Hello All,

I have been combing through the internet and these forums and I have been unsuccessful in finding the solution to my cherokee problems.

I have a 1998 grand cherokee with 136k mi. I had a complete tune last in Nov at 135k.

My issue is my car stalls out at any time with no warning. Its weird because you can't tell it's stalled for a while as the engine will stay on and all the dash lights, ac/heat, radio-everything remains on. You have to turn the car off and then restart it. No check engine light. I do notice that the rpms will drop to zero and you cannot accelerate. Sometimes it will 'jump' a little and then the rpms will jump back too normal and I can keep going.

Lately, it is having problems starting as well. Previously it would always start back up right away. However, the past week it will not and sometimes it won't start for up to 10 min. But when it does, its good and runs perfectly. Twice in the past few months, the lights will dim and the resume original brightness in the dash, but it didn't stall. I can definitely hear the furl pump turn on.

My roommate is a mechanic and he's checked it put for me, but the darn thing doesn't EVER stall when he works on it. I think he's starting to think I'm crazy. He cleaned thee throttle body and IAC. He checked the ASD relay. He checked the computer, even attempted the screw method we found online. Nothing. He did find the transmission fluid is leaking from somewhere, which we will try to take this weekend, but I dnt think that's the problem since the leak is new. However, I am not a mechanic.

Any advise our at least a point in the right direction wold be greatly appreciated. I love my jeep and I don't really want to get rid of her, but I'm not in a position to spend $1200+ to NOT fix the problem.

Thank you,

Hopeful?

 

Could be the pick up coil (NOT THE IGNITION COIL!), they will fail when the engine gets to operating temp and then after about ten minutes of cool down time the engine will restart and be ok for a while.

 

I think Busted has the answer. Check to make sure the pick-up coil is clean, securely mounted, and not corroded. I know about GM HEI systems, if the coil is not well grounded or has corrosion under it, it will do the same things you are experiencing. It's also something most people overlook when troubleshooting. Check it out!

We are talking about the coil inside the distributor.

 

Thank you! I will try this weekend and let you knower how it turns out.

 

mine did the same thing and i changed the cps and it never did i again $36 at autozone and thats with taxes

 

We checked the pick up coil, wasn't corroded but was dirty so we cleaned it . Tried to change the crankshaft sensor, but the 2/3 bolt we tried to remove was so badly corroded it stripped immediately. I'm taking it to my friend's shop tomorrow to change our. However, she already feels much better. The battery died and needed a jump, but lutheran that she feels much stronger and the engine is significantly more quiet than before. I drove around for about 30 min and there was no problem. . .day one. Lets see how she does tomorrow.

 

Thank you to everyone who responded. It has been 2 months and no more stalling, rpm issues!! The crankshaft sensor was the main culprit. Once we changed that out (which was no easy task) the stalling stopped. About 2 days later the check engine light came on: ignition coil and ignition pick up. Changed both out and now she runs better than before!! I can coast, I can floor it, I can put her on cruise control: no problems!! And the best part? $130 to fix it all!!