96 4.0 sputters then dies

Jeep starts up and runs for a block or 2 with a couple hiccups then shuts off.

It had a check engine light when it first died on me, so I was excited about that, being that the last time I had trouble nothing showed up so I was left guessing.

I got it towed back home and the battery is completely dead. The key was turned to ON to get it into neutral so it would roll onto the tow truck and was never turned off so now the CEL is gone and I can't get it back because I had to borrow my moms battery to get it running again :doh:.

So I would imagine that it has to do with fuel delivery since it starts up (has spark) and eventually bogs down and dies (no fuel).

Help?

Battery is good now. Can I get the check engine light back by just letting the engine idle for a while?

When you have a check engine light, it normally remains in the computer as a "stored code".

So even if you currently have no check engine light on, if you put a scan tool or a code reader on it, you should be able to retrieve the stored code that was set at the time the check engine light was ON.

Which is what you definitely should do. Post the code(s) here for comment.

2 blocks with the ignition on isn't enough to kill the battery. My guess knowing that the battery was dead when back at the house is either the battery was toaste and or the alternator is toast. Either way if you do not have the right voltage the jeep will run till it has too little voltage then die as the computer needs a certain voltage to run.

magimerlin said:

2 blocks with the ignition on isn't enough to kill the battery. My guess knowing that the battery was dead when back at the house is either the battery was toaste and or the alternator is toast. Either way if you do not have the right voltage the jeep will run till it has too little voltage then die as the computer needs a certain voltage to run.

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It was towed 132 miles lol. Forgot to mention that it failed in Wildwood NJ and I live in Woodbridge NJ.

I got it home, somehow got the battery back, and drove it around with it dying every block till the light came back on. It came up as a P1391 (camshaft or crankshaft position sensor). I just changed the crankshaft position sensor a month ago, so I checked out the other sensor.

I read somewhere that if that sensor is mispositioned just a hair it could cause the engine to get enough spark to start but not enough to sustain so I removed the distributor cap and rotor and examined the cam position sensor and put it back and viola! Jeep now runs without a hint of a problem. Check engine light is also gone.

Kinda seems too good to be true but....so far so good.