


Anything else I can check or do?

 

[Chris]

When sensors go bad, they almost always throw a CEL. If they don't do it immediately, they will for sure if you keep driving on it.

Your issue sounds like it may be electrical related, but it's hard to say for sure. It's also very hard to diagnose issues like this without just guessing, especially since it's intermittent, and very seldom happens.

Have you scanned it for codes just to see if there are any stored? This is always the best place to start, as a code will at least point you in the right direction so you don't have to keep guessing.

 

[Nitrodude]

Yes i have a snap on solus and I've scanned for codes and there are none- pending or stored. No cel has ever come on.

It's a tough one because most of the time when it happens my wife has been driving, as it's her daily. I have only witnessed it once.

From the research I have done it appears semi-common issue and seems to be resolved by replacing the cam or crank position sensor. That is why I bit the bullet and threw a $100 crank sensor at it.

The one time I was driving it it definitely seemed electrical related. It was as i lost spark completely and in an instant.

 

[ac_]

I too have a 98 and had the same issue with random stalling till one last time it died and wouldn't start. I was in a hurry and couldn't mess with it. I had to get to work, so I had it towed home and grabbed my bike and went to work. When I got home I checked the fuel pressure, and I thought it was low but @Jerry Bransford indicated that it was perfect for my year.

I ended up pulling my distributor cap, and it was full of carbon tracks, and a busted rotor. the end that spins broke off finally. I think it was bent until it finally just broke and left me stranded. I am not telling you that that is your problem, but since you don't have codes check your basics. Check your wires, cap, rotor, spark plugs, and, fuel pressure, things that can go wrong and not necessarily throw a code. That is my suggestion

 

[Boinked]

Yes i have a snap on solus and I've scanned for codes and there are none- pending or stored. No cel has ever come on.

It's a tough one because most of the time when it happens my wife has been driving, as it's her daily. I have only witnessed it once.

From the research I have done it appears semi-common issue and seems to be resolved by replacing the cam or crank position sensor. That is why I bit the bullet and threw a $100 crank sensor at it.

The one time I was driving it it definitely seemed electrical related. It was as i lost spark completely and in an instant.

You do not have a cam shaft sensor. It is in the distributor. Not sure if that is the problem.
But it would not hurt to pull the cap and check the distributor cap and rotor.

Also check the engine ground.

 

[Chris]

I suppose it could be a bad or corroded ground wire, or even a short in the wiring harness somewhere.

Do the ground wires have any corrosion on them?

 

[Nitrodude]

I'll pull the dizzy cap and see what it looks like inside.
I'll have to follow the ground cable and see how the grounds look as well.

Thanks for the suggestions!
The jeeps extremely clean for the year. Was always a southern car so no rust and it was owned by an older gentlemen who took care of it. Was never mudded hard or beat on, all stock when we got it.

I'll post back tomorrow afternoon with my findings. Thanks guys

 

[Chris]

I look forward to hearing your update!

 

[DaYooperTransplant]

@Nitrodude - How we lookin? Any luck?

 

[Nitrodude]

Haven't had a chance to look at it today. Wife had it at work all day and it got dark quick lol.
Will hopefully take a look at it tomorrow

 

[ac_]

Haven't had a chance to look at it today. Wife had it at work all day and it got dark quick lol.
Will hopefully take a look at it tomorrow

Don't feel pressured, just when you can, if you get a resolution, please post in case it can help someone else diving down the same issue.

 

[Nitrodude]

I've been meaning to update this.....the "solution" I believe was a fairly simple one.

So initially the jeep did stall out while driving a few times (happened to my wife a couple times and then happened to me when I was driving as well) well as i said i replaced the crankshaft position sensor, and it seemed to have fixed it until my wife said it had stalled on here 2 different times....
Well what I'm pretty sure happened after further thinking about it, the 2 times it did die she was coming down off a steepish bridge while fairly low on gas...pretty sure what was happening was the little but of gas left in the tank sloshed to the front of the tank and starved the pickup tube of fuel causing the engine to die out.

Since that realization she keeps more fuel in it now and knock on wood no issues since.

So it did start off as a bad crankshaft sensor and ended with running out of gas! Lol.

Next thing to concur is the super annoying tick that I'm pretty sure is from a cracked manifold or blown out manifold gasket. Manifold looks newer and is the bellow type, but it sure makes a loud tick.

Will keep this updated if there any other stalling issues