1997 Jeep Cherokee Jeep Starting problem

BUSH RANGER

MEMBER
1997 JEEP CHEROKEE
6 CYL
4WD
AUTOMATIC
75,000 MILES

My Jeep Cherokee has problems starting. It never starts on the first spin. I always have to spin it 5-6 seconds, stop and then retry, which it fires off immediately. It is also equipped with a natural gas kiit. It has the same problem starting on gas or on natural gas. Sometimes when it is hot and I stop, it does restart OK. However if it sits for a little while (30 minutes) then it is the same routine of spinning, stop, retry and start.

I recently replaced all plugs, wires, cap and rotor with no improvements.

Any clues?

5 Replies

RACEFAN966

MECHANIC
5,029 POSTS

Ok I need some info first. What kind of cherokee ie grand and if so loredo or what? How old is the fuel filter? Get back to me and we will go from there.

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Saturday, March 21st, 2009 AT 9:43 AM

BUSH RANGER

MEMBER
4 POSTS

Cherokee is a sport, not laredo or grand. Not sure about the fuel filter. Will change that next, but the behavior is the same on natural gas or on gasoline. This jeep is south american built. Currently in Rio.

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Saturday, March 21st, 2009 AT 12:34 PM

RACEFAN966

MECHANIC
5,029 POSTS

Ok sorry I always make sure as I do work with the public and they don't always give all the info needed and so it is a sport good there are country and SE versions too, anyway being that it isn't a grand cherokee then don't look for a fuel filter as it won't have one. If wirinng is different I will not have that as my books will all be for USA or Canadian models but still should be able to help.
First off if you would ohm out the spark plug wires they should be no more then a 1000 ohms per inch. Then if they check out good find the coolant temp sensor on the thermostat housing and unplug it and check the resistance in ohms of the sensor (not the wiring harness) and get back to me with the reading and the temp at the time of the test (if you do it when the car is cold then air temp will do fine. Get back to me with that and we will go from there.

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Saturday, March 21st, 2009 AT 7:35 PM

BUSH RANGER

MEMBER
4 POSTS

OK. I will probably pick up a cooling temp sensor as many posts indicate this to be a problem. Will be a few weeks before I am back in Rio. The spark plug wires are brand new (though suppose one could be bad.) I was hoping to identify a few potential culprits and get the parts here before I return. I also read in other posts abuot a crankshaft posistion sensor. Is this a possibility?

Thanks.

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Sunday, March 22nd, 2009 AT 10:24 AM

RACEFAN966