Jeep died while driving

Sneakycricket

Sneakycricket

New Member
Joined
Aug 26, 2022
Messages
10
Location
South carolina
Hoping for some insight to be pointed in the right direction.
So long story short, was driving the 97 2.5l tj the other month for a drive around town (MANUAL). just randomly died on me and would not start back up. Initial thought was fuel pump before checking anything. Replaced fuel pump and have 50ish psi on cranking at the rail. Still nothing. Decided to change injectors still nothing. Okay so I put on the scanner. Code is p0340. Now I've changed the cam shaft position sensor ignition coil with echoing parts. New plugs. And still nothing. Distributor cap and button is good with no wear on contacts or cracks. Distributor also turns me thinking maybe the cam shaft broke but isn't. I'm at my wits with this thing. Decided to see what my voltage is going into ignition coil since it seem to have a weak intermittent spark after checking fire again with new ignition coil. Not sure If I'm reading voltage right but on connector for ignition coil I have like .5 volts and drops after 2 secs of cranking. Really hoping to get pointed in the right direction here as I hate dropping parts and not finding the problem correctly. I'm all ears.
 
Morks said:
Test the crankshaft position sensor...?
Click to expand...

I have not. I can try that now though. My though though was bad crankshaft sensor woul mean no spark. Went out this morning to try and started it. It cranked and hick up like it was about too. But then just kept cranking with no start.
 
Yeah true, I am not 100% sure it can spark with a bad cps but worth testing. What brand Camshaft sensor did you buy and did you change the whole opda?
 
oil pump drive assembly. I am new to mechanical work so before putting tons of effort into what I say I'd wait for others to chime in.
 
I would lean to the crankshaft position sensor, don't buy a cheap one as they fail quickly if not immediately.

You might check your ignition switch in your steering column. They break internally and cause starting issues.

You can do a search on either of these topics and come up with some good advise
 
Paparock1 said:
I would lean to the crankshaft position sensor, don't buy a cheap one as they fail quickly if not immediately.

You might check your ignition switch in your steering column. They break internally and cause starting issues.

You can do a search on either of these topics and come up with some good advise
Click to expand...

I'll take a look at the ignition switch. Thanks.
 
My 4.0 2000 TJ 3spd auto has started randomly doing this as well. Very rarely happens, but still an issue. Ill just be cruising 50 or 60 mph and the jeep will die completely. If I pull to the side of the road, the jeep will just crank and crank but wont start. Waiting 5+ minutes usually allows it to start again luckily. In the mornings, the jeep never starts from first crank. Always takes atleast 2 or 3. Once it fires up once though, it will keep starting from first key turn. Really weird stuff. Also on that first start of the day, the engine seems like it's sputtering/misfiring pretty hard. Also there's a fair amount of condensation being splattered out the tailpipe during this misfire. I'm not really concerned about the condensation itself, but you can kinda tell from the water pattern that the jeep is running rough because of how far the water shoots back. Once I rev it a bit or let it warm up it runs pretty smooth though. No check engine, lights nothing.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Morks
Sensei said:
My 4.0 2000 TJ 3spd auto has started randomly doing this as well. Very rarely happens, but still an issue. Ill just be cruising 50 or 60 mph and the jeep will die completely. If I pull to the side of the road, the jeep will just crank and crank but wont start. Waiting 5+ minutes usually allows it to start again luckily. In the mornings, the jeep never starts from first crank. Always takes atleast 2 or 3. Once it fires up once though, it will keep starting from first key turn. Really weird stuff. Also on that first start of the day, the engine seems like it's sputtering/misfiring pretty hard. Also there's a fair amount of condensation being splattered out the tailpipe during this misfire. I'm not really concerned about the condensation itself, but you can kinda tell from the water pattern that the jeep is running rough because of how far the water shoots back. Once I rev it a bit or let it warm up it runs pretty smooth though. No check engine, lights nothing.
Click to expand...

Definitely unfortunate, I wasn't so lucky on it firing back up though. I have notice though if I pull the injector connections it will fire over for 2 secs. It makes me think the ignition timing isn't right. Real dead Brainerd here. Hoping for the best input on were to start next.
 
Just a stupid idea: is it getting enough air? Checked your filter/airbox(aka chippy/mouse house) lately?
 
A little update here. Yesterday tried to start the jeep and cranked and cranked. All of a sudden cranks and fires over. Wow okay. Gave it throttle reved up great. Started to idle and it went to crap. Rough idle then died. Still won't fire back over and still have the p0340 code. Someone please help me.
 
Paparock1 said:
I would lean to the crankshaft position sensor, don't buy a cheap one as they fail quickly if not immediately.

You might check your ignition switch in your steering column. They break internally and cause starting issues.

You can do a search on either of these topics and come up with some good advise
Click to expand...

Well I was wrong on that paprock1. A faulty crank shaft sensor can still give a spark. Although mine was weak spark and intermittent.

Slap a new ckps in it while the noid light was hooked up and it fired over right as I was to check injectorpulse.

Didn't want to leave this thread a dead end like some do. So I hope this helps someone in the future.

Thank you.
 
  • Like
Reactions: DaYooperTransplant, Paparock1 and Morks
Sensei said:
My 4.0 2000 TJ 3spd auto has started randomly doing this as well. Very rarely happens, but still an issue. Ill just be cruising 50 or 60 mph and the jeep will die completely. If I pull to the side of the road, the jeep will just crank and crank but wont start. Waiting 5+ minutes usually allows it to start again luckily. In the mornings, the jeep never starts from first crank. Always takes atleast 2 or 3. Once it fires up once though, it will keep starting from first key turn. Really weird stuff. Also on that first start of the day, the engine seems like it's sputtering/misfiring pretty hard. Also there's a fair amount of condensation being splattered out the tailpipe during this misfire. I'm not really concerned about the condensation itself, but you can kinda tell from the water pattern that the jeep is running rough because of how far the water shoots back. Once I rev it a bit or let it warm up it runs pretty smooth though. No check engine, lights nothing.
Click to expand...

You could be looking at a fuel pump problem.
 
Top Bottom
Back