axekick

I have the long start issue on my 97 Cherokee. I swapped the regulator on top of the tank but it still acts the same. I think I must need a pump but all the pumps on amazon have terrible reviews, even the carter and Delphi ones. Which one is my best bet?

TylerA23

I was / am in the same boat. Long start on my ‘98, and have to do the poor man priming every time. I saw the terrible reviews like you said, but also read reviews on this site and other. Bosch was the recommended every where, but good luck finding one. And if you do it’s $350+.

i got with a local Jeep group and a few local Jeep shops. The same carter and Delphi was recommended. I pretty much flipped a coin and went Delphi from rock auto. Came in the mail yesterday. I’m gonna try to knock it out this weekend or week.

axekick

Ah cool. Please let me know how it works out.

TylerA23

Well I hope you have better luck with your XJ than I do. Went to replace the fuel pump last night and I couldn’t get ANY of the hose clamps off. They were all too rusted, the ones near the fill hole and the ones closer to the tank.

the nuts on the bracket don’t wanna budge either. I’ve been hitting them all with Pb blaster for the last week too. I’ve read where some use heat on the bracket nuts, but I’m a little hesitant to use a torch near a gas tank, even if it is practically empty.

And to Start it all off , when I went to take the negative terminal off, the square side of the bolt rotated as if the the connector was a sponge allowing it to move. So they never loosened up, I had to pry the whole connector off the battery terminal.

Fun times haha.

looks like I’ll have to track down some new filler and vent hoses, so I can cut the existing ones. And possibly go to the junk yard and look for gas tank hangers so I can cut mine off.

The hoses seem prettybdifficult to come by too

Wrxsx4

How did you all determine it is the fuel pump? My 96 jeep is starting to act up. Crank and no start. However, I just got it started by fiddling with the wires outside of fuel tank and I beat on the tank a bit and it started. But then it started to idle rough and stall. It started again and now it's idling fine. A side note is that I put in some fuel injector cleaner the other day. Wonder if that has something to do with it...

318SixPack

Might be your fuel pump going bad, but also check you fuel pump relay.

Check your connector to the Crank Position Sensor, in addition to anything else you can think of. Disconnect it, clean it out with plastic safe electrical connector cleaner, load up all the little connector holes with dielectric grease, clean the gasket and spray with plastic safe silicone spray, reconnect. Maybe even run a zip tie around the short axis to make sure the long clip stays down and engaged.

Also good to do all this if you see an 11 code, not sure what else.

axekick

Dude, that sounds rough! I have dropped my tank once to do the regulator. I was able to get my fill and vent hoses off but I did break one of the hangers. I took a piece of the hanger with me to Home Depot to match the threads. They had a long carrier bolt that had the same thread. I bought the longest one and bent it at the head.. It fit in the slot and made a perfect hanger. So pick up a couple of those to solve one of your problems.

vroomvroom

I don't have a '97, but I do feel your pain. The '96 has attributes of the '95 and the '97 so this assembly is quite rare and you can only buy a '96 assembly. You can't buy a replacement regulator, you have to buy the whole assembly. Only 1 company makes the whole assembly still... Crown Automotive. And it ain't cheap.

Keep in mind, a lot of people buy products, but not a lot of people review the products they buy. Most of the reviews are negative because the people that didn't have problems didn't review the product.