seadevil3

Well hello to everyone here, I am brand new to this forum and owning a jeep. I recently bought a 1997 cherokee 4.0 that was sitting in a friends driveway for years. I am a mechanic at a golf course so I have a shop and tools, lift, ect to work on this. I have always wanted a jeep and doing some research and seeing them around town i wanted an XJ. One day i ran into this fella who had that jeep and said its been sitting there for years and that he was an original owner. he thinks it has 130k on it but 5 plus years ago the freeze plug or something like that went out on him and they had to pull the entire engine to get to it so at that point he had all the gaskets and the engine gone through. he cant remember full details but i thought to myself great should be good to go in a way. i did some more homework on cherokees and saw rust was a big issue, so i crawled under and besides the drive shafts and the common surface rust areas on any vehicle, there was none and i mean no rust at all. the interior was the big issue as it has mold and mildew and bees nests all in it but i didn't care because my wife and i are going to turn this into a beach jeep, possible rip carpets and headliner out and rhino line everything for an easy hose out clean up, and also mountain/trail jeep to camp with, yes i know in the long run, but doesn't hurt to dream lol. so back to the jeep, he told me he had to crank it 2 years ago in his driveway to move to install a pool but it has been sitting sense. so i did the routine checks of fluid and it had oil, no burnt smell and decent color. collant was greenish pulling the radiator cap but a dark rust color in the overfill tank, and trans fluid seemed ok. Bought the jeep for $500, clean title and no damage reports on it but cracked windshield, i can post pics of everything once i get a little more savvy with this forum. so i haven't been able to sleep as i have been working on the jeep for the past few days, all day long, i changed battery, oil, coolant,( just the radiator flush, as i will do it a few more times if the jeep can start) and i dropped the fuel tank and drained the gas and used 3 gallons of white distilled vinegar to clean it out and let it sit and dry all day and i was able to grab rags and stick my hand in the fuel pump hole and wipe what i could and it was very clean. fuel pump seemed ok, i didn't hook it up to a power source to see or hear if it was working, my mistake. put the tank back in and hooked up vac line, fuel line and plug to the pump just fine. i blew air through the fuel line, after disconnecting the line at the fuel rail up in the engine bay, i put a small piece of rag it the entrance of the fuel line and blew air to see if the line was clogged and the air blew the little piece of rag out, at the other end of the fuel line in the engine bay. i was blowing the air where the fuel line meet the fuel pump hook up. i had to spray some penetrating oil in the key switch to get the key to turn to the on and start positions. my instrument panel has no power, aka nothing is working on it, my interior lights work with the door opens and the engine will turn over and i don't hear any banging, everything sounds good to go expect i am getting no fuel. i crank on it for a few cranks and try to bleed air in the line at the valve on the fuel rail but no air nor fuel at all. i did it a few more times and nothing. my background is boats and diesel, so i didn't know if there was air to be bleed in the lines or not. after a few more times i popped the fuel line at the rail again and bone dry. i tried an external fuel tank, gravity fed, but its hard with one person lol. still no fuel in rail so i even tried starting fluid through throttle body and nothing. please any and all advice

psf4x4

Most people aren’t going to read those three pages to find out you don’t have fuel and maybe not spark.

Search and read. Rinse and repeat.

I just got an XJ two months ago and In my free time I read the forums. Found a lot of stuff.

I don’t have any fuel issues but I’ve ran across enough topics about it on here that I know what the senior guys are going to tell you.

Make sure fuel pump is clicking on when you turn the key on.

if not check the easy stuff like fuses. There’s a relay under hood and I believe one inside.

check connections for corrosion.

last thing I will say is if you’ve got mold then the insides has been wet. I’d pull the carpet and seats to really see if you have rust.
good luck and enjoy.

lawsoncl

If the injectors are not getting +12 volts on one side, check the auto-shutdown relay. Do you have fuel pressure, or can you hear the pump run when you first key-on? The pump should run briefly to do an initiate prime, and if the computer is seeing the engine rotating. I halfway suspect you have a bad ignition switch though. Radio, etc turn on?

seadevil3

Thank you, ya I am excited and just wanted to give y'all most information as much as I can. I haven't fully looked at everything but underneath so far so good. I just want a guiding point lol and just some fyi knowledge of xjs.

seadevil3

THe radio clock tries to turn on a sec but goes off after like 5 sec. No power to fan or switched on radio

4.3L XJ

Just a suggestion, make a seperate thread for each related problem and work on one at a time. You will get better results on a forum like this that way

seadevil3

Great idea thank you, what I'll do is when I have time and money is keep up dating this and I'll check fuses and power to fuel pump and injectors

lawsoncl

With the accessories not powering up I would start checking fuses.

The key switch being stuck and no accessory power also makes me suspect the ignition switch. Here's a good tutorial for removing and replacing it. Note you will need a set of security torx. You might be able to backprobe the connector once you have the steering cover off without having to remove the switch itself.
Here's the pinout out of the ignition switch connector for checking if you have voltage on the right wires when turning the key.

seadevil3

Thank you for this I'll check tomorrow, I'll keep y'all updated as I go and send updated pictures, like a new paint job, doing it myself and so forth on my account.

seadevil3

Checked my fuses and relay's, turned out my fuel pump relay was bad so now my instrument cluster is working and my radio works just not windows yet but i also checked for spark and wasn't getting any so I changed out the distributor cap and pickup and ignition coil, now I'm still not starting. I bleed the pressure on the fuel rail and fuel comes out but doesn't shoot out with pressure. Could that be my issue? Would that be a failing fuel pump/ bad pump or what else am I missing. I only put 5 gallons in my tank.

4.3L XJ

I would need a gauge to figure out the fuel pressure for sure. As far as the spark, see if you really have it. If not, the cam position sensor is probably the reason

seadevil3

What should be my fuel pressure be?? Also if it's not up to par, should I replace the pump? Would it be the pump if not the correct pressure, I'll check for leaks too. I have the old school spark tester with the light lights up on each spark....I don't get any spark light as I'm turning engine over?? Should I??

psf4x4

Sounds like you answered your own question about spark. There are several ways to check spark on a plug.

4.3L XJ

Fuel pressure should be about 33 pounds

lawsoncl

Fuel pressure on a 97 should be at least 40-psi, usually closer to 50. Older Renix would be lower at idle because it has a regulator that's connected to engine vacuum.