Mdbond44

Hello. I have a 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee. I have had an issue recently where I came to a stop at a light and the car turned off. It sputtered and would not start afterward. About an hour later, it started up and I was able to get home. It then did the same thing when I was backing out of my driveway a few days later. The car now sputters and fails to start. I tried jumping it with no success. The battery is pretty new. Does anybody have ideas about what the problem could be?

I have heard Jeeps are notorious for their electrical problems. I will also note that I had a problem about a year ago where it simply would not start for days. I was going to give up on it, but in a last ditch attempt, I moved around some wires in the back right of the engine and it started up after that. The car has started roughly about a third to a half of the time for years now, but other than a few incidents, has started up after a few moments. I dont know if there is simply a bad wire or ground somewhere (like a more complicated version of when headphones stop working unless bent a certain way lol). I am just speculating, but I do wonder if it could be something small like that.

Any and all thoughts would be helpful as my car is stranded at a friends place far from home and all local mechanics I have contacted are backed up for weeks. Thanks so much!

Sworvoo

Your in the wrong forum.

That Jeep Guy XJMJ

^ Ouch, good advice ^

I would inspect the area of wiring in the back corner of the engine bay for bare/broken wires. If it was a consistent problem before maybe it's the same problem but whatever was going on is now worse as in what was frayed or nearly broken is now completely broken.

Peel back the wire loom, clean the wires so you can see them clearly This doesn't take much more than a razor blade for the loom tape, time and patience.

Jim Malcolm

Although the timing on these 4.0s isn't adjustable, a timing light or ignition tester is invaluable for troubleshooting issues like this. Next time it acts up, slap the timing light or ignition tester on there and verify that you have spark. Spark + fuel, that's all it it needs. One quick test will generally show which is the problem...

cruiser54

Not anymore. I moved the thread.

Mdbond44

Sorry about that.
I will try to take a closer look at the wiring. The coating around has frayed and broken through in many places, but the wiring seemed intact.
Any other thoughts and advice would be appreciates. Thank you!

cruiser54

Repair known issues first.

Sworvoo

hmmm, perhaps a little harsh but I did kick off some action on the thread at least.

JohnnyMc3

I actually had a Mercedes Benz that did the exact say thing. It wound up being a bad relay, I don't recall which one but it was a slow trouble shoot. Like yours, it ran fine until all of sudden it didn't, and then 30 minutes or so it was back to running okay again. I'm pretty sure the problem with the relay was heat related, it would get hot and whatever was inside (I'm thinking some sort of contact) would gap too far, and in the case of my car it would suddenly lose all power and die. Once it cooled off it would start right up and run perfectly. One other thing to check, I don't know if a 2004 Grand Cherokee has a MAS, but when they get dirty they can cause all kinds of sporadic performance issues.