i guarentee this is the most interesting xj story you have ever heard. worth reading

ok new dilema. after my last post. i went to the jeep. said my hail mary's and tried to start it. whamo. started right up. but again the pump kept running and running. i figured i would let it run for a lil bit to re-charge up the battery from all the cranking without any starting. after about 10 minutes i went to shut it off. nothing the darn thing kept going. i pulled the key out. darn thing ran like it was new..... ok so my first thought was oh great whats going to blow up now. i ran for the fire extinguisher. got back to the jeep. and it just sat there and purred like a cat. so i started by pulling the battery leads. darn thing still ran. but hey guess what the fuel pump shut off (ahahahahahahaha) so i started pulling plug wires 3,4, and 5. darn thing still ran. talk about trippy. so i was like great now what. i grabed a towel and shoved it in the air cleaner tube to choke it off by cutting its air.. gosh darn thing still ran. talk about a die hard. i never thought thats what it ment when i put the new battery in. (ahahahahahahahaha) this darn 90 xj limited is determined. finaly i got the rubber insulated gloves and pulled the coil. finaly died. never thought that when i said my hail marys and hoped to god that it would just start and run good that he would have cursed it with running good infinantly untill i ripped it's heart out. so anyways here come the questions...........

1. would a faulty ignition cause the fule pump to keep running?

2. there are no auto parts stores open in this lil hick town. how much can i expect to pay for a new one.

3. would you think its the actual key switch in the colum. or the switch down to the left of the colum.

4. i put the coil wire back on . do you think if i hook up the battery again it will try and start on me?

5. if i do hook the battery up and it trys' to start. that pretty much means it's in the ignition right?

although you would think a man would be royaly pissed at this situation. i cant help but laugh and laugh. everyone told me that the jeep xj was the most die hard. long running. determined vehicle for average off roading. who would have thought. it's nice to know that alot of crap can go wrong before it dies. it will practicly run without air. it will run on 3 cylinders. it runs strong with no battery. which show's the alternators in these thigs are strong. if i would have known these things were that tough it would have been my first vehicle and every vehicle after. so anyways can someone help me on the diagnosis?

This is a fuel injected motor, if teh pump stops even for a couple of seconds it will dre, it is supposed to run all the time. unless the key is shut off

I believe the ignition switch on the column must have a loose screw or be out of adjsutment for it to not shut off.

pray for it to stop running?

90xjpos said:

so anyways can someone help me on the diagnosis?

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Yes, but first you'll need to obtain a freshly-killed chicken, some coffee grounds (no filter), and black beeswax candles. Once you have those items, we can begin.
:firedevil:

casm said:

Yes, but first you'll need to obtain a freshly-killed chicken, some coffee grounds (no filter), and black beeswax candles. Once you have those items, we can begin.
:firedevil:

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ROFLMAO

Hey beleive me i have been there.... mine has done very MYSTERIOUS things and i swear its possessed by its previous owner that died... anyways the ignition switch odes tend to short out .. it sits on the base of the stearing collem(i kant spel today) and is about 12 bucks ... its very very easy to swap 4 bolts hold the collum in place and then its mounted there has a bunch of wires going in to it mine went bad and it was the 1st real repair i did to mine... why it would keep running with the fuel pump disco beets me its impossible for a fi engine to run once it loosese fuel pressure.... swap out your ignition switch... and lets go from there its a standard GM switch so most places stock it

casm said:

Yes, but first you'll need to obtain a freshly-killed chicken, some coffee grounds (no filter), and black beeswax candles. Once you have those items, we can begin.
:firedevil:

Click to expand...

LMAO Dude, that was wicked funny.

casm said:

Yes, but first you'll need to obtain a freshly-killed chicken, some coffee grounds (no filter), and black beeswax candles. Once you have those items, we can begin.
:firedevil:

Click to expand...

Bloody-well Possessed!
Drive a steel stake through the bugger's head while "IT" is asleep!!!

Re: i guarentee this is the most interesting xj story you have ever heard. worth reading

yeah i vote ignition switch too.

Re: i guarentee this is the most interesting xj story you have ever heard. worth reading

Un f'in real... I guess the ignition switch too. This 'un oughta go into the classics.

Re: i guarentee this is the most interesting xj story you have ever heard. worth reading

my vote is ignition switch also.. maybe you should have taken that vacation you've been thinking about since it was wanting to run and run and run and so on.... LOL

Re: i guarentee this is the most interesting xj story you have ever heard. worth reading

who could have thoght that story could have gotten any better. for kicks i attached everything i ripped out to try and kill the darn thing. and turned it over again. no i havent put the new ignition cylinder and key thingey in yet. anyways. again. for kicks started testing things to see what would work witht the ignition off and battery un pluged. i started by trying to kill it by pulling the plug on the ballist for the fuel pump. darn thing kept pumping. crawled underneath pull the in line plug thats 3 feet from the tank and right before it disapears into the body somewhere. and viola 3 seconds and it was dead. so i plugged it back in. started it again. for giggles i started pulling plug wires. in their firing order. darn thing kept running right down to two cylinders kept going untill i pulled the second to last plug. darn thing kept running on two cylinders for a good 30 seconds untill i pulled that 5th plug wire. i must say i am impressed. it still purred on 3 like a kitten. so needless to say if your ever out playing in the mud. and you think that your knocking because of a bad plug or two. you can rule that out. mine ran good on 3 cylinders. like nothing happened at all. of course i pulled them in firing order. i am so amped to get this thing the road (aka on the way to the bog's) that i was half way tempted to through up a tent outside of napa to be customer # 1 of the day and get this thing fixed. but yeah thats not goin to happen. there seeding the clouds in big sky country here so we got mad storms. so anyways on to my question now. the ignition switch is the expencive lil thing that is down and to the left of the coulm right? or is the part you stick the key into? (prayes for the 12.99 key cylinder to be the problem vs. the 149.99 part)

Re: i guarentee this is the most interesting xj story you have ever heard. worth reading

Ignition switch "should" be mounted on top of the steering column.
Easiesst acess ,you will have to remove the lower section of the dash,then there are bolts that hold the column to the dash can't remember if there are 2 or 4...anyway along with the ign switch and the dimmer switch both are in the same bracket..
When you install the switch,make sure that when you turn the key there is no
binding,key should be farily easy to turn off and on.There is a metal rod,column lock,make sure it also is in the right position,it also should not bind.It's not as hard as it sounds,you just gotta make sure there is no binding
after you get the new switch in.
Also,the bracket is held in place by the smallest little friggin screws JEEP could
come up with.
There should be no binding when you turn the key
There should be no binding when you use the dimmer switch

Re: i guarentee this is the most interesting xj story you have ever heard. worth reading

What about that “guarantee” thing? The only part I found interesting was the chicken thingy… :chef:

Re: i guarentee this is the most interesting xj story you have ever heard. worth reading

I replaced my ignition switch a couple of years ago and don't remember it being nearly as expensive as you mentioned. The key switch should be the expensive part and the actual switch down on the steering column that you probably need to replace should be the cheap one.
Good Luck

Re: i guarentee this is the most interesting xj story you have ever heard. worth reading

Bradlybob said:

I replaced my ignition switch a couple of years ago and don't remember it being nearly as expensive as you mentioned. The key switch should be the expensive part and the actual switch down on the steering column that you probably need to replace should be the cheap one.
Good Luck

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I'd x2 thsi as well. Had starting problems, and we replaced the ignition switch due to the fact it sat garaged for 3 yrs. Wasn't the problem, but I know that it'll not be a problem for a long while and the original still works so it's good for a spare.
Good luck and hope you get it going.

Re: i guarentee this is the most interesting xj story you have ever heard. worth reading

That mumbo jumbo fix by casm is kind of hit or miss. I have surefire method that works everytime. Just go to an old country church at exactly midnight, and then you run around the church in a counter clockwise direction for exactly 13 times without thinking of a mouse. Guaranteed to work, but you must'n think of a mouse or it won't work. Always works for me. Hmmm Don

Re: i guarentee this is the most interesting xj story you have ever heard. worth reading

my guess would be the fuel pump relay if it goes out it will feed power to the pump untill the coil is pulled it supplies power to half the dang jeep causing it too run and run. plus it will cause the bat to run down if not fixed and the price is less than $15 and1 minute to fix

Re: i guarentee this is the most interesting xj story you have ever heard. worth reading

Brother, name it Christine, and don't stand in front of it.

Re: i guarentee this is the most interesting xj story you have ever heard. worth reading

ok so a guy on here by the name of wilcharl got out a wiring diagram. said that the oarange and black wire from the fuel pump ran 3 places, the ballist, the starter relay and the o2 relay. said un-plug the ballist since i knew it wouldnt kill it. then pull the o2 sensor, see if it killed it. it didnt. then try pulling the oarange wire from the starter relay. so i did that. and viola. it died. so the starter relay has to be the problem. i didnt have the patianceto pull the bolt from the relay but i found where the oarange w/black wire came out of the harness and into this thing under the coil. so i pulled it there. and sure as crap. it worked. napa said they could have me one in 4 days. so finaly this weekend my baby get's to go run the trails. so this is my shout out to wilcharl. your a god amongst men. thanks a billion