93 Cherokee crank no start

93redzj

93redzj

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 29, 2005
Location
Albemarle
Took the jeep out yesterday to an event about 30 minutes away, did fine entire way there, but when I went to leave the jeep turned over a couple times then battery died. I had just put a new starter on two days prior and fully charged the battery as it was an old one that would die if I didn’t drive the jeep for like a month.

Trailered it home, bought a new battery, same issue, no start. Sprayed some starter fluid in it, still nothing. I figured I had a “spark” issue and since the ignition coil is fairly cheap and easy to change, I did that. Jeep turned over about 5-6 times and battery weakened and died. It seems unusual to me that a new battery would die so quick, I don’t feel like I was cranking it excessively enough to drain and kill it.

I’m going to verify spark and fuel tomorrow but is there anything else I should be looking at, in particular as to why the battery died so quickly. Or did I just kill it with the cranking?
 
Check the leads on the “new” starter. That’s be where I would start as the issue seemed to start when that was introduced to the picture.
 
skyhighZJ said:
Check the leads on the “new” starter. That’s be where I would start as the issue seemed to start when that was introduced to the picture.
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I’ll also add, the Jeep has always taken a minute to fire off, it’ll crank over a few times before firing off then it’s gotta warm up a little or when you give it gas it’ll sputter some…..I’ve assumed it to be an injector issue just never got around to messing with it.
 
skyhighZJ said:
Have you verified alt. function?
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Was gonna gonna check that bad boy too tomorrow. It looks like the original one from 93. Would a bad alt kill the battery that quick though?

I also figured the Jeep would have fired off with that shot of starter fluid, even if alt was bad, or would that be an incorrect assumption?
 
I guess I was leaning more toward you driving it 30 min then when you went to restart it didn’t want to. Sounds like your not putting juice into the system to kill the battery.
 
skyhighZJ said:
I guess I was leaning more toward you driving it 30 min then when you went to restart it didn’t want to. Sounds like your not putting juice into the system to kill the battery.
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Yes I would agree with that. However jumping the Jeep didn’t work, even after attempting for what felt like 30 minutes. Then when I bought a new battery today, mainly cus old one was old as hell, after trying to crank the Jeep only a few times, the battery was drained again with no start. I just wouldn’t think a new battery would drain that fast. I didn’t feel like I was cranking excessively enough to kill it.

Then with new battery freshly installed, a shot of starter fluid, still just cranks with no start and after a few cranks, battery dies. I have no idea what would kill the battery so quick when trying to crank/start.

Ran the issue by my dad, he mentioned maybe the motor was hydrolocking? So I was gonna pull some plugs tomorrow and turn the engine over and check that. Could that kill a battery so quick? I’m also not against throwing an alt on it as I’m sure it wouldn’t hurt either way
 
Check for a draw with the key off and out. If the starter is bad it will drain it fast. Also if it does not turn over fast enough the CPS will not tell it to fire.
 
ghost said:
Check for a draw with the key off and out. If the starter is bad it will drain it fast. Also if it does not turn over fast enough the CPS will not tell it to fire.
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Am I checking voltage on a resting battery? I feel like it spins fast enough to start but as previously mentioned, I won’t rule out a bad starter out of the box, especially since I went cheaper, $83 compared to $99 at autozone
 
I usually confirm with a test light. I disconnect the negative and put the light between the battery and the negative ground. Light in its drawing electricity.
 
I forgot to add when I do find a draw I will pull fuses to isolate the circuit. If you have a draw and suspect the starter just pull the cable on it.
 
Haven’t found any issues with grounds or connections as of yet, I guess maybe I was just over working the battery trying to crank and it eventually died…..I did, however, hook up my fuel pressure gauge, when ignition is on and pump energized the psi goes up to about 25 and immediately bleeds off. Furthermore, when cranking the Jeep, the pressure continues to just bleed, isn’t it supposed to spike when cranking then level out when running? Ive suspected it need injectors for a while now as it’s been taking long to crank and when it’s first started it’ll idle rough for a minute before smoothing out and being able to drive
 
93redzj said:
Haven’t found any issues with grounds or connections as of yet, I guess maybe I was just over working the battery trying to crank and it eventually died…..I did, however, hook up my fuel pressure gauge, when ignition is on and pump energized the psi goes up to about 25 and immediately bleeds off. Furthermore, when cranking the Jeep, the pressure continues to just bleed, isn’t it supposed to spike when cranking then level out when running? Ive suspected it need injectors for a while now as it’s been taking long to crank and when it’s first started it’ll idle rough for a minute before smoothing out and being able to drive
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IIRC PSI should be 40 or 50. You year has a pressure regulator on the rail. If it's bad it will bleed the fuel back to the tank. Mine is a 94 so I'm very familiar with OBD1.
 
So what is this part called? I’ve seen it called a pick up coil, my dad called it ignition control module, I pulled the code on my OBD-1 Jeep and code was for cam sensor not receiving signal, which I narrowed down to this. It’s located inside of distributor cap. I just bought a new distributor and took this out and replaced on mine. Jeep fired right up
 

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Cam sensor is a term I believe for the OBD2 part that is the same as that one. Pick up coil is what they called it in OBD1. Pretty sure they do the same thing. Of course I could be wrong on both of that.
 
93redzj said:
So what is this part called? I’ve seen it called a pick up coil, my dad called it ignition control module, I pulled the code on my OBD-1 Jeep and code was for cam sensor not receiving signal, which I narrowed down to this. It’s located inside of distributor cap. I just bought a new distributor and took this out and replaced on mine. Jeep fired right up
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That's a cam position sensor (whether OBD1 or deux)
 
When I tried to look up a cam position sensor on autozone website or even rock auto I believe, it would show me an entirely different plug. That was my confusion. This ended up being an Amazon part, but it’s just a trash hauler and weekend warrior at this point. I’m just glad it fixed it and the jeep fired up
 
Also, previous owner of this Jeep did tell me motor wasn’t original. I believe it’s newer just can’t remember what year it is. I believe the 93 had the temperature sensor at rear of block near firewall? This one didn’t have the spot for it, so I ended up drilling and tapping a spot for the sensor in the the t-stat housing
 
93redzj said:
Also, previous owner of this Jeep did tell me motor wasn’t original. I believe it’s newer just can’t remember what year it is. I believe the 93 had the temperature sensor at rear of block near firewall? This one didn’t have the spot for it, so I ended up drilling and tapping a spot for the sensor in the the t-stat housing
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The back of the head has a port for the temperature sending unit. The sensor in the t stat housing is the one used by the PCM.
ZJs never used a temp gauge that relied on a sending unit. So their heads didn't have that 1/8" port in them.
Yes, I'm a bit of a nerd.
*The 93-94 ZJ head may have had a plug in that port. But no sender*
 
Jody Treadway said:
The back of the head has a port for the temperature sending unit. The sensor in the t stat housing is the one used by the PCM.
ZJs never used a temp gauge that relied on a sending unit. So their heads didn't have that 1/8" port in them.
Yes, I'm a bit of a nerd.
*The 93-94 ZJ head may have had a plug in that port. But no sender*
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Ah man, is there any difference in the 93 XJ 4.0?? I have an XJ now instead of the ZJ from back when I created my account…..my understanding was the 93 XJ 4.0 had the sensor in back of head but the newer 4.0 only had it at front? Maybe mine had it at front and I didn’t realize it. I ended up just tapping the t-stat housing for an aftermarket sensor
 
93redzj said:
Ah man, is there any difference in the 93 XJ 4.0?? I have an XJ now instead of the ZJ from back when I created my account…..my understanding was the 93 XJ 4.0 had the sensor in back of head but the newer 4.0 only had it at front? Maybe mine had it at front and I didn’t realize it. I ended up just tapping the t-stat housing for an aftermarket sensor
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Your XJ has a sending unit on the back of the head. It provides a ground for the gauge to work.
The ZJ and XJ both have the ECT sensor in the thermostat housing. They each use its signal for PCM strategies. On the ZJ, the PCM sends the ECT signal to the BCM and cluster for gauge operation.
 
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