Jeep 4.0 engine dies while driving

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Originally Posted By: Donald
I guess it could be out of gas but that would mean the fuel gas is showing different than it has before. Its pretty accurate. Hard to check spark on a waste spark system with no real wired. The vehicle died after it was warm and going 40 MPH. Cannot see being battery. No CEL. Maybe a pending. Crank and can sensors were replaced less than one year ago. Its cold to do a lot of work on it outside.


Senders can and do get bad. GM is especially notorious for it. I had a Lumina way back that all of a sudden would not ever drop below a quarter of a tank. It read a 1/4 from that point until it literally ran dry.
 
Originally Posted By: Donald

I use E10 gas so I doubt a frozen gas line.


Does it sit a lot? Than E10 and the water it loves to absorb can be the problem. If so, the simple solution is just use it more. Adding dry gas (methanol) also helps, as it acts exactly the opposite of Ethanol (Ethanol isolates water in the bottom of the tank, Methanol dissolves it into the gasoline).
 
I second ECM connectors, and add check the ECM relay if the Jeep has one. Had the same symptoms in my Jag and I swapped the ECM relay with a known good one (AC clutch) and symptoms stopped. Rode around 2 days without AC until the new relay arrived. No problems since.
 
Originally Posted By: HangFire
Originally Posted By: Donald

I use E10 gas so I doubt a frozen gas line.


Does it sit a lot? Than E10 and the water it loves to absorb can be the problem. If so, the simple solution is just use it more. Adding dry gas (methanol) also helps, as it acts exactly the opposite of Ethanol (Ethanol isolates water in the bottom of the tank, Methanol dissolves it into the gasoline).



The Jeep goes through a tank of gas a week on average. It does not sit around in the winter as its my 4WD vehicle.
 
i had a 2003 Jeep with the 4.0L.
you should still be able to find my post on the jeep forum about the issue but under a different username. google jeep forum 2003 gc dies while driving won't restart.
the fuel injector wiring harness that runs up along the top of engine... it comes from beneath and up along the rear of engine... the factory routed it such that the harness sits on the rear valve cover stud. On mine after 6 years or so and 60k miles that stud wore into the harness chaffed wires and shorted 3 or 4 of them to ground... or so the dealer tech said when i finally gave up and brought it to them. he found it in like 10 minutes, they knew what to look for. the systems i had were first driving down the road could be doing 40mph and engine would turn off light you shut the key off. it progressed to where it would die within 5 minutes of starting out. never had a check engine light because this shorting of the injector wiring put the engine pcm into a crash/panic state and the computer would just reboot, killing the engine. the only thing that did happen was the security light on the dash would come on after engine died, preventing you from starting motor for 5-10 minutes... it's called VATS on GM vehicles I forget what jeep called theirs.

http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f13/2003-...bilizer-943258/
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: 1 FMF
i had a 2003 Jeep with the 4.0L.
you should still be able to find my post on the jeep forum about the issue but under a different username. google jeep forum 2003 gc dies while driving won't restart.
the fuel injector wiring harness that runs up along the top of engine... it comes from beneath and up along the rear of engine... the factory routed it such that the harness sits on the rear valve cover stud. On mine after 6 years or so and 60k miles that stud wore into the harness chaffed wires and shorted 3 or 4 of them to ground... or so the dealer tech said when i finally gave up and brought it to them. he found it in like 10 minutes, they knew what to look for. the systems i had were first driving down the road could be doing 40mph and engine would turn off light you shut the key off. it progressed to where it would die within 5 minutes of starting out. never had a check engine light because this shorting of the injector wiring put the engine pcm into a crash/panic state and the computer would just reboot, killing the engine. the only thing that did happen was the security light on the dash would come on after engine died, preventing you from starting motor for 5-10 minutes... it's called VATS on GM vehicles I forget what jeep called theirs.

http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f13/2003-...bilizer-943258/


Interesting, if it was not snowing like crazy outside....

The engine was replaced at 96K, about 70K miles ago, so all that would have been redone when the engine was replaced.

What was the fix? splice the individual wires?
 
Originally Posted By: Donald
The vehicle died after it was warm and going 40 MPH.


This leads me to believe it could be the crank position sensor.
 
Originally Posted By: Donald
The Jeep goes through a tank of gas a week on average. It does not sit around in the winter as its my 4WD vehicle.


OK, then E10 is not your problem.
 
Originally Posted By: dlundblad
Originally Posted By: Donald
The vehicle died after it was warm and going 40 MPH.


This leads me to believe it could be the crank position sensor.



no it wasn't.
i replaced the crank sensor which didn't fix the problem, I gave up and brought to dealer where they found the harness shorting on the valve cover stud within 10 minutes of getting the jeep into the service bay.

i never saw the wiring harness so i don't know the extent of how bad the wires got exposed, i agreed with the mechanic to leave the jeep and pick up next day at my convenience and he said he needed to fix the exposed wires in the harness. I believe he said there were 4, whether he taped them with electrical tape or cut/soldered/shrink wrapped and how long it took him i don't know. they charged me $90 for the initial diagnostic and then around another $120 i think an hour labor for the fix. i don't know if i still have the bill but wanna say it cost me around $250-300 total, no parts were replaced.

i also inquired with the dealer and called Jeep Chrysler corporate about how there isn't a recall on this, given the cause was the way they routed the harness when building the vehicle. basically told me to screw, sure as [censored] weren't giving me any money back for the repair even saying i was ok and would compromise and pay the $90 diagnostic but reimburse me for the labor to fix. so now i've been waiting to hear about a jeep 4.0L going down the road, engine shuts off, and resulting crash kills people. i've gotten 3 or 4 emails from people at jeep forum over the years for my post thanking me they had the same problem.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: 1 FMF
Originally Posted By: dlundblad
Originally Posted By: Donald
The vehicle died after it was warm and going 40 MPH.


This leads me to believe it could be the crank position sensor.



no it wasn't.
i replaced the crank sensor which didn't fix the problem, I gave up and brought to dealer where they found the harness shorting on the valve cover stud within 10 minutes of getting the jeep into the service bay.

i never saw the wiring harness so i don't know the extent of how bad the wires got exposed, i agreed with the mechanic to leave the jeep and pick up next day at my convenience and he said he needed to fix the exposed wires in the harness. I believe he said there were 4, whether he taped them with electrical tape or cut/soldered/shrink wrapped and how long it took him i don't know. they charged me $90 for the initial diagnostic and then around another $120 i think an hour labor for the fix. i don't know if i still have the bill but wanna say it cost me around $250-300 total, no parts were replaced.

i also inquired with the dealer and called Jeep Chrysler corporate about how there isn't a recall on this, given the cause was the way they routed the harness when building the vehicle. basically told me to screw, sure as [censored] weren't giving me any money back for the repair even saying i was ok and would compromise and pay the $90 diagnostic but reimburse me for the labor to fix. so now i've been waiting to hear about a jeep 4.0L going down the road, engine shuts off, and resulting crash kills people. i've gotten 3 or 4 emails from people at jeep forum over the years for my post thanking me they had the same problem.


Crank positions sensors act up once hot. It's a fact of life. What would a shorting wire have to do with temperature?

I saw a Jeep forum photo related to this just last week. I need to check mine and perhaps put some wire tubing over the harness.
 
Originally Posted By: Donald
Why isn't there a fuel pressure sensor?
Isn't there a schrader valve on your fuel rail you can hook a gauge up to?
 
Originally Posted By: Donald
Why isn't there a fuel pressure sensor?


So they can charge you more time to diagnose it when you have it towed into the dealer.
 
I had to have it towed by a shop as it might have been towed (to who knows where) due to the snow and the state plowing the road and the shoulder where it was parked.

They installed a Spectra pump. (Its got a red heart next to it on RockAuto).

Anyway the fuel sender is not working properly and the shop will be installing a replacement.

I would have used a Bosch, Denso or Carter had I had a choice. But this second repair is "on them".
 
Originally Posted By: Donald
Any likes or dislikes for Spectra fuel pumps?


For a Jeep, I think I would have used a Bosch, but I don't claim to be a fuel pump expert. Perhaps they gave you a good one and it will last longer than your everything else on your Jeep.
One Sunday afternoon, I picked up a fuel pump for my daughter's car as the only parts store in town was closing. I had to get her car running that night, so I had no choice. The pump was made in China and that was over six years ago. It still runs.
 
Originally Posted By: Kruse
Originally Posted By: Donald
Any likes or dislikes for Spectra fuel pumps?


For a Jeep, I think I would have used a Bosch, but I don't claim to be a fuel pump expert. Perhaps they gave you a good one and it will last longer than your everything else on your Jeep.
One Sunday afternoon, I picked up a fuel pump for my daughter's car as the only parts store in town was closing. I had to get her car running that night, so I had no choice. The pump was made in China and that was over six years ago. It still runs.


From the get-go the fuel pump works, but the fuel sender is broken.
 
Originally Posted By: Donald
Originally Posted By: Kruse
Originally Posted By: Donald
Any likes or dislikes for Spectra fuel pumps?


For a Jeep, I think I would have used a Bosch, but I don't claim to be a fuel pump expert. Perhaps they gave you a good one and it will last longer than your everything else on your Jeep.
One Sunday afternoon, I picked up a fuel pump for my daughter's car as the only parts store in town was closing. I had to get her car running that night, so I had no choice. The pump was made in China and that was over six years ago. It still runs.


From the get-go the fuel pump works, but the fuel sender is broken.


Was this a pump replacement or all in one fuel pump/sender module replacement? If it was a module...id be complaining pretty hard.
 
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