00 Cherokee LTD. troubles...

Hey guys I have been surfing the jeep forums high and low for answers as to what could be wrong with my truck and why it is acting so strange. I have yet to find anything that works so figured it is time to post and see what you all think. So have had the truck since 03 and it ran fine for the first few years then all of a sudden continues engine lights. Several jeep dealers later they change the bottom half of the engine twice and the top half once per what they say is Corps req. protocal. Anyways I pulled away and about a half our later it was running like a tractor again. Finally got all that worked out and put the truck on a transporter and moved out of NY city to Sunny Callifornia. She ran like a gem for about 6 months then boom sitting at the light and she starts loosing it and sputtering so I hit the gas thinking I may have gotten a dose of bad fuel (to blow it out a bit). Well she banged and chuged right back to a lawn boy ride-on. So I pulled over and turned her off and right back on to a great clean start. She was doing this every morning when taking the kids to school and yes I warm her up out of habit from the NY weather. So took her in after I discovered a crack in the intake manifold and 4 days later Jeep wants $4500 to fix her. I then turn in to her with the choking and banging LOL. So what they found engine light burned out (fixed), bad cat, bad intake maifold, bad therm and gaskets, needs tune-up, fuel service, 2 O2 sensors, and many other small things. Well not having that kind of money I found a regular repair shop to see what they thought. When I dropped her off there was no engine light and she was running fine, he got in and the tack was not working and engine light came on. He ran the codes and got Transmission codes and all kinds of other codes that didnt make sense. Well he kept it and cleared the codes and reprogrammed blah blah blah. He said Intake was not leaking no need to change, cat was ok but not great, abnd O2's where fantastic. So sent it to a friends shop for the codes. Found out I have the toyota trans in mine and that nothing was wrong with it. So I started on this search to find a fix to help them. Well came across some simillar codes and problems and found the ASD relay to be the fix. Well called them and they changed it and she ran well. So now trans codes where gone now to fix the mifires in 1 and 6. New plugs and all the injectors and pack wires taken off and cleaned very well. She ran fine...OMG so excited...He takes it home to really get it checked out and he throws the brights on and Engine light comes back on and shes back to doggen. Still no trans codes but she is still seeming to run off of just a few cylinders. I know this is a long story and may not be very clear as they have all my records to read thru. I would really appreciate some help anything is valid here really maybe something we are all over looking. they want to replace the ECS and the PCM but I am not sure either of those will fix anything. Tired of the throwing parts at it. I haven't driven her in almost 2 months and don't have another vehicle to drive so please help! Thank you so much guys for taking the time to read this and respond. I just hate to throw her away she is a beautiful truck.

Sounds like you got a thursday jeep before a 4-day weekend. Sorry to hear you are having so much problems. I would consider picking up a used motor for a couple hundred bucks and be done with it. I mean that from what it sounds is the next thing on your list to change out.

Thank You so much for responding..I have had the top part of the motor replaced due to a large crack in the block that was under warranty and the bottom half done twice. These replacements where all under factory warranty and the new engine has less than 10k on it. The halfs where rebuilt from jeep the end of 06. Do you still think I would be better off going to a pick and pull (yard) and just getting a new one? Also woundering if this a wiring issue? No tack at times (on/off), the wacky codes that don't make sence, and burnt out engine light. I am so lost and can't think straight (not that I ever do ~) about this. Also can anyone recommend a good Jeep mechanic in the Orange County area of Cally?

I was picking about getting a new motor i can really offer no help if the dealer ship with all there fancy equipment and resources has failed you thus far may be just time to get her running right for a few days and trade her in to that dealership that if effing you over. Like i said i am real sorry you are having problems with your jeep. You have one of the few i will say. Hope this one particular jeep doesnt change the way you feel about them.

It doesnt sound like mechanical, sounds more like electrical. Pick up another PCM/ECM/ECU (whichever you want to call it). The dealership should have reprogrammed it after they rebuilt the engine, but probably didnt. Its worth a shot. Have you had them scan it for trouble codes? What are the exact codes that its giving?

Thank you again I really love the truck and to make things worse I bought her with the money my mom left me when she passed in 03. This is so my luck when it comes to american vehicles I have owned. I have thought about trading her in but I can't afford that payment. You got me woundering tho if I got another bad motor. To be honest I have replaced about everything in that truck but the computers and wiring. I am approaching my limit of what I can afford at this time in repairs, so the thursday jeep on a 4-day weekend is correct.

The only codes we are getting now are p300, p301,and p306 I belive thats correct cant find the dang slip. The other codes where P1698 and p1687 but when they replace the ASD relay those 2 codes went away and yet to return. Still runs the same tho with or without those codes so not sure how much good we did thx for your help 99XJ

Well, you are probably having residual problems due to the fact that the motor has been worked on so much in the last few years...multiple times the engine wiring harness and sensor connections, and everything else has been flexed and stressed....I would continue to have it repaired...things have to settle down eventually and your motor is young!
Right now you have missfires on multiple cylinders...cylinders 1 and 6...both of those cylinders get spark from the same coil (1of 3) on the coil rail...I would consider replacing the entire coil rail...I would also find someone who is good at diagnosing electrical problems, and have them shake down your engine compartment connections and wiring harness to ensure it is solid, and properly restrained. Quite often things don't always get reassembled with every original tie wrap, cable restraint, harness clamp, wire loom, and sensor connector locking tabs get broken, loose grounds connections,etc. Replacing the PCM should only be done after a good shakedown of everything else.

McQue

Thank You McQue I to agree with you that something may just not be grounded or reconnected quite right. I hope I can find someone out here that I can trust to look it over. I did replace the coil rail in 06 but that was before the engine was replaced. Would all that engine work cause that to go bad? I know they disconnected the plugs and visualy inspected them, cleaned the contacts and said she was purring after that, until that light incendent. Thx again hun for your input..

Coil rail's don't typically fail , but that doesn't mean they can't...My guess is that it has been overheated at least once, maybe more with the motor problems you have had...It really is the only electrical part that is common to cylinder 1 and 6...the engine harness and electrical connectors really don't like to be flexed a lot on these Jeeeps...my 2001 XJ motor wiring harness has not been touched a lot, but I can see that it is getting brittle... Jeep engine compartments get pretty hot..I barely touched an injector connection this weekend and the clip that secures it simply snapped off....now I have it tie wrapped in place.

Ya she got hot once I have been lucky but still like you said once is really all it can take. Hot as hell those engine bays are..I swear if I had some crome in there I might be able to get a tan with all that heat ~ (bad joke heheh). Anyways I will talk to them tomorrow about that. the coil rail is that something that is ok to pick up used or is that not a good thing to do? Right now I have the truck still at the transmission shop but its looking like I need another shop cause I don't seem to have any tranny troubles.

Well new is always better than used...BUT, I would pick up a used one if I could get it for $25 or less...my Junk yard guy would let me return it if it was DOA...
brand new they are about $100 plus tax...
I would probably be able to change out the coil rail in half an hour...max. There is one PIA electrical connector at the firewall end, and two easy access bolts to secure it to the head.

So I got my baby back but she is still running like crap. The coil rail did not do the trick. Frustration is starting to set in. So another question for you guys what should my idle rpm be? I have noticed shes right around 350 to 500 rpm and I am thinking that might be low, even tho jeep told me its fine. When I turn anything on that ups her idle she seems to run better. That still doesnt fix my codes tho. Still have po300 po301 and po306. Last thing I can throw at it is a ECU, but not sure that will do anything either. Anything you guys can think of that I haven't tried? Thank you agian

I had a problem with a transmission sensor at one point in my 97. It acted pretty dumb at times, ever since that was replaced its been perfect.

Liliyah said:

So I got my baby back but she is still running like crap. Anything you guys can think of that I haven't tried? Thank you agian

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I had problems similar to yours with my 2001 XJ. It would run fine 99% of the time, and then occasionally it would start and act like only half the cylinders were firing. The CEL light would come on but would disappear after stopping and restarting the engine. The idle would return to normal. Odd thing was that it did not set a code.

I spent an exciting afternoon pulling apart every connection, plug and ground I could find in the engine compartment and under the dash, spraying the contacts with cleaner and giving them a coat of dielectric grease.
There is a big plug, up under the dash, driver's side, left wall that has 20 or more wires going through it. I found this plug to be very loose. It is tightened with one bolt that goes through the cap.
Not sure this effort permanently cured the problem but it has run fine for several months now. Might be worth the effort, it doesn't cost much except for the time.
Be careful separating the plugs, it is easy to break the latches.

Good luck

Thank you to both of you I will look into both of those. I also have a used ECM on order to try that and see what she does. I hope I find it soon or god :helpme:me I think I might need some help myself!