2000 XJ 4.0 hard start

Its that time again, i posted last year about this and got some suggestions... I did a fuel pump and a cps, didnt solve the problem... Ive seen posts on PIRATE 4x4 about the same thing, but i dont seem to have the causes they mentioned...

The Jeep does start, but takes tons of cranks to do so. Once its running, it runs fine, but hesitates the first 3-5 seconds. Ive seen a guy say that he had the same problem... Smelled alot of gas in the engine bay, checked the ECU and the pins were bad, mine are fine, all pointed. The plugs shouldnt be bad, I did platinum mid last year. I took the intake hose off, and looked down the t-body...It looks shiny or wet, and when i put my ear to the tbody, it sounded like fizzing, like pop rocks.. I had the battery off and drained the system if youre wondering. I was thinking a leaky injector, but i was told that if it was leaking, it wouldnt wet the intake manifold, theres no puddles in the manifold but its moist.

So in short.. It takes way too long to turn over, although it cranks hard. Once it starts, it stays running and hesitates for a few seconds. New fuel pump and cps did nada. Relatively new plugs. Moist intake manifold with a pop rock sound eminating from it.... Please tell me you guys got some idea what it is.....

have you investigaged the emissions stuff?

I know on the older XJ's, there was a slow start problem. Have you searched this forum about slow starts?

its a 2000, so i dont think a slow start would be the problem, its cranking hard as well. i searched but theres soo much, i looked on pirate 4x4, and found similar things but none of the causes applied to me

Check the grounds on the ECM if you havent already done so. Have you checked out the TPS? Just throwing ideas out there. Any codes? MIL on?

If by grounds you mean the needle prongs on the snap connectors, yes i checked them and theyre still pointy. TPS, you mean throttle position sensor? A bit back it threw a few misfire codes, when i started it would start real rough and send a cyl 6 misfire, thats what the first code was, i think the 2nd was the same, just disconnected the battery to make it go away and see if it came back. it didnt.

still no luck... changed the plugs, cleaned the throttle body... nothing..... any ideas?