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Bad spark plugs?

NJblackdeath4x4

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Fords NJ
I've had a couple of problems with ignition lately, but everything has been fine for over a month. Today I was cruising around and I heard the subtle hiccup that would happen right before a stall and I knew right away to pull off the road. Sure enough a couple seconds later the Jeep shut off. It started back up right away and I got it home with it running inconsistently.

In the past the same thing would happen, but it wouldn't start for a couple minutes, and when it did it would run like crap, drive 10 feet and shut down again. This time I was able to start it up and drive it a couple miles home without another stall.

I was thinking about what it could be (last time it threw a code for CPS/CKS, I had replaced the crank sensor a week prior so I looked at the camshaft sensor and put it back and it had been running fine since :dunno:) and I'm thinking maybe if I had a bad spark plug it could fail to deliver spark to a cylinder, which is what that hiccup could be, and subsequently cause a stall.

Thoughts or ideas?

PS. How can I tell by looking at the plugs if one is bad?
 
Spark plugs pretty much work or do not. A single faulty plug would not shut down the engine.

The most common causes of random stalling are the Crankshaft Position Sensor and Camshaft Pickup.

The CranKshaft Position Sensor can be tested. Cheap CPS from Advance/IdiotZone/O'Reilly are often out of specifications or even failed right out of the box. Using Genuine Jeep parts or NAPA parts is you best bet.

Can we assume that all your tune-ups parts are fresh, that you have cleaned and checked all the wire connections, and that you have inspected all the sensor wires for damage and for chafed insulation ?
 
I had stalled out over the summer and replaced the crankshaft position sensor with a NAPA one. That didn't fix it and I had tried almost everything else and just said eff it I'll let a shop deal with it. They replaced the ignition coil and the ignition pickup (?).

It stalled again a couple months later (different symptoms and running problems) and when I got it home it was throwing a code for the two sensors. I was just inspecting different stuff under the hood and after removing and reinstalling what I thought was the camshaft position sensor it ran just fine. That was about a month ago. No problems till today.
 
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