• NAXJA is having its 18th annual March Membership Drive!!!
    Everyone who joins or renews during March will be entered into a drawing!
    More Information - Join/Renew
  • Welcome to the new NAXJA Forum! If your password does not work, please use "Forgot your password?" link on the log-in page. Please feel free to reach out to [email protected] if we can provide any assistance.

Ready to pull my hair out !!!

rgerber2

NAXJA Forum User
Location
ohio
Ive been working on a 94 4.0 swap for a while now and cant get the darn thing running. Ive replaced the coil, dist cap, wires, plugs 3x, iac valve and cam position sensor. I have timed it probably 10x due to second guessing myself. Im currently thinking it may be the crank position sensor. Is there any way to test if this went bad ? It turns over and I can hear it fire but not enough to start. The plugs turn black and when i wipe that away they are white underneath the black.

I was also reading my haynes manual and it told me that the 6 cylinder distributor is a dependent type meaning that the cam position sensor cant be removed with removing the dist. The dist on the blown motor and the newer motor im installing both had distributors that could appeared to be the INdependent type as described by the manual. Basically the sensor sits under the dist cap and the 2 screws that hold the cap on hold the sensor in place. The book also referred to the color of the 3 wires coming off the dist and these colors didnt match what i have my dist plugged into. Can anyone tell me what color the 3 wires coming of their dist are ?

Thanks and sorry for the long post
 
I just found a good link for timing the 4.0

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://tomasz.korwel.net/images/dist/disconnectdistributor.jpg&imgrefurl=http://tomasz.korwel.net/2006/12/&h=375&w=500&sz=42&hl=en&start=15&um=1&tbnid=uYDQzJRL30MjRM:&tbnh=98&tbnw=130&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcherokee%2Bdistributor%26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den

If you look at the images of the distributor on this link This is not what mine looks like internally. Is this a 4.0 distributor or could this be from an older 4.0 than mine. Mine is a 94
 
on my '94, they are orange,black w/bluestrip, yellow w/brownstrip. Make sure you have the correct cap and rotor for that distributor. Parts house gave me the wrong ones. Come to find out there are 3 different listings / distributors they used. Had to take mine in to match them up. Mine look like yours. Hope that helps.
 
Do you have the Fuel Injecter wires hooked up to the correct FI, its easy to get a couple of them reversed. It will not fire or run right if even 2 of them are switched.
 
I labeled all the injectors so I am pretty sure that they are hooked up right. I am going to swap out the crank position sensor and give that a try.

My main concern is that im still getting code 54 which is camshaft position sensor which is located on the dist. I replaced this sensor and am still getting it. To ensure that it was just giving me the old code I unlpugged the throttle position sensor so that it would throw that code then i plugged it back in and disconnected the battery. The tps code was gone but the cam position sensor code was still there after replacing.

I thought that this sensor controlled the timing but im not sure. what does it do specifically ?

Another weird thing I noticed today when I was messing around with it was when I spin the crankshaft with a wrench to set the timing for the 100th time since I continue to second guess myself, One of the relays in the power dist box clicks. I have swapped out the starter relay but havent messed with any of the others. Is there anything that would cause this to randomly click ?
 
rgerber2 said:
I labeled all the injectors so I am pretty sure that they are hooked up right. I am going to swap out the crank position sensor and give that a try.

My main concern is that im still getting code 54 which is camshaft position sensor which is located on the dist. I replaced this sensor and am still getting it. To ensure that it was just giving me the old code I unlpugged the throttle position sensor so that it would throw that code then i plugged it back in and disconnected the battery. The tps code was gone but the cam position sensor code was still there after replacing.

I thought that this sensor controlled the timing but im not sure. what does it do specifically ?

Another weird thing I noticed today when I was messing around with it was when I spin the crankshaft with a wrench to set the timing for the 100th time since I continue to second guess myself, One of the relays in the power dist box clicks. I have swapped out the starter relay but havent messed with any of the others. Is there anything that would cause this to randomly click ?
The camshaft position sensor controls the injector timing. Not spark timing. Spark timing is not adjustable by turning the distributor.
Have you confirmed that you are getting spark?
It's very important to index the distributor correctly. Is this a stock motor with a stock cam?
 
Yea its totally stock. When I got the motor it had champion truck plugs in it and thats the only thing I have changed so far due to availability. Its almost like the engine is firing too late and since learning that this sensor controls injector timing that makes more sense. Is there any relay or fuse that controls the power to this sensor that could be bad ?
 
Are you sure you have the firing order correct on the plug wires?
 
I messed with the cam position sensor and cleaned the contacts on the dist and im not getting that code anymore after clearing out the computer. The computer is adjusting the timing because I set cylider one to fire at 6 btdc and cranked it over for a while and checked the timing and it was at tdc when the rotor was pointing at plug one. I took each plug out and grounded them and they are all firing.

going back to the post from southwest chuck I remember when I bought the new dist cap they asked me if i had a chrysler or ford dist since appearantly there are two types. my dist says sagem-lucas on it. When looking at all the pics of dist caps I found online I noticed most of them have a screw on black cap on the top which mine doesnt. Should my cap have one of those or what are they for and would the wrong cap still allow the plugs to fire/ ?
 
Along the lines of what repoxj said, do a manual timing on it. Pull number 1 plug, get that piston up to top dead center. Be sure both valves are closed when its at tdc. If you roll the crank back and forth over top dead center the valves will NOT be rocking. They are both closed then. If you have the valve cover on, you can check it for compression at tdc. While your rocking it back and forth it will be sucking and blowing your finger off the plug hole. Your just trying to prove that its on tdc.Then get the dist rotor to line up with the number one terminal in the cap. Right now you could be off 180??? You didn't have the cam chain off did you?????
 
rgerber2 said:
going back to the post from southwest chuck I remember when I bought the new dist cap they asked me if i had a chrysler or ford dist since appearantly there are two types. my dist says sagem-lucas on it. When looking at all the pics of dist caps I found online I noticed most of them have a screw on black cap on the top which mine doesnt. Should my cap have one of those or what are they for and would the wrong cap still allow the plugs to fire/ ?

you've got the chrysler dist. and yes, the incorrect cap or rotor will give you intermittant or weak spark that can keep you from starting-- make sure bith are for the Chrysler and clean your plugs (again) and give it another shot.
 
Needsrepair: I did it with the valve cover off and the first time I was able to spin one of the push rods with my finger which indicated I was at tdc of exhaust. I then spun the crank over one more time and couldnt spin either push rod and a compression gauge told me that I was at tdc of compression.

I am willing to bet that I have the wrong dist cap. I bought it at napa and it is grey. If memory serves me right the one that came off was black. This could be due to difference in manufacturers but I do remember the old one having the black screw on cap on it and the new one doesnt. The old one was broken when I picked up the motor. I am going to try autozone and tell them that I have the chrysler dist and see what the cap they offer looks like.

I really appreciate all your guys help !!
 
what years are the engines and what year is it going in? is it a 94 engine going into a 94?

also, gray or black doesnt matter with caps. look at the 2 of them and see if there different.
 
Well the engine I took out was a 94. I dont know what year the one going in is since I got it from a junk yard. I looked for the numbers on the side of the block but didnt have any luck finding them.

Would I get any spark if if was the wrong cap ??
 
I read the posts and I don't think anyone asked if your using the same dist. from your 94? Also, sounds stupid but did you attach your ground strap? (happened to me and couldn't figure it out) Put the old cap and rotor from your (94) and see if you get enough to start it up.
Do a compression check and see if the motor is o.k. from the junkyard.
 
Back
Top