Brynjaminjones

Hi all,
I've recently started another thread (HERE) about my '98 XJ running too hot when towing. That is its own issue, but it ultimately leads to what I'm about to talk about here. I've kept the threads separate as I believe they're separate issues.

My XJ runs absolutely great. It starts up first time, every time. The idle is so smooth that you can't really tell it's running. The transmission shifts exactly as it's supposed to. Power is good and generally it never skips a beat - drivetrain wise it runs and drives exactly as it did 17 years/145,000 miles ago when we bought it.
The issue comes when it gets a little too hot.

It's only happened to me twice, but when it gets hotter than normal it will stall, then refuse to restart. It happens once the gauge gets all the way to the first line above 210. It did it to me this weekend when it got hot whilst towing, and it did it to me once 7 years ago (the last time it got this hot).

The engine literally shuts off like somebody turned the key, then it refuses to restart. It will crank, but not fire.
Once it cools down a bit, it restarts like nothing was ever wrong.

I figure that it must be a sensor getting heat soaked. After I got it restarted this weekend, I drove about an hour to a rest stop. It was running hot when I got there, but not hot enough to shut down by itself. When I came back to it, it had heat soaked enough that it wouldn't restart, so I had to wait 5 minutes with the hood open. After that, it started fine and drove another 3 hours home.

Has anybody ever had something similar happen, or able to advise where to look? I don't want to start using the parts cannon without figuring out the problem first!

Roler

Whatever heat related issue it is going to be, your solution is most likely going to be in the other thread...

Brynjaminjones

I'm pretty confident these are two separate issues. It shouldn't be getting warm in the first place (the other thread), but equally it shouldn't be suddenly stalling when it does get 5-10 degrees warmer than usual (this thread)!

cruiser54

Next time it happens, pour a cup of water on the CPS and see if it starts up.

Roler

Cold water that is

Roler

I think if you get the one fixed you don't have to chase the second, is what I'm saying.

CPS as Cruiser mentioned can give heat related issues. A coil can do that too. Just to name too, G knows what else.

Brynjaminjones

I definitely understand what you're saying. If the Jeep doesn't overheat, it doesn't cut out - simple! As mentioned earlier, it's been 7 years since it last did it!

With that said, I don't like that there's another issue lurking, and I'd rather have some overhead for it to run a little warm before dying completely, so want to do my best to fix both issues.


Thanks both for the CPS advice. My mind went straight there too, but I've never had to touch it before. If it does it again, I'll try some water.