The stalling and restarting problem AGAIN! :-(

Well I am now faced with the infamous Grand Cherokee sporadic stalling and restarting problem. Yet I am amazed by the years worth of stuff online about people with Jeeps having this exact same problem, yet there does not seem to be any surefire fix for this problem, where even the Jeep dealers can not fix this problem right away. Yet mainly I’m trying to get some answers to see what I can do myself while trying to keep from tossing tons of money senselessly at this problem. I would like to explore a few do-it-yourself options before taking it to my mechanic, because he may charge me a fortune to try to find the problem by trial-and-error . . . which worries me, since I read of so many people saying that the Jeep dealer could not readily find out this same old stalling and starting problem that seems to have plagued Jeep Grand Cherokees for many years.

I have a 1996 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited, with a 4.0 6 cylinder engine, with 2 wheel drive, and with about 165,000 miles.

Upon reading about this problem in so many online forums, I was wondering what was the “one thing” that “you did” to your Jeep Grand Cherokee that fixed this problem? When I say fixed, I mean what was the “one thing” that you did that totally stopped your stalling and restarting problems for at least 6 or more months?

To keep things easy and simple, it is not necessary to read beyond this paragraph, unless you want to know some of the background of my particular situation and problems. Mainly I am only looking for the “one thing” that "you did" that totally stopped your stalling and restarting problems for at least 6 or more months, so I can start experimenting with those solutions to see if I can quickly fix my stalling and restarting problems.

Thank you.


If you want to know more background on my problem, here it is:

I have the classic case of my Jeep is unpredictable, in regards to the stalling and starting problems. The engine tends to bucks at least 3 or 4 times upon driving it for 5 to 6 days. The engine now dies within 15 to 25 minutes of driving it . . . sometimes it will start right back up or at times, it will take 1 to 5 minutes to restart it. Yet if I dare park it (after driving 15 to 25 minutes), it is a 50/50 chance that it will restart. If it doesn’t restart, it will take about 2 to 3 hours before it will start. Yet it amazes me that I can try starting the engine to the point of draining the battery down and the engine will not turn over, yet if I leave it sit for 2 to 3 hours, it quickly starts right up with no hesitation.

Though the CEL has not been on in over 4 months, my mechanic said it only had one code, and the code was a PO138 Oxygen Sensor / Bank 1 Sensor, which he said would not be related to the stalling and starting problem. He said that he thinks the problem is electrical or it could be the fuel pump.

I had heard that adjusting some screws by the PCM (behind the coolant reservoir) fixes this problem.

I had heard that the CEL reader should pick up a code “11" (no crank shaft signal position signal detected), then once you replace the crank shaft sensor, this fixes this problem (I do not have this code reading).

I have also heard that by replacing various sensors, this stopped this problem.

I had heard that replacing the PCM fixes this problem. I wonder can I get a PCM from a salvage yard? I sure don’t want to buy a brand new PCM and it turns out that is not the problem, because I have heard of several people buying brand new PCM (for $200+) from the Jeep dealer only to discover that did not fix their stalling and starting problem.

Yet all-in-all, it sounds like trying to fix this problem could be just about anything and that I just should be prepared to throw out lots of money trying all of these various options until the problem is fixed. Yet I'm just trying to avoid this, since I'm living on a very tight income and budget (due to our poor economy) and I can't afford to get another vehicle at this time.

Your description matches, almost exactly, the symptoms for a bad Crankshaft Position Sensor. I had the same issues on my 2000 GC, and replacing the CPS fixed them, permanently, until I sold the vehicle 2+ years later.

It's a fairly straightforward repair, check out the Cherokee DIY section, there are many descriptions on how to do it.

crank sensor/pcm the both are common. When this problem occurs your mechanic needs to try and connnect his scanner. If it does not communicate with the pcm start by checking the voltage at the 5vt sensor supply it should be 5 volts if it is the pcm is likely faulty. If the voltage is low you have a shorted sensor taking the 5vt supply down etc crank, cam, tps, etcc...simple fix

i have a 01 jgc laredo and i also had the same symptoms with mine...first came the shutting off while driving for no reason. it would take anywhere from 5 min to 2 hrs for it to start back up..then i would try to start it and it would crank but not turn over. i replaced the fuel pump the fuel filter the coil pack the ignition switch and none of that worked..took it to our local auto zone and no codes came up..a friend of mine told me to click my key over 3x in a row without starting it and a code would show up where the odh reader is and sure enough a code popped up..p0320. turns out it was the crankshaft position sensor all along..very difficult to get at if your not mechanically inclined but you could do it on your own and the part was about 35.00..i suggest you change that before the pcm because they are very expensive..hoped this helped

Thank you, Everyone. :) I greatly appreciate your help. I apologize for taking so long to get back in contact with you. I had a death in my family since I made my first post and I’m also dealing with an elderly family member who is going through some rough health issues at the moment. Now that things have settled back down again, I’m back online to work on my engine issues once again.

Fredjacksonsan, upon viewing the YouTube video [Crankshaft Position (CKP) Sensor Removal], I would like to think that might be my only problem. Upon looking at this video, since my CEL never came on, I wonder will the CPS code only read when the engine actually stalls out and this code does not come up as long as the engine is running fine?

Hundahunta, I’ll put the CPM down as a possible problem and look at it later, since that will be a more costly fix, yet I want to hold off on that one for now, since I have read other people that bought a CPM and replaced it, yet that did not fix the problem. Yet I will try your other DIY suggestions as well.

Ilashley, I heard about the way you can read your CEL codes in the newer model Grand Cherokees, however I have a 1996 model, and mine does not have the built-in ability to read CEL codes. Yet I will make a note to add my fuel pump, coil pack, and ignition switch as a possible problems to look at. However I replaced my fuel filter and still the problem persists.

Thus far, out of all that I have read about this problem online, I have to admit that this YouTube video (if you go to the You Tube website and put this title (Crankshaft Position (CKP) Sensor Removal) in their search window, then the video should come up (it is the video that is 4 minutes and 7 seconds long), as I do not think this website will let me put a url in my posting.

The bottom line is, I’m going to try to see what are the free and cheap things I can try to do on my own, before taking it in to a mechanic. As I know that this is a quirky problem, so I want to be able to go to the mechanic and tell him all of the things that I did on my own, otherwise I'm sure he will charge me an arm and a leg trying to find the problem and fixing it.

Thanks again Everyone, for your help. It is greatly appreciated.

Nick

Hello Everyone,

Here is my update as of yesterday (04-21-12), on this problem. After taking a couple of weeks (during my free time), I tried to locate the problem(s) myself . . . based on all of the EXCELLENT & AWESOME advice, feedback and the many suggestions that I received from this form and a few other online auto repair forums. However I was unable to find any problems on my own. :(

Yesterday, I took my Jeep into a new local ma-and-pa garage (that I wanted to try out), just to get an engine diagnostic done. I made sure that I had warmed up the engine for about 30 minutes beforehand, while hoping that it did not stall out on me on the way to the garage. Once the mechanic hooked it up to the machine, then about 15 minutes of running the diagnostics, the “crankshaft position sensor” was the only problem that came up.

Since I had made it this far, I inquired about the “ignition coil”, the “CPS”, and the “fuel pump”. In this case, the mechanic told me that those 3 parts were fine as far as he could see ALONG with what the diagnostics was telling him, ALONG with him taking time out to explain why he “personally” believed that none of those other 3 parts were a problem.

So I gave him the okay to swap-out the CPS. Yet once he swapped-out the CPS, he ran into trouble syncing it to the CAMshaft Position Sensor (an old part) to the CPS (a new part) “so he claimed”. So he had to install a new CAMshaft Position Sensor (also known as a “sync pulse generator”, which I’m guessing is the ring thing under the distributor cap). Now with that being said, I am hoping and praying that is the end of this nightmare. Yet I will give you an update in about 2 or 4 weeks, as I want to get some miles on these 2 new parts and report back.

Yet in my case, since I am a sub-novice, when it comes to auto repairs, I would highly recommend to anyone in my category (sub-novice), that if any of you have this infamous stalling and restarting problem, I would HIGHLY recommend that you take your Jeep to a mechanic and have him/her do an engine diagnostics first (before trying to guess and throw parts at this problem) AND always make sure you address the 4 usual suspects in this problem . . . the “ignition coil”, the “CPS”, the “PCM”, and the “fuel pump”. In the event you have to eliminate these 4 parts, then you can look for other potential causes for this problem. Yet based on my reading on this problem for about 1 ½ months, these seem to be the 4 parts you should always check-out first, before doing anything else.

Most of all, I can not begin to thank all of you who were so kind and generous to take the time to help me. I sincerely and greatly appreciate all that you have done for me, and I hope that my thread helps others who come to this forum in the future, seeking help for this exact problem. For sure, having this quirky problem has been at least 100 times worse than riding a white-knuckler roller coaster ride! I think the 3 scariest times that I had to endure and got more gray hairs from was the 2 times that the engine stalled while I was in mid-drive while on the freeway doing at least 70 mph AND having someone behind me about 2 car lengths. GASP!!! Thank GOD and thank to quick thinking, I was able to throw it into neutral AND it quickly started back up AND I was able to throw it back into “drive” and keep moving. I ALMOST needed to change my shorts when I got home that day. UGH!!! Yet after the second time that it stalled on the freeway, I stopped driving on the freeway, because I did not want to take any more crazy chances with this problem on the freeways. Then the 3rd scary encounter happened one day when I was sitting at a red light (I was the first guy in the front of the line, in the fast lane). It must have been about 5 to 8 cars behind me . . . because it was a long red light. Then when the light turned green, I took off and was getting up to almost 35 mph AND the engine stalled AND it would not restart right away (and I threw on my emergency flashers). GASP!!! Needless to say, the car behind me was almost on my tail when we took off AND it really was a miracle that this guy did not slam right into the back of me. WHEW!!! Yet as I was trying to restart the engine, I could see all of the people getting from behind me. Yet I won’t mention the countless times that my Jeep stalled out in the middle of traffic and would not restart right away WHILE I made many wonderful new traffic friends, as they got from behind me blowing their horns, with angry faces as they drove past me, sometimes waving their fists at me . . . and sometimes giving me the bird. :( Had I known that getting a Jeep would have helped me make so many great new friends quickly, I would have purchased a Jeep years ago! LOL!!!

One maddening thing is, for the past 3 weeks, I have driven my Jeep for at least 15 to 25 minutes, and it would either stall or would not restart (until it cooled down at least 2 to 3 hours). Yesterday, I went driving around trying to hope that it would stall, so I could at least try to use the code reader to get a code to take to the mechanic (if it threw a code when it stalled). However I could not get the engine to stall, so I never had a chance to see what would happen when it stalled and if it “would” or “would not” throw a code or a CEL. After letting it sit for about an hour, I tried to re-start it 4 times during that hour, and the engine started up right away. Since the stalling and restarting problem ONLY happens when the engine is warm or cold, I purposely parked my Jeep in my drive way and let the engine run for 30 minutes (as I wanted that engine HOT when I took it to the mechanic). So after the engine being warmed up for 30 minutes, I drove it to the garage, about 1 mile from my house. The engine ran fine, did not stall. Since I got to the garage before it opened, I figured this would be even better, because once the engine is warm or hot, it ALWAYS would not restart after sitting for 5 or more minutes. So 15 minutes later, the mechanic came to open the garage. So I tried to start the engine, and that SON OF A BISCUIT engine started up like there was nothing ever wrong with it. GRRRRR!!! It was as if the engine said, “I’m going to make a lier out of you, while I get the upper hand.” Well folks, I will say one thing, Murphy’s Law is alive and well in my Jeep . . . i.e. You can experience hundreds of problems with your vehicle while you are not in front of your mechanic (these problems can go on for days, weeks, months, years), YET as soon as you take it to a mechanic the vehicle runs perfectly fine AND WILL NOT duplicate ANY problem you had with it while away from the mechanic. LOL!!! Yet this problem is very sporadic and you get no warning when it will stall or when it is about to stall, and nor do you get a warning when it decides that it is not going to restart. Yet hopefully, by getting an engine diagnostics done, the mechanic will be able to tell you what part(s) are bad, that way you don’t have to guess and start throwing parts at your engine until the problem is fixed. Yet when I was ready to get a mechanic's help, I needed to first find out if any of the 4 usual suspect parts were bad. So luckily today, the mechanic told me that it was the “CPS” that was the problem and not the “ignition coil”. Yet as a sub-novice, I could not test any of these 4 parts on my own, I needed the mechanic to do it. Yet reading these online forums can only help a sub-novice so much, because in most cases, the BIG GUNS (getting a mechanic that can see and touch the engine to tell you what "might be" or "what is" wrong) will have to come out. Yet I really do think that my Jeep is possessed. LOL!!!

All-in-all, I would not wish this infamous Jeep Grand Cherokee stalling and restarting problem on my own worse enemy! : - )

Nick

Hello Everyone,

Here is my update as of yesterday (04-21-12), on this problem. After taking a couple of weeks (during my free time), I tried to locate the problem(s) myself . . . based on all of the EXCELLENT & AWESOME advice, feedback and the many suggestions that I received from this form and a few other online auto repair forums. However I was unable to find any problems on my own. :(

Yesterday, I took my Jeep into a new local ma-and-pa garage (that I wanted to try out), just to get an engine diagnostic done. I made sure that I had warmed up the engine for about 30 minutes beforehand, while hoping that it did not stall out on me on the way to the garage. Once the mechanic hooked it up to the machine, then about 15 minutes of running the diagnostics, the “crankshaft position sensor” was the only problem that came up.

Since I had made it this far, I inquired about the “ignition coil”, the “CPS”, and the “fuel pump”. In this case, the mechanic told me that those 3 parts were fine as far as he could see ALONG with what the diagnostics was telling him, ALONG with him taking time out to explain why he “personally” believed that none of those other 3 parts were a problem.

So I gave him the okay to swap-out the CPS. Yet once he swapped-out the CPS, he ran into trouble syncing it to the CAMshaft Position Sensor (an old part) to the CPS (a new part) “so he claimed”. So he had to install a new CAMshaft Position Sensor (also known as a “sync pulse generator”, which I’m guessing is the ring thing under the distributor cap). Now with that being said, I am hoping and praying that is the end of this nightmare. Yet I will give you an update in about 2 or 4 weeks, as I want to get some miles on these 2 new parts and report back.

Yet in my case, since I am a sub-novice, when it comes to auto repairs, I would highly recommend to anyone in my category (sub-novice), that if any of you have this infamous stalling and restarting problem, I would HIGHLY recommend that you take your Jeep to a mechanic and have him/her do an engine diagnostics first (before trying to guess and throw parts at this problem) AND always make sure you address the 4 usual suspects in this problem . . . the “ignition coil”, the “CPS”, the “PCM”, and the “fuel pump”. In the event you have to eliminate these 4 parts, then you can look for other potential causes for this problem. Yet based on my reading on this problem for about 1 ½ months, these seem to be the 4 parts you should always check-out first, before doing anything else.

Most of all, I can not begin to thank all of you who were so kind and generous to take the time to help me. I sincerely and greatly appreciate all that you have done for me, and I hope that my thread helps others who come to this forum in the future, seeking help for this exact problem. For sure, having this quirky problem has been at least 100 times worse than riding a white-knuckler roller coaster ride! I think the 3 scariest times that I had to endure and got more gray hairs from was the 2 times that the engine stalled while I was in mid-drive while on the freeway doing at least 70 mph AND having someone behind me about 2 car lengths. GASP!!! Thank GOD and thank to quick thinking, I was able to throw it into neutral AND it quickly started back up AND I was able to throw it back into “drive” and keep moving. I ALMOST needed to change my shorts when I got home that day. UGH!!! Yet after the second time that it stalled on the freeway, I stopped driving on the freeway, because I did not want to take any more crazy chances with this problem on the freeways. Then the 3rd scary encounter happened one day when I was sitting at a red light (I was the first guy in the front of the line, in the fast lane). It must have been about 5 to 8 cars behind me . . . because it was a long red light. Then when the light turned green, I took off and was getting up to almost 35 mph AND the engine stalled AND it would not restart right away (and I threw on my emergency flashers). GASP!!! Needless to say, the car behind me was almost on my tail when we took off AND it really was a miracle that this guy did not slam right into the back of me. WHEW!!! Yet as I was trying to restart the engine, I could see all of the people getting from behind me. Yet I won’t mention the countless times that my Jeep stalled out in the middle of traffic and would not restart right away WHILE I made many wonderful new traffic friends, as they got from behind me blowing their horns, with angry faces as they drove past me, sometimes waving their fists at me . . . and sometimes giving me the bird. :( Had I known that getting a Jeep would have helped me make so many great new friends quickly, I would have purchased a Jeep years ago! LOL!!!

One maddening thing is, for the past 3 weeks, I have driven my Jeep for at least 15 to 25 minutes, and it would either stall or would not restart (until it cooled down at least 2 to 3 hours). Yesterday, I went driving around trying to hope that it would stall, so I could at least try to use the code reader to get a code to take to the mechanic (if it threw a code when it stalled). However I could not get the engine to stall, so I never had a chance to see what would happen when it stalled and if it “would” or “would not” throw a code or a CEL. After letting it sit for about an hour, I tried to re-start it 4 times during that hour, and the engine started up right away. Since the stalling and restarting problem ONLY happens when the engine is warm or cold, I purposely parked my Jeep in my drive way and let the engine run for 30 minutes (as I wanted that engine HOT when I took it to the mechanic). So after the engine being warmed up for 30 minutes, I drove it to the garage, about 1 mile from my house. The engine ran fine, did not stall. Since I got to the garage before it opened, I figured this would be even better, because once the engine is warm or hot, it ALWAYS would not restart after sitting for 5 or more minutes. So 15 minutes later, the mechanic came to open the garage. So I tried to start the engine, and that SON OF A BISCUIT engine started up like there was nothing ever wrong with it. GRRRRR!!! It was as if the engine said, “I’m going to make a lier out of you, while I get the upper hand.” Well folks, I will say one thing, Murphy’s Law is alive and well in my Jeep . . . i.e. You can experience hundreds of problems with your vehicle while you are not in front of your mechanic (these problems can go on for days, weeks, months, years), YET as soon as you take it to a mechanic the vehicle runs perfectly fine AND WILL NOT duplicate ANY problem you had with it while away from the mechanic. LOL!!! Yet this problem is very sporadic and you get no warning when it will stall or when it is about to stall, and nor do you get a warning when it decides that it is not going to restart. Yet hopefully, by getting an engine diagnostics done, the mechanic will be able to tell you what part(s) are bad, that way you don’t have to guess and start throwing parts at your engine until the problem is fixed. Yet when I was ready to get a mechanic's help, I needed to first find out if any of the 4 usual suspect parts were bad. So luckily today, the mechanic told me that it was the “CPS” that was the problem and not the “ignition coil”. Yet as a sub-novice, I could not test any of these 4 parts on my own, I needed the mechanic to do it. Yet reading these online forums can only help a sub-novice so much, because in most cases, the BIG GUNS (getting a mechanic that can see and touch the engine to tell you what "might be" or "what is" wrong) will have to come out. Yet I really do think that my Jeep is possessed. LOL!!!

All-in-all, I would not wish this infamous Jeep Grand Cherokee stalling and restarting problem on my own worse enemy! : - )

Nick

Nick if you think your JGC is Posssessed DON'T ever even think of getting a Discovery....now there is a possessed vehicle..I have one and believe me 4/5 time a week I load my shotgun and head to the garage.

Nick if you think your JGC is Posssessed DON'T ever even think of getting a Discovery....now there is a possessed vehicle..I have one and believe me 4/5 time a week I load my shotgun and head to the garage.

Hey there, 97explorersport. LOL!!! A shotgun is not going to help. You need to get Father O’Malley down at your local church, so that the can make a special visit to your garage to exercise :evillol: your Discovery with his bible, crucifix, and some holey water. LOL!!! Bullets bounce off of my JGC. :evillol: LOL!!!

Good luck with your, :evillol: Discovery.

Nick

That's a lot of words in prior posts. Good stuff, I'm sure-just exceeded my attention span. I replaced my CPS (crankshaft position sensor and it fixed a similar issue on my 1994 GC. There were no computer codes. The sensors are good at identifying engine troubles, but there aren't sensors that detect if sensors are bad.

Sounds like you're back in business (I'm guessing - remember, my attention expired before the end of your post).

I replaced my starter yesterday. The "computer" said it was fine. My car told me otherwise.

I have a 1999 jgc and it stalls while driving and literally will start itself while driving... Replaced the cps and still does it... No one can figure it out... Pretty scary when you are driving 65/70 mph on the highway and all of a sudden it dies but within 10 seconds it reatarts itself..help

I have a 1999 jgc and it stalls while driving and literally will start itself while driving... Replaced the cps and still does it... No one can figure it out... Pretty scary when you are driving 65/70 mph on the highway and all of a sudden it dies but within 10 seconds it reatarts itself..help

On the 99s, especially the Cherokee, there are some connections behind the dash/instrument cluster that get loose and can short out. My wife's 99 did the same thing - cut out for a few seconds. Next time you have it in have them check all the electrical connections behind the instrument cluster.




and...


...

So I gave him the okay to swap-out the CPS. Yet once he swapped-out the CPS, he ran into trouble syncing it to the CAMshaft Position Sensor (an old part) to the CPS (a new part) “so he claimed”. So he had to install a new CAMshaft Position Sensor (also known as a “sync pulse generator”, which I’m guessing is the ring thing under the distributor cap).

Sorry Nick but there is no synching required, he smoked you on that one...