Jerry_h
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Minneapolis, MN
I have a 95 XJ sport with the 4,0 aw4 and 242 that I picked up last june as a daily driver for $800. 200k miles last june, 219k now. I wanted to share with you guys a problem that has occured on this XJ. I drive this thing about 400 miles a week for work and it has been really reliable until this last month. It died on the way home about a month ago. no symptoms, just going down a smooth highway it died and wouldnt restart. Troubleshooting along the highway a quick visual check didnt reveal anything, had fuel but no spark. Started checking the coil wire and it just pulled out ouf the coil without the connector. Kinda crispy. Called the wife and had her bring me a set of spark plug wires. After replacing the wires and it not starting, had it towed home( on the insurance). Checked it out in the driveway and found the metal contact on the rotor had melted off Ok, new cap and rotor and she was up and running. I said to my self that I should replace the plugs too but decided to save that for another day. She ran fine and Im getting 19-20 MPG around town.. I'm happy. This past week, this time only a couple of miles from home it starts to sputter, backfire and then dies. coasted to a side street and pulled under a nice shade tree. I dont really carry any tools in this one so I called my buddy to give me a quick tow home. This saturday I finally had time to work on it. Had a spare CPS and since I had just replaced the common ignition parts I figured it was most likely the CPS. After that chore was done it wouldnt start.
OK back to basics. Checked for fuel..good, checked for spark ....not good. Looked at plugs these things were so worn that the gap was probably 90 thousandth. Good thing was that their color was good and no other damage to the plugs. Pulled the distributor cap and found the rotor had failed again. My guess is that the gap on the plugs created so much load (high resistance)that it melted the metal tab on the rotor got so hot that it melted the plastic.
My lesson is, dont assume anything when troubleshooting, start at the beginning and eliminate all the possibilities. It can be more than one problem. Obviously the rotor failure was easy, but if I hadnt looked at the spark plugs I wouldn't have known that they needed replacing and would have had another rotor failure later, IMHO. I kept the old CPS as a trail spare, since I have two 95 XJ's.
Now I cant wait to see what my gas milage will be!
Jerry H
95 XJ 2 Dr Sport, 4.0, 232 , aw4, Airock, locked & 33x1250 mtrs, D44 & CV rear discs
95 XJ 4 dr Sport, 4.0, 242, aw4, DD
OK back to basics. Checked for fuel..good, checked for spark ....not good. Looked at plugs these things were so worn that the gap was probably 90 thousandth. Good thing was that their color was good and no other damage to the plugs. Pulled the distributor cap and found the rotor had failed again. My guess is that the gap on the plugs created so much load (high resistance)that it melted the metal tab on the rotor got so hot that it melted the plastic.
My lesson is, dont assume anything when troubleshooting, start at the beginning and eliminate all the possibilities. It can be more than one problem. Obviously the rotor failure was easy, but if I hadnt looked at the spark plugs I wouldn't have known that they needed replacing and would have had another rotor failure later, IMHO. I kept the old CPS as a trail spare, since I have two 95 XJ's.
Now I cant wait to see what my gas milage will be!
Jerry H
95 XJ 2 Dr Sport, 4.0, 232 , aw4, Airock, locked & 33x1250 mtrs, D44 & CV rear discs
95 XJ 4 dr Sport, 4.0, 242, aw4, DD
