91 Died while running and won't restart...CPS?

I have a 91 4.0 that died on me on the way home. It seemed to be running fine and then all of a sudden I had no power and I was fortunate enough to coast it into a parking lot. I have checked and I am not getting any spark. I replaced my plugs, plug wires, dist cap, and rotor about a month ago with all Accel brand components. Sunday I replaced the distributor itself with one from Advance Auto and it started and ran fine until now. I only have 17 miles on the new distributor.

I am guessing I either have a bad distributor or I am reading and hearing that it could be the crank position sensor. I looked through my Haynes manual and found the procedure for checking the CPS (3 wire) but couldn't figure out which was terminal A and B so I checked all 3 combinations and they all gave me an open reading. I am not getting any check lights and I don't have any way to see if it is throwing codes. Does this sound like a CPS or a distributor or should I be checking something else?

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated

cps

crank position sensor probably. I died while moving once, it was a bad coil

this is what i usually do

1 turn the key foward,back,foward,back,foward and leave in this position. your ce light will flash codes

2 relive fuel pressure at the fuel rail and cycle the key back and forth. then re-check for fuel pressure

3 check for spark directly from the coil

Update: I just drove back to it and pulled the coil. I checked it with the meter as described in my Haynes manual and it seemed to check out alright. The casing of the coil is cracked though, I'm assuming that isn't good? I wanted to check for spark at the coil but being the only person there at 10:15 i couldn't actually check it. I guess I'll have to try it tomorrow afternoon. Thanks for the thoughts so far, any other ideas are welcome.

New Update:

I went back the the Jeep yesterday and checked for spark off the coil and didn't get any. I decided to try and replace the coil since the housing was cracked and since it isn't an expensive part. I installed it and plugged the wires in and it started...Great!.

It just left me stranded again tonight and fortunately I was with a buddy who had AAA (which i might get starting tomorrow at this rate) who had it towed back to my place for me. I am beginning to think I have a bad connection or wire. I am going to check the power wire for the coil tomorrow morning. Should it have 12v at all points in time, when the ignition is on, when cranking? I've checked the CPS and it tested OK, tested the same way as the new one I have sitting in a box just in case. Do CPS's act up intermittently or do they just go?

I am supposed to go wheeling in NH on Sunday with a group of KJ's, I really want this thing road worthy so I can represent.

The wiring/connector for CPS is usually the problem not the sensor itself. There's little or no current flowing through the CPS hall effect sensor coil so unless it get's physically damaged somehow, there's not much that goes wrong with a CPS sitting there.

There should always be 12Vdc on one terminal to the coil with ignition ON, cranking too. I finally removed the CPS connector and soldered the wires directly together and sealed with silicone tape. Never died from that problem again.

I just checked and I do have 12v coming from the ECU to the coil with the ignition on no matter how much I played with the wires to try and break the connection. At the suggestion of a friend I checked the Cam Position Sensor and I got the 5v across the connector that I was supposed to. Just for grins I plugged everything back up and cranked it, and taadaa it started again. I currently have it idling to get some juice back into the battery and to see if it will die on its own again. Next time I stop it I am going to put some dielectric grease on the CPS connector and see if that does anything.

you never said you checked the fuel pressure. This could be caused by a clogged fuel filter. Its a cheap part and if you haven't done it in a while, you should anyway.

I have not checked for fuel pressure yet because I wasn't seeing a spark. Would a lack of fuel pressure or a clogged fuel filter (12k on it) cause me to not have spark?

no, it shouldn't, however routine maintenance can solve alot of problems before you are stuck on the side of the road.

I've tried grease before too and no improvement. The only thing that helped me was to get rid of the connector. I'm starting to suspect that this era connector may have a bit/piece of insulation trapped under the crimp on the wire? It's such a widespread problem and even with clean connectors and dielectric grease it still happens until the sensor is hardwired.

Easy to check fuel pressure by a quick squirt from the schrader valve (NO SMOKING) but even the most severely clogged fuel filter rarely prevents start/idle. Based on 30 yrs wrenching, clogged filter is almost always a power issue.