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It just died

kenny811

kenny811

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Damascus, OR
So Saturday while wheeling up at Kingsley, a few times the jeep just died. It started right back up but for no reason just died. Then on the way home, it died but fired right back up. Hard to explain this one but imagine going down the highway turning off and back on the key in a split second. That's really the only way I can describe it. It has never done this before. Any ideas? Anyone else ever have this happen?

93 XJ
Cold air intake
 
You go through any water? Might have water in the distributor cap? Could be cps going out or just a loose wire too.
 
Do any or all the electronics cut out?
Dash lights, Interrior lights, head/running lights, gauges, door buzzer, etc....
Or does it all stay on like nothing happened, but JUST the engine dies?
 
Speedo works, its cable not electric. I did go through water, but it did it before the puddles, but I will take apart the cap & rotor assy and check it out. Back last summer while a 500 mile trip across the Oregon desert the coil went out. Swapped in a new one and away we went ( after 3 hours on the side of a dusty highway outside of Mopin Or ). But it could be a bad coil, this would of been my 3rd one. I count out the CPS only because in my experience the CPS is like pregnancy, either it is or its not. And because the jeep starts right back up I dont think its the CPS. My guess at this point is a loose or bad wire. Most likely a ground. But im also thinking its time for a major tune up, cap / rotor/ plugs. It might be a combination of all the above. Nothing worse than an automatic stalling and dying on the way up a rock!!
 
On a side note, is there a way to test either the working or the output / input of a coil? At $40 for a new one, I never really gave it a thought on testing it.
 
Perhaps the ignition switch?
I'm with ya on the CPS thing Kenny.... either IS or ISNT working... haven't heard of too much "in-between"
 
Could be the ignition switch, it feels ok. Doesn't do anything if you wiggle the key. Im going with a full tune up, see what happens then. I will also clean the terminals, all the sensor connections, check all the ground wires for tight. Im sure that it isn't the fuel pump though.
 
Start it, jiggle the wires to the cps, see if it dies. I had a problem with mine when the wire to the cps had a small hole rubbed through so every once in a while it would touch metal and ground out and kill the jeep.
 
Icemans said:
Kenny you can test the coil via testing resistance on the primary and secondary sides of the coil. Idk the specs on an xj coil but here is some directions on how to test if it's good or bad.
http://autorepair.about.com/od/troubleshooting/ss/coil-test-ohm.htm
Click to expand...

I would be surprised if it is the coil just because of how recently you changed it. But it wouldnt hurt to test it out.

90xjblue said:
Start it, jiggle the wires to the cps, see if it dies. I had a problem with mine when the wire to the cps had a small hole rubbed through so every once in a while it would touch metal and ground out and kill the jeep.
Click to expand...

From what you've said I would guess that its either a lose ground wire or a wire grounding out somewhere. Double and triple check all your connections and jiggle all your wires to see if you can find your issue. I can swing by sometime this weekend and give you a hand.
 
NW99XJ said:
I'm with ya on the CPS thing Kenny.... either IS or ISNT working... haven't heard of too much "in-between"
Click to expand...
I disagree. I have seen way to many intermittent CPS's. Many times it is due to corrosion on the connector, but they just get flakey. I had one that would allow you to start but it wouldn't allow you to rev past 1200 rpms. With them being probably the highest failure rate item on an XJ, I would grab one and swap it. If it doesn't fix it, put the old one in a baggy under the back seat for when it does crap out.
 
old_man said:
I disagree. I have seen way to many intermittent CPS's. Many times it is due to corrosion on the connector, but they just get flakey. I had one that would allow you to start but it wouldn't allow you to rev past 1200 rpms. With them being probably the highest failure rate item on an XJ, I would grab one and swap it. If it doesn't fix it, put the old one in a baggy under the back seat for when it does crap out.
Click to expand...

But will or can a bad CPS or connection just kill the motor while you're driving down the road?
 
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