'96 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo dying at idle or driving

JEEPSTERCO9

MEMBER
1996 JEEP GRAND CHEROKEE LAREDO

I have a 1996 Jeep Gr. Cherokee Laredo 6 cyl. With 275,000. For the last 6 months it dies. No real rhyme or reason both at idle and while driving. Generally it starts immediately at idle, unless the engine starts chugging and sputtering. Then it has to crank awhile. Then get an odor of gasoline. Most of the time if it dies while driving, if I leave in gear it will fire on it's own and start. Sometimes it happens a few times in a row. Repair shop has repaired a vacuum leak at brake booster; no change. Crank sensor; no change. PCM; no change. Catalytic Converter; no change. Fuel pressure reads about 53#. Lights don't seem to flicker when engine dies. I am getting ready to change the Idle Air Control Sensor and Throttle Position Sensor, but not sure if they will affect problem. Can you think of any other areas. At 275,000 it's probably mine until the auto graveyard. Have had no other real problems over the years.

2 Replies

MONKEY4421

MEMBER
9 POSTS

I wouldn't change any other sensors or components until I did two things.
1)Run a reliable compression test. Sometimes when an engine has a lot of miles, it also has quite a bit of leakage at the piston rings. This can cause more pressure to build in the crankcase than to PCV (positive crankcase ventilation) system can releive. This can cause all sorts of "weird" problems, as the systems on todays cars "read" so many things.
2)Have someone run a complete ignition test. If you have a intermittent short circuit here, all of the problems you describe will exist.

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Wednesday, July 18th, 2007 AT 4:04 AM

JEEPSTERCO9

MEMBER
2 POSTS

I may have located the answer to my own question from another website. The dying and stalling could be due to the two torx screws on the cover of the PCM. It seems that they are about 1/4" too long. Jeep was dying yesterday, 6 times in the first two blocks from the house, but when I backed the screws out about 1/4" last night it didn't die or stall. I've been driving today and it has never hesitated. The fix seems to be: Remove the coolant reservoir, pull out one torx screw, replace it with a #6 metal screw about 3/8" long, then replace the other torx screw. The screws are just below and to the outside of the two outer wire connectors. (There are three wire connectors) Then just replace the reservoir. I'm not sure if it's fixed, but it sure is promising, and only cost me $.50 for the screws. Hopefully the Jeep Service Manager didn't know about this fix when he said that I needed to replace the PCM. Which didn't help the stalling and dying problem. He did, though, quickly offer to buy the Jeep if I didn't want to spend the money to replace the PCM. I can send the other website info for you to look at if necessary

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Sunday, August 5th, 2007 AT 12:39 PM