Weird Jeep Engine problems solved....

[Scarpozzi]

I have a 1999 Jeep Cherokee.... My engine started having issues back in the Fall/Winter. I would turn the key and it would start, but would then go from a 750 RPM idle down to a big fat 0! It was weird cause it would start, turnover, and run...but then die. I was thinking the idle-air controller was the issue and decided that it could be just about any module. The weird thing about the problem was that the problem seemed to go away after the engine ran for a few minutes. I could keep it running by holding the gas pedal open slightly. This problem got progressively worse and last weekend, my jeep wouldn't start....I had a dead battery. I had thought that the battery was the problem back in my earlier days of troubleshooting, but a trip to Autozone confirmed that the battery was good. Of course, my voltage guage on my dashboard read 12 volts when the engine was off and 14 when it was running. It all seemed normal... I decided that since the battery was probably the original that it was time to replace it anyhow...so I bought a new one. Every problem I had with the ignition went away. For those of you with Jeep Cherokees or late-model Wranglers with the inline 6....be sure to watch your battery rather than racking your brain over a problem like that....it seems that it could happen to just about anyone and I had never seen an engine behave that way before.

 

[AvesPKS]

I don't know how old your alternator is, but you should watch out for it failing, too. Running the car for so long off of just the alternator puts stress on it.

 

[Scarpozzi]

The alternator is from 1999. When the engine is running, I know from the voltage meter goes to 14 volts so it looks like the alternator is working. It also managed to keep that 5 year old battery charged up enough not to totally fail....even though it was barely holding a charge.