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not slant- 97 jeep 4.0 question
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Author:  gmader [ Mon Feb 23, 2009 4:41 pm ]
Post subject:  not slant- 97 jeep 4.0 question
HI all,

I am stumped on this one. I was out of town for a week, and my wife told me that the jeep cherokee was acting up. Now that I am home, here are are the symptoms.

1. It will start, and run, if I stay on the gas. It won't idle on it's own at all.

2. The battery seems to be flat. I am charging it now.

3. The Alternator gauge says it is charging normally.

4. I put in gas right before I left town. ( bad gas???)

I dunno. I suspect it is some sort of electrical gremlin, but I can't put my finger on the problem.

Whatta ya think?

Greg
Author:  volaredon [ Mon Feb 23, 2009 4:51 pm ]
Post subject: 
on the 96+ OBDII vehicles a bad battery will cause all kinds of screwy problems; I'd load test it once the charger is done.
Author:  THOR [ Mon Feb 23, 2009 7:52 pm ]
Post subject: 
Quote:
on the 96+ OBDII vehicles a bad battery will cause all kinds of screwy problems; I'd load test it once the charger is done.
I second that motion. If the battery checks out, then we will start on other things. Also, your jeep should have a Voltmeter on the dash, which gives kind of a "go or no go" on the charging system as a whole. If you are having charging problems but have proper voltages, it's time to start taking a deeper look into the system.

When you get some more information, please post whatever you find up here. Every little bit helps.

~THOR~
Author:  dusterguy225 [ Mon Feb 23, 2009 8:09 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: not slant- 97 jeep 4.0 question
Quote:
1. It will start, and run, if I stay on the gas. It won't idle on it's own at all.
I had a '93 blazer (I know, not a mopar) that would run if you keep your foot on the gas, but wouldnt idle but for 5 sec before it stumbled and died. New battery, injectors, etc. One day, it back out to the end of the driveway, and the motor locked up. Not bad for a 210,000 mi chevy...
Author:  THOR [ Mon Feb 23, 2009 8:19 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: not slant- 97 jeep 4.0 question
Quote:
Quote:
1. It will start, and run, if I stay on the gas. It won't idle on it's own at all.
I had a '93 blazer (I know, not a mopar) that would run if you keep your foot on the gas, but wouldnt idle but for 5 sec before it stumbled and died. New battery, injectors, etc. One day, it back out to the end of the driveway, and the motor locked up. Not bad for a 210,000 mi chevy...
Sorry to get off topic here but:

'93 Blazer = 4.3L V6? = A pretty durn good engine. I've seem them go much farther than that too....
Author:  gmader [ Wed Feb 25, 2009 8:05 am ]
Post subject: 
The winner is....

Bad Battery.

The battery had enough juice to start the jeep, but not keep it running. I put in a new one, and she runs good.

I gotta go through the wiring, and see if there is something else wrong. This seems a little strange, given the battery was less than two years old.
Author:  volaredon [ Wed Feb 25, 2009 9:38 am ]
Post subject: 
"less than 2 years old" means nothing; probably a bum battery; I worked for Sears for 13 years; yeah we had 8 year old "5-year" batteries that were being replaced just because the owner was "afraid" of it at that age but especially when Exide was supplying the Die Hards, we had PLENTY that crapped out way before their warranty had run out. and the bad ones "before their time" seemed to come in streaks, like good batch, bad batch sort o thing.
Author:  66aCUDA [ Wed Feb 25, 2009 1:41 pm ]
Post subject: 
Greg
Look no further My old 4.0 jeeps had the same problem. If the battery was marginal the just would not run right. (it was an easy way to see if a battery was getting squirely )
Frank
Author:  THOR [ Wed Feb 25, 2009 1:48 pm ]
Post subject: 
Very well could just be a bum battery... we've all had some by now. Just keep in mind the thing that sucks about batteries is that it's hard to tell without some more extensive testing whether it's the battery that just died, or if the charging system is malfunctioning. If you start going through batteries in that Jeep, time to take another look. Chances are it was just as Volaredon said, and it is a bum battery.

Here is something to ponder about if you've got free time:

Unless a battery is interally shorted (which it sounds like yours may have been) the vehicle "should" still idle even with a dead battery, it "should" be pulling the whole load off the alternator. By now, the alternator may be getting "tired" and not able to produce much output at idle speeds, hence why it would not idle with the bad battery in there.

Was the bad battery a serviceable type? If so, was there enough electrolyte in it? A non-serviceable battery will also test bad if the electrolyte has been boiled out of it, caused by overcharging.

Where is the vehicle mostly driven? Idling around town, or freeway jaunts? Distance?

Keep an eye on it for a bit, and make sure that the new battery lasts. :wink:

Glad to hear you got it going!


~THOR~
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