Novak Conversions Jeep Wrangler TJ engine mounts

P0320 dead on road

Yup. 44psi and noid light flashes.

Inline spark tester however is flashing at a MUCH slower rate.

Should know by Friday if my PCM is good/bad.

If the PCM is good, then Saturday I’m ripping the harness out, delooming, and giving it a full inspection.
 
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Is there anything under the dash I should be looking at as well? I *did pull the dash about a week prior to the issues presenting themselves(replaced AC Evap and heater core).

I feel like this shouldn't lead to my issues, but I'm throwing a hail mary at this point.
 
Grounds. Left and right speaker covers, drivers side kick panel under the massive harness connectors.

Really easy to pinch wires.

Clockspring has been known to cause havok...did you pull your steering wheel. Did it stay straight or twist? Got to be careful removing it.

Firewall connector to the battery.

You're also reaching down behind the engine to get the cowl vent nuts which hold on the HVAC box... that's all close to the engine harness that makes that hard turn behind the valve cover where most folks report things that go wrong.

-Mac
 
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No... I pulled my second battery, removed my accessories controller(switch pro knockoff), disconnected a bunch of other accessories... moved wires around to make pulling the PDU and such out for inspection easier. Removed my alarm. Basically pulled a BUNCH of extra wiring out of the Jeep to make diagnosing the problem easier. Reached out to my local Jeep mechanic and I'm waiting for a response/time that I can drop it off.

I just don't have the time/capacity to mess around with it anymore. I've been borrowing my dad's truck while he's been on business trips but he needs it back.
 
Update... took it to a shop yesterday. They said the timing is off... but also did a compression test and said cylinder 6 is more than 60 psi low... and that the crankshaft pulley is vibrating.

Getting it towed back to the shop that installed the remanufactured motor on Monday for them to verify the diagnosis. My original mechanic calls this diagnosis suspect and I have a hard time believing it too. To go from a Jeep that's idling perfect to all of a sudden I've got a bad motor?

Ugh. Not in a great mood today!
 
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Well, been stewing over everything for the last 18 hours. Worst case scenario, I’m waiting for another engine, out a couple weeks or more.

I’m not going to pull the life support plug, but I’m debating a JLU and selling the TJ once she’s fixed. And NEVER thought I’d say this, but everything I’m reading about the 2.0T, I’m even contemplating that route. And doubling my fuel economy.
 
So... my original/jeep specific mechanic has had my Jeep for over a month now. On first inspection he said there was no issue with the crank vibrating, he said the timing was off and he might need to replace the crank sensor. After a couple weeks of waiting he said they weren't getting a signal from the crank position sensor and that the distributors they tried in the Jeep were intermittently going out. Two weeks later with no updates I'm asking again and told I'd have an update the next day. No update...

Getting frustrated with my mechanic and now looking at another Jeep specific mechanic to see if they are interested in taking a look.

Considering the engine was replaced, the PCM checked out, and the current mechanic says he's not getting a crank signal, should I be towing this home and taking my time rebuilding the whole wiring harness? I mean, what else could it be? Dirty/damaged ring on the flywheel? I'm getting super frustrated here after all the money I've dumped into this Jeep.
 
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I think I'd be taking a good look at what that crank position sensor is outputting... probably with an ocilliscope...while looking at other PIDs.

I'd make sure you get your original distributor back. You might want to mention to your mechanic that folks have had to push out the roll pin and rotate the gear 180 on some new distributors.

Question I have is why they're doing this...is this a timing issue? The PCM largely sets timing. The distributor has a cam position sensor and we're already questioning your crank position sensor.

-Mac
 
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macleanflood said:
I think I'd be taking a good look at what that crank position sensor is outputting... probably with an ocilliscope...while looking at other PIDs.

I'd make sure you get your original distributor back. You might want to mention to your mechanic that folks have had to push out the roll pin and rotate the gear 180 on some new distributors.

Question I have is why they're doing this...is this a timing issue? The PCM largely sets timing. The distributor has a cam position sensor and we're already questioning your crank position sensor.

-Mac
Click to expand...
From previous discussions, I'm pretty sure he's using an oscilloscope on both sensors at the same time and comparing to other data. He was at a Jeep dealership for years before going independent.

I had just sent him a text two days ago mentioning the roll pin and offering to bring in my original distributor from before I even had to rotate the gear myself. That way he'd have a point of reference from before we even went down the road with replacing the engine. For some odd reason I had the mind to keep that old distributor for future reference.

Honestly, I'm not sure what he's messing with right now. Talking to him, he is very confident, appears competent, and I don't want to give away who he is right now as he still has my Jeep and I'm not going to burn a bridge I'm standing on, but let's just say he comes with some good references.

My suggestion to him besides the distributor roll pin/gear being rotated was that if he's not getting a crank signal with my brand new Mopar sensor and continuity checks out/PCM checks out, then maybe stick a boroscope down the Crank Position Sensor hole and see if there flywheel is gunked up preventing the sensor from picking up a signal. That's one thing I didn't think to do until after I had my Jeep towed to the shop.
 
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No. Every time I call the shop always says they’ll get me an update… but never does. I’ve stopped by in person as well to talk to the owner/manager but he hasn’t been there the last couple times I’ve been by.

I bought a JKUR with low miles that has become my new DD. I’m going to have my jeep towed home soon and I’ll just start all over again trying to fix it myself.
 
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4BY4ADV said:
No. Every time I call the shop always says they’ll get me an update… but never does. I’ve stopped by in person as well to talk to the owner/manager but he hasn’t been there the last couple times I’ve been by.

I bought a JKUR with low miles that has become my new DD. I’m going to have my jeep towed home soon and I’ll just start all over again trying to fix it myself.
Click to expand...

Guess we'll see if you can confirm that compression issue.
 
Hey, just letting you know I was having very similar problems. My jeep finally decided to throw a code which was Throttle Position sensor high input. Replaced sensor and running great now. Kinda stunk because I had only just replaced this sensor about a year ago with a Mopar which I would have expected to last longer.
 
To close this out... I just drove the TJ for the first time in 6 months. Picked it up just now from the shop. There were two issues, one being the distributor. I would have swapped that out again next since I have two others sitting in my garage, but the bigger issue I might not have figured out.

The harmonic balancer/damper was bad. The rubber between the two halves had degraded and the outer portion had spun. So even after swapping distributors, the shop couldn't get the timing correct. This is the one thing I don't get, because I thought you didn't set the timing? Either way, new harmonic balancer, front crank seal, and distributor and everything is running great again.

Which is interesting. The first shop said the crank was wobbling. It's too bad that first shop didn't inspect the balancer and determine the actual issue when they noticed movement in the harmonic balancer.

*edited
Side note, the intermittent misfires the computer kept seeing, I wonder if that was due to the imbalance with the harmonic balancer. And I wonder how many other issues that created.



Now to clean up the TJ, reassemble the interior, electronics, etc so I can list her for sale!
 
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Novak Conversions Jeep Wrangler TJ engine mounts
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