xj wont start... help

gboroxj

Active Member
Joined
Jan 24, 2010
Location
Greensboro
when i was leaving my girlfriends house tonight i went to my car and went to crank it. strater was trying to turn over but engine would not do anything. the gauges did not work either. said i had no gas and nothing coming off the battery. i have a half tank and i all the lights were on and cd player running. Fuel pump is semi broken and has been for about two months. it runs out of gas around a quarter tank and runs a little rough for the first thirty seconds of driving like it gets air in fuel lines till it gets going then it runs perfect. i took out my ac compressor the other day and have a blank pulley in its place. where do i start? i need this thing fixed because i am trying to sell it cause i need a truck for my job. please help!
 
X2 Starter was "trying to turn over" = weak battery? Maybe have a short/batt drain somewhere? If it turns the engine at speed not the batt.
 
but all the lights were still working fine and cd player was too.the starter is trying to turn the engine on but just cant is what is happening. cause it sits there and just does the starter squeal as long as i hold the key over. i described the starter wrong i belive. the starter was trying to turn the engine over with no luck.
 
*So you turn the key and the starter just spins high speed and engine doesn't turn over?

Sounds like the bindix gear on the starter isn't engaging the flywheel. Test battery voltage. If ok, smack the starter a couple times with a hammer and try again. If that doesn't work then take starter off Jeep and have it bench tested.
 
ok thanks at least now i have somewhere to start. ill try jumping it first then will move over to the starter. thanks alot i will update sometime today.
 
have not fixed yet but 99% sure i got the problem figured out. i am pretty sertain it was fuel pump. with key turned over i pushed in the fuel pressure check valve with a screw driver and it just trickled out a little bit onto the intake manifoild. also when turn the key over the fuel pump makes no noise so it is not priming at all. also with prior problems with fuel pump though it was a good shot it was it. bought pump now just have to find some time to drop tank and put it in. thanks for your help though. i will update once done to make sure this was the problem. still dont know why this would cause none of the gauges to work but oh well we will see i guess. if this fails to work i will try the fuel pressure regulator then the crank shaft positioning sensor.
 
ugh. Go ahead and blow your money away. I can't stand it when someone just shotguns it.

TROUBLESHOOT IT! Save yourself 100's of $ and hours of time! How hard is that?

Check fuel pressure at fuel rail with a gauge. Look up the spec and do a leakdown test for fuel pressure. Check the fuse for fuel pump?

Might be an ignition switch if the engine isn't turning over with it.
 
turn it over an check and see if it has fire to the spark plugs and listen for the fuel pump if the fuel pump doesnt cut on an theres no spark its your ignition switch
 
i will check for spark before installing fuel pump so it can still be returned. guy at auto zone told me if i pushed the pressure gauge in and fuel did not shoot out a few feet it was either pump or pressure regulator. i then squeezed the back line that goes back to gas tank off with vise grips where it was rubber and still just a little bit trickled out of the fuel rail. he also told me to listen for pump to kick in and it did not i heard nothing. so he assured me i had a bad fuel pump. but since i am hearing this about ignition switch i will check for spark with screw driver before i install pump. yall could be saving me some money so thank you. but to clarify if i do not get a spark then it is the ignition switch? oh and the reason i think it is fuel pump is because i have been running out of gas at a quarter tank for the last two months or so and from what i have researched this is a good sign of a fuel pump about to go out
 
thank god for nc 4x4. thanks russ and xj, looks like yall are saving me some good money. no spark either. i am now deffinatly agreeing ignition switch because of the gauges not coming up when turning over either. how hard is it to change? it is alot cheaper than that fuel pump probably the last time i listen to the guy at autozone without double checking here. cant say thanks enough
 
When the 97 XJs came out, they were notorious for electrical gremlins. Sorry I can't offer more than that. Sounds like these guys have you on the right track.

Sometimes electrical problems can be very difficult to track down. Having some basic electrical knowledge is very important. I've seen some strange things... fuses that were good, but weren't making good contact in the fuse box, poor connections between the fuse box and the underhood wiring, push on connectors with the terminals backed out, battery cables corroded all to pieces under the insulation, etc etc.

As mentioned above, a little troubleshooting goes a long way. ONE GOOD TEST IS WORTH A 100 OPINIONS. Start simple and work your way up. Test one thing at a time.

Let us know how it goes.
 
not ignition. im just gonna take it to a mechanic in the morning to save myself from dumping alot of money into it. probably cheaper in the long run when it comes to stuff i know nothing about (eletrical) but i will let everyone know what it was
 
Check your ground cable connection at the battery. Clean it up. I've seen bad grounds do a lot of strange shit.

Is it throw'n any codes?
 
Check all of your grounds. I had all kinds of trouble a while back and it was a loose ground. lights and radio worked but nothing else.
 
ok I got beat to it. Back when mine was doing weird shit CL wouldn't show any codes, but forgot to put a ground back on when the tranny was fixed and it was throwing a generic TCM code. Put the wire back on light went out.
 
okay well it throws no codes but i will check some of the major grounds tomorrow before towing it. which ones are yalls guesses? like the major ones?
 
well after a few days at the mechanic he has decided its a bad computer. wont send power to the asd relay. i could have never trouble shot that. but problem is you cant just swap one in. apparently the car knows if it has the right computer in it and wont run if it has one that does not have the same code or something. so two options 1 is to go dealership and spend a pretty penny and two is he might no i guy who can reset the code to what i need it to be one a used computer. any advice and has anyone ever had this issue?
 
gboroxj said:
well after a few days at the mechanic he has decided its a bad computer. wont send power to the asd relay. i could have never trouble shot that. but problem is you cant just swap one in. apparently the car knows if it has the right computer in it and wont run if it has one that does not have the same code or something. so two options 1 is to go dealership and spend a pretty penny and two is he might no i guy who can reset the code to what i need it to be one a used computer. any advice and has anyone ever had this issue?
Click to expand...
Not true. '97s weren't vin encoded. If you can find anyone with a 97 TJ or XJ, you can swap comps and give it a try.
 
really? well i might have to give my mechanic a call then. so as long as it comes out of a 97 xj or tj with a 4.0 and an aw4 it will be good?
 
Hadn't seen this, its pretty much the same problem Im having, fuel pump aint kickin drove it into shop, was fine, lower it and go to crank it, no fuel pump. So im thinking its a ground or bad connector. Just don't have the time to check it out, and I have very limited (Next to no knowledge) of electrical things either. Pretty much means convince my father, brother, or one of my buddies to check it out.
 
well my asd is what runs spark and pump so with neither working i stand no chance. i have orientation over at crown today gonna be working in the detailing shop at chrysler dodge jeep. maybe i will have an in on some parts pretty soon and not have to pay the huge dealership price
 
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