XJ Trouble Starting

GimmieBoost

GimmieBoost

Active Member
Joined
Sep 7, 2008
Location
Lincolnton, NC
It's a 2000 Jeep XJ 4x4 with 140k miles. The starter briefly engages while the motor spits and sputters then the starter spins freely without engaging the flywheel. It only does it when the motor is warm like after getting gas or a quick run in to the store. Most of the time it starts perfectly and has never failed to start when cold. Even on the coldest mornings.

Is it definitely the starter or could it be something else? I'm taking it to a friend in a few weeks for him to replace the rear main seal and possibly the flywheel (either loose or cracked). I'm trying to sort all the little issues myself to save some money.

Thanks!
 
I would check your battery terminals and voltage drop while starting first before you replace that starter.
 
GimmieBoost said:
The starter briefly engages while the motor spits and sputters then the starter spins freely without engaging the flywheel.
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If the motor spits/sputters fast enough the bendix will disengage and spin freely, I believe. Does the starter then re-engage when you try starting it again? If not, wait 10-15 seconds and retry, does it engage then? It is possible you are missing one or few teeth on the flywheel. Mine is missing a few and sometimes I wait for the motor to decompress (after having spun it over and almost started) and move a little to hit a good flywheel tooth. As far as the sputter/spitting while starting it could be any number of things. Flywheel is probably not cracked around the crank though or you wouldn't be getting down the road ;) Bolts could be loose but it would rap at idle or getting on or off the throttle it would knock once or twice (inertia).
 
The starter engages every time I turn the key. It does have a small vacuum leak but it doesn't even effect the idle.

With the fly wheel, there's a knocking/rattling noise coming from that area. If I stand on the brake and barely give it throttle the noise almost completely goes away. I hear that the 4.0 has issues with the flywheel developing small cracks or coming loose.

I'll check the battery this evening after work.
 
Torque converter bolts may have backed out.. I've seen the holes egg shape for the TC but not shear/crack in my experience. I think you may have missed that I was saying the starter may spin but the starter gear doesnt engage the flywheel (either due to missing teeth/faulty starter bendix) when it fails to rotate the motor. Checking for missing flywheel teeth is pretty easy.. drop the dust cover off the trans and spin it with a ratchet/remote starter button and look for missing teeth (oh and then you could check the torque converter bolts too).
 
The starter engaged every time I turned the key but then would spin freely.

Turned out to be a bad battery connection at the terminal. It only appeared to be tight but the OEM connector wasn't holding that tiny 8 ga. wire tight enough.

So, today I replaced all the battery cables and grounds with some 6 ga. I had laying around.

I'll remove the dust cover in the morning if I can get motivated. Stupid acid reflux makes it hard to lay flat for extended periods of time.
 
hope for the best with the flywheel issue but give you a heads up...since all I work on is XJ's, they are very common for the flywheel to crack right around the circle of bolt pattern. I know, it sucks to go through all that just for a flywheel. hope you get lucky with TC bolts but if those are tight, plan on a trans removal job soon which some good advise from exp., spray the crap out of those 2 top inverted torx bolts days before you try them, not fun to get to. good luck!
 
88jeepster said:
hope for the best with the flywheel issue but give you a heads up...since all I work on is XJ's, they are very common for the flywheel to crack right around the circle of bolt pattern. I know, it sucks to go through all that just for a flywheel. hope you get lucky with TC bolts but if those are tight, plan on a trans removal job soon which some good advise from exp., spray the crap out of those 2 top inverted torx bolts days before you try them, not fun to get to. good luck!
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Thanks for the tip! I have to replace the rear main seal anyways. Even if it's just loose bolts should I replace the flywheel anyways while every thing is apart? If it's this common I don't want to have to pay someone to pull the trans twice. I plan on keeping this Jeep a while.

Thanks!
 
It failed to start again today. Battery is good along with the connections. I pulled the dust cover and no missing teeth, no visible cracks, and the four bolts for the torque converter are tight.
 
Faulty bendix drive if you are hearing the starter spin and not engage and no missing teeth.

Rear main can be done leisurely in 2 hours with jackstands, no need to pull the transmission off the engine (turning the crank while pushing on the seal will help spin it out, lube the new one gratuitously before install).

If the fuel rail is getting heat soaked it will be hard to start, don't rightly remember if those were prone to that issue. Fuel pump check valve could be starting to go out, or the fuel pressure regulator.. oh wait a second, thats integrated onto the pump module on yours. Could be a poor connection issue with the CKP or CPS, faulty ignition coil, poor plugs.. I'm assuming the check engine light is not lit. Plugged cat maybe? (About the sputtering/spitting on hot start)
 
Could the sputtering be the starter engaging and disengaging rapidly? No check engine light and it runs fine other wise. I saw where 87-98 starters are about half the cost as mine and the only difference is the connector for the signal wire, right? May just replace the starter and see what happens.
 
GimmieBoost said:
Could the sputtering be the starter engaging and disengaging rapidly? No check engine light and it runs fine other wise. I saw where 87-98 starters are about half the cost as mine and the only difference is the connector for the signal wire, right? May just replace the starter and see what happens.
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You need to replace that starter before It does damage your flywheel.
 
replace starter, cheap enough and easy enough to replace first, and yes you can buy the older ones and just change the connector. second, no heat soak issue with the xjs, however the filter which on your model is in the tank as one unit with sending unit, those are known to give issues on start ups as far as delayed starts. and yes, if you're gonna take trans/motor out for any reason and plan on keeping the jeep, need to replace the flywheel anyways if it's not cracked. over time, the 4.0 being high torque engines and motor mounts and trans mounts wearing out, it puts more strain on the flexplate hence why they crack and that's why the Grand Cherokee added those stiffener bars to both sides of motor to transmission to help reduce that from happening and It worked cause I've only seen one GC have cracked flywheel out of a dozen or so.
 
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