To index the rotor, bring the engine to TDC on cylinder one. Your timing marks on the balancer should be lined up on 0. When you put in the ignition pickup, it was indexed with a cylinder 1 mark. With rotor installed it should be lined up on that mark. Check your coil supply wire. Mine had broke at the weather pack connector causing a very similar issue. To check, move the wires around at the coil while cranking. A bad neutral safety switch had nothing to do with spark. If it goes, it acts like there's no starter in the truck. IOW, turn the key to start and nothing happens.

 

Thanks Jeepfan93. I'm thinking the indexing is probably fine, but I'll definitely check the wire connections. I have checked the voltage to the coil before and I believe it was alright, but I'll check again anyway.

I just remembered this Cherokee has an aftermarket alarm system that has given us problems in the past. When it goes on lockdown, it doesn't allow any cranking at all. Nothing happens when the key is turned in lockdown mode... but I'm thinking it could be acting up because it could have possibly gotten wet...? Who knows.

 

Any thoughts on the aftermarket alarm system?

 

bypass it to make sure it's not giving you a hard time.

 

Ok I'm about ready to take this thing to the dealer.

Today I re-checked all fuses and swapper relays around. Those seem fine.

I checked a removed a few ground connections, including the main battery negative ground, and reconnected them making sure that they were tight.

I checked the plugs for senors looking for anything that could be broken and everything seems fine. I moved them around while cranking and that didn't do anything. There are a crap-ton of wires and connections though, so it is possible that I could have missed something.

I also checked the voltages coming to the coil and sensors. Here's what I got:

11v coming to the ignition coil when cranking
5v coming to the CPS when cranking (and when not cranking..?)
5v coming to the Pickup Coil when cranking (and possibly when not cranking)

Jeepfan93 - when your wire broke a the weather pack, how obvious was it? Was it dangling, or not even noticeable?

 

Well you're certainly checking enough things. When you check the crank and cam sensor, on both the middle goes goes to ground make sure it ohms out to battery ground. The 5 volts you see on each is the supply from the ECM. The return wires will fluctuate between 5 and 0 volts, BUT you need to check them with an analog meter and turning the motor over by hand, not the starter. It happens too fast for a DVOM to see. As far as the weatherpack, it wasn't obvious at all. In fact I had the connector off a few times to check voltage. I got lucky and it started after reconnecting it one time. I then took a paint stirrer and moved the wire while it was running and it shut off and wouldn't start again till I jacked the wire in the connector. It wasn't till after I cut it out to put the new one in that I could a nik in the wire. I would remove the aftermarket security system, ensuring the start disable is fixed and back to factory.

 

I know this thread is like 4 years old. But I'm running out of options here. My 1999 cherokee is having the same exact problems and I have changed and tested the same stuff you have already
Cap. Rotor. Wires. Plugs. Crank position sensor. And pickup inside dist. I also swapped in a known good ECM to try it still won't start.

Since it's been 4 years now, did you ever figure out what it was???

 

Yep, sure did. The crank position sensor has a magnet inside of it. The flywheel has a number of notches around the perimeter that are the exact size and shape as that magnet. I think they're timing marks, but I'm not 100% sure.

Anyway, the crank sensor plastic melted and the magnet was pulled out, right into one of those notches on the flywheel. This must have thrown the timing off, which is why it seemed like it was going to start so many times, but just didn't quite get there.

I found the magnet by having my friend turn the flywheel (huge wrench on the crank bolt) while I watched it with a phone camera + flashlight. It was really hard to see (dark and dirty), and I actually thought it was just some grease so I kept trying to diagnose elsewhere.

I finally gave up and took it to a mechanic. After two hours, he called me and said had no idea what it was. At that point I remembered the "grease" in the flywheel, so I threw it out there as a hail mary. Two minutes later he called back: "I just stuck a screwdriver in there and a magnet came out!"

So yeah, check that flywheel!

 

I had similar problems, but my cps was ok. It turned out, for me, to be my anti-theft system. For me the fix was to make sure a window was open so that I could get back in if it locked up on me. I then pressed lock on the remote hanging off the key chain. It didn't fully lock. So I pressed it again until the red light on the top of the dash began blinking. I waited until the blinking slowed down to its normal rate, waited a few more seconds, then pressed unlock until the light was no longer blinking. Then I put my key into the door and let it sit there a second or two before turning it. It actually turned easily like it used to before getting out of sorts.

Then I got in, put the key into the starter and let it sit there for a second or two. Not yet starting it, I turned it until the dash lit up and I could press on the brake and shift my gear shift from park to first, leaving it there a second, then first gear back to park.

Then, I turned the key to start it, and it started very nicely.

I've had the fuel pump replaced, spark plugs, and spent over 900$ on the fuel pump and towing. But it was still doing this.

I believe the main problem is that when we accidentally lock the car, and then go to unlock it quickly, we dont give the computer time to read all the sensors and it disrupts the system somehow.

I've had this happen before last year, but somehow it never got this bad. Maybe I was just luckier last year. The gear shift locator may be failing, but someone else has said that resetting the gear shift may actually be part of the anti-theft reset process. Probably not, but it worked for me. I truly believe the most important part of resetting the anti-theft software is allowing the car time to be fully engaged in the security process before turning it off.

Good luck, I hope this helps someone.

By the way, I love my Jeep.

 

I indexed the dissy and that's good. I inspected the flywheel. That was good. Got this week before I need to either figure it out or bring it to a shop :/