I have a 1994 Jeep Cherokee, 4L I6, manual transmission, 2WD, 160,000 miles on it. I haven't used this Cherokee to go to work for the last three years, but I've used it around town and an occasional trip to the desert, round trip 150 miles. This week I drove the Jeep to work every day, 26 miles round trip. On Wednesday, going into work, heavy traffic, stop-and-go, the engine died as I braked to a stop. I cranked it, and it caught, no more trouble until Friday. Headed home, cruising at 65 MPH, and the engine died again. I was not braking or changing lanes, I was just cruising, no discernible bumps, no cruise control. I was in the second lane to the left, the engine cut out for perhaps a second, then caught again. I didn't notice the radio glitch, and it certainly didn't turn off. The instruments didn't do anything odd. Both times I had my headlights on, something I don't usually have to do when I'm going out to the desert. Any ideas?

All Help Greatly Appreciated

 

Have you checked it for any codes? When it shut off did it just die like you turned the key off? If so more then likely your CPS is on it's way out. Also check the coil for a good spark. If it is the CPS do yourself a big favor and get one from the dealer. After market one are normally bad right out of the box.

 

Its late, and going to sleep..but I would look into a new CPS and do a tune up and ground refresh, if not been done...Good preventative maintenance anyway.
Engine cutting out is either being deprived of fuel, interruption in the spark or (complete) failure in combustion. The intermittent character leans more towards electrical (sensor) issue imo.

 

Where would the Crank Position Sensor be on my model?

 

It's on the drivers side on the bell housing. You can see it from under the truck. If you do a search on here you can find a pic of it . I don't have the pic or I would post it for you.

 

Are the battery terminals/clamps clean? Alternator alting properly?
Aside from the sensors mentioned..... MAP sensors when failing can rear their ugly heads in the situation you have described.

 

You could unplug and plug in the crankshaft position sensor a few times. A weak connection can create problems. As mentioned earlier, your cps is on the bellhousing, drivers side. Use a flashlight and follow the wire(s) up to the wiring harness. It will have its own connector. You could also clean the contact surfaces while unplugged.

 

Hopefully I will get to this today.