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totally stock 96 XJ sport 4wd I6 93K cuts out loses power

G

gordoribm

NAXJA Forum User
Location
PHOENIX
We have owned since new. I have been chasing this problem for a couple of months but cannot seem to solve it. No check engine light- light does work with key on and engine stopped
> Seemed to be fuel starvation so dropped tank, cleaned it out and replaced pump, fuel pressure regulator and filter .. no change in cutouts
> drove it at 70 on freeway for 100 miles with flawless performance so figured fuel pump and injectors were operating
> After reading other posts replaced crank position sensor .. seemed to help some but problem never went away.
> questioned cam sensor and original ignition so I replaced the distributor with new (not rebuilt) including rotor, cam sensor, plugs and wires jeep didn't like this last change and cuts out more than ever even stalled once at idle today.
we don't trust it in heavy traffic or on the freeway.

considering coil replacement ? with no codes I wouldn't expect MAF or TPS but what else could it be? I need to fix the rear main seal and AC but need to fix this flaky engine first. need ideas and experience The 96 late manufacture (10-96) seems to be unique with its dizzy and coil so generic posts don't always help
 
A coil swap is easy and something to consider.

But with a 96 which is OBDII, I would also consider putting a scan tool on it and driving it. Then review the freeze frame data after the engine dies to see if that yields clues as to what dropped out as the engine died.

Time to start using some technology to determine root cause.
 
I too would suspect the coil, especially if the cutting out
happens after it's been driven awhile and warmed up.

These intermittant cut-outs are hard to diagnose...
 
thanks for the technology recommendation. I got one of those bluetooth OBDII readers and bought Torquepro from google play. I can now see all the sensor parameters that the 96 jeep sends to OBD. Unfortunately a fuel pressure gauge is not in the 96 jeep nor is any direct cam sensor indicator. I can see manifold temp and pressure, RPM, both O2 sensors, coolant temp, fuel flow rate, fuel trim bank 1, throttle position, timing advance and all kinds of trip and fuel time-speed-distance as well as integrated GPS data.
All very nice but doesn't help my hesitation-skip and stall. As expected the tach drops whenever there is a skip; the O2 sensors jump up and down whenever there is a skip but I don't know if that is because of unburned fuel or lack of fuel- cause or result of the skip.
Any suggestions of what to look for next? I checked the new plugs and wires reseated all and I can't find any wiring harness. How to test an intermittent coil or the cam sensor?
 
I have had two cam sensors fail, and both times they
triggered a code. Even had an intermittant cut-out
like you described, and it still set a code, even though
the vehicle still ran.

You can test a coil with an ohmmeter, but it can test good
and still be faulty when it warms up. I dislike throwing
parts at a problem....maybe someone else can suggest
something...?
 
I went down to NAPA and bought their best coil for the XJ. Strange mounting; the coil was bolted to a bracket with nuts that can spin on the back. Almost impossible to reach with a wrench and since I didn't know there were spinning nuts I turned and turned trying to get the 10MM bolts out. Finally removed the bracket from the bottom and the coil came right out the top. After a drive of ten miles with no misbehaving I an ready to turn over to twenty something daughter to test. Fingers crossed that after several hundreds of dollars in parts and much effort a simple coil replacement solved the problem.
Now for front and rear main seals and an AC compressor since it was 102 yesterday
 
Sounds like you fixed it; good job.

I know what you mean about that coil bracket.
 
gordoribm said:
We have owned since new. I have been chasing this problem for a couple of months but cannot seem to solve it. No check engine light- light does work with key on and engine stopped
> Seemed to be fuel starvation so dropped tank, cleaned it out and replaced pump, fuel pressure regulator and filter .. no change in cutouts
> drove it at 70 on freeway for 100 miles with flawless performance so figured fuel pump and injectors were operating
> After reading other posts replaced crank position sensor .. seemed to help some but problem never went away.
> questioned cam sensor and original ignition so I replaced the distributor with new (not rebuilt) including rotor, cam sensor, plugs and wires jeep didn't like this last change and cuts out more than ever even stalled once at idle today.
we don't trust it in heavy traffic or on the freeway.

considering coil replacement ? with no codes I wouldn't expect MAF or TPS but what else could it be? I need to fix the rear main seal and AC but need to fix this flaky engine first. need ideas and experience The 96 late manufacture (10-96) seems to be unique with its dizzy and coil so generic posts don't always help
Click to expand...

I was having terrible luck with my 93 and it cutting out with zero warning. Just one day driving on the highway and it turned off no hesitation. After a few more times it wouldn't start again. No CEL or anything. After looking at schematics and diagrams I tested everything connected to my auto shut down relay, fuel pump relay, bypass relay, CPS, 02 sensor, etc. you name it.

After close inspection to the ECU a few of the posts on the computer were not making a good connection i.e. wiggled loose and after getting a used one offline the jeep is happy again. I would have never thought the ECU or wiring would be the culprit since everything under the hood is clean and untouched but it was. Just something to think about if you get any more trouble.
 
The coil replacement almost fixed it but occasional stumble still occurs. I had to move several wires out of the way when I changed the coil and wonder if there is a bad wire in there somewhere. I will disassemble the cam sensor connector and clean that up and put some anticorrosion grease on it. I put heat shrink over the connections to keep them locked together and clean of dust. I will look at the connections to the ECU too
 
I would clean up all of the grounds at the dip stick tube to engine block. Maybe even add one from firewall to head, and dipstick tube to body.
 
I pulled the connections to the ECU and all are very clean and appear to be making good connectons. There are two strong grounds to the engine block on the coil mounting bracket. Just about given up at this point. Still no codes !!
my local JY has no 96XJ. I am going to do the rear main seal and the front seal since both are leaking then fix the AC. Does anybody have any experience with these rebuilt or reflashed ECUs I see on EBAY and Amazon ?
 
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