help 88 xj died today

as some of you know from other posts i had some trouble from time to time with long starts....hot or cold but the other day it started jerking a few times and today it finaly died in an intersection. it jerked as if there wasn't any gas real quick and died. no mater what it would not start. i checked the presure release valve at the front of the fuel rail and gas did come out but i am suspecting that the fuel pump is toast. any ideas ?

:skull1:

Pressusre test your fuel pump.. Do you have spark? When was last tune up? fuel filter new or old? Air filter new or old?

just did the fuel filter 2 weeks ago

air filter is good and the motor turns over but i don't know if there is spark or not nor do i have a pressure tester

you need spark an gas an air to get fire

pull your plugs one at a time and test for spark. If you have spark and the fuel pump is good, then the culprit is likely the crank position sensor. That happend to me in my 87. It will jerk and then just puke and shut off. You can have the volts tested on the crank position sensor. But first I would check for enough fuel and spark.

where is the crank position sensor ?

hey take a screwdriver stick it in the end of your sparkplug wire hold it about a 1/8 inch off a ground like a bolt on the block and have somone crank it over to see if it,s getting fire.but it does sound like crank sensor.frind had same problem on trail ride

it.s on driverside of motor should be some wires going down side of motor sensor hs two bolt,s holding it

in the back side of motor

is this an expensive fix ? anyone have a pic of what and where the sensor is ? how long does this take and is it worth grabing one from a wrecker ?

iratefla

Above posters are correct; first thing is you need to determine if you have spark or not. Use the procedure Parker mentions; you can put a spare spark plug in the wire too. Hold near a ground and have buddy crank engine.

If you have a bad crank sensor, you will not have spark OR fuel. I would perform the quick spark check first, then if no spark, check out the crank sensor.

Crank sensor is located on top of the bellhousing. Can't remember the cost maybe $30-50? Perform a SEARCH for crankshaft position sensor and you'll find more information as it is IMHO, crank sensor failure is the most common sensor failure on the XJ. You can check it with a multimeter. I believe the spec is 200 ohms plus or minus 75 ohms. If it doesn't check out, replace it. And no, I wouldn't get a salvage one unless you're up for having it happen again!

If you have a good quality spark, then check fuel pressure on the schrader valve on the fuel rail. Compare to spec.

You really need to do testing on no-starts. The testing is not particularly hard but you do need a meter/fuel gauge, etc. Throwing parts at it based on a hunch can quickly turn into an expensive experiment as oftentimes, your first hunch and sometimes your second, third, you get the picture is incorrect! I always verify spark first as that is easiest, then proceed to verify proper fuel delivery.

Other possibilities include cap/rotor/wire/ballast resistor. Never forget the basics.

Good luck and post back what you find!