this car has 169k miles, and ran fine for me for the past 1/2 year i have owned it.

it recently started to stop while driving or it would go dead as i was stopping and making turns on the road until it eventually wouldnt start up at all anymore.

i tried jumping it, tested the battery (turns out it was bad/low on acid/weak) so i purchased a new one but that didnt fix the problem.

i had checked for spark and initially i had none at the ignition coil. I took the coil out and checked the resistance and it is a good coil. i purchased a new crankshaft sensor and it now has spark at the ignition coil and at the spark plugs.

still cranking but no start.

i realized in my shotgun appoach i had taken out the distributor and put it back in w/out alligning it, so i did that. i aligned the vibration damper to TDC and the distributor coil past the wire post coming out of spark plug number 1. i also made sure the spark plug wires are in the proper sequence (1-5-3-6-2-4). i realized i had turned the engine both clockwise and counterclockwise to achieve TDC to the 0 mark (i dont know if this is bad or not - i read to turn it clockwise only).

still cranking but no start, BUT, this time it seems the engine is almost close to starting, except it makes this loud thud pop from the exhaust pipe (backfire maybe?!) and it releases a bit of dark smoke when that happens.
it does NOT start though. cranking but no start.

i checked the fuel valve on top of the engine and it squirts gas just fine.

i dont know what to do...and i cannot afford to take it to a shop.

i was thinking maybe because i turned the engine counterclockwise and clockwise to achieve TDC i messed up the alignment and i should borrow an alignment light but then i realized i cant do that because the car wont start/stay running...

please help me
thank you

You didn't mess anything up by turning it back and forth, but you do need to make sure it's on compression stroke (not exhaust) Top Dead Center of the #1 cylinder with the zero mark lined up.

To do that, do this (leave the distributor in place until this is done).

Yank the #1 spark plug and stuff a rag or a cork into the spark plug hole (something big enough not to go into the cylinder and get lost). Bump the starter in very small increments until the cork (or the rag) pops out of the hole. At that point you are APPROACHING TDC on cylinder number 1. Gently keep turning the engine until the mark is lined up with zero. That'll be #1 TDC compression stroke.

With the cap removed, see if the rotor is pointing at the #1 cylinder (just passing the firing post). It'll probably be pointing at #6.

If it's pointing at 6, remove the distributor and reinstall it with the rotor pointing so that it is just passing the firing post on #1. Put everything back together (including the spark plug) and see if it'll start - let me know....

Richard, Askamechanic.info webmaster

I yanked the number 1 spark plug out and shoved in a roll made out of a piece of rag. i tried to make it as snug as possible. i bumped the started 3 times from the key and my rag cork jumped out with force, it also made a loud pop.

i rotated the engine to the 0 mark, took the cap off the distributor and the rotor was indeed pointing between posts 2 and 6 instead of post number 1.

i took the distributor out and i adjusted the oil pump hinge with a flat screwdriver until the distributor fit in with the rotor between posts 1 and 2 (past post number 1).

i put everything back in, reconnected the negative battery terminal (which i had to disconnect because i got shocked when i put my hands inbetween the A/C tubes to unscrew the distributor) and started the car.

it started very quickly. SUCCESS. i noticed however a knocking sound coming from the main engine body, where the pistons are, on the top. I would say in the middle of it, on top of pistons 3 and 4.

i thought that it has to do with me timing piston number 1 to the proper height as it compressed (popped) my rag cork out of it. so i tried the whole shabang 3 more times. i tried giving it one more key starter bump after the cork popped out but the the car didnt start at all (just liek before) so i knew i overshot my compression cycle. i did it again, this time i shoved more rag in the spark plug hole, trying to make a better seal. i went through the steps again and the car started again but STILL with the knocking noise. it is less noticeable now however.

i am not sure if this is the "engine knocking" i heard mechanics talk about. how can i go about fixing this, if it is that condition. now that my engine turns, would timing it with a timing light solve this problem?

i tried to find a good tutorial on timing a jeep cherokee 4.0 with a timing light bu couldnt find one. if thats what i need to do, could you direct me to one?

i want to clearly express my gratitude for helping me out. im sure others will benefit from this post just as i did from others'.

You don't set the timing on a Cherokee. The crank sensor is in the bell housing at about 10 o'clock, right by the driver's right foot. Moving the distributor alters the cam sensor signal timing and the rotor alignment but does nothing to the ignition timing.

You may have a carbon knock on those noisy cylinders. Buy and try some top combustion chamber carbon cleaner (pour in through the throttle body while the engine is hot and running and you're gassing it, but don't pour in too much, else you might hydro lock it). Do it outside and in an area where the smoke won't be a problem.

If it isn't carbon knock, something else will need to be done.

...hope this helps...

Richard

i put some carbon cleaner in the throttle and some in the gas tank.

knocking went away.

car works fine.

thanks a bunch

ok, i have driven the car around town for 1 week, then taken it for a long drive (450 miles) to S FL. The car drove down perfectly, but...

Once in S FL, it started stalling while driving on the highway. the car completely dies (electrical still styas on, radio, lights, widnshiled wiper, etc). it sort of happens randomly, but never at speeds under ~40 mph (while driving in town - off highway). i drove it all the way back yesterday, at ~40 mph best i could (no cruise control). it stalled on my twice, which is not bad for a 13 hour trip...phew. it stalled when i was getting brave, and pushing it to around 45 mph, even though it drove for long periods of time at 45 mph w/out stalling (sort of random, like i said).

i read around on the issue and the consenus seems to be an electrical short or a bad ECM unit. i also read something about a potentially bad ignition coil.

do you think it could be the ignition coil? i get spark just fine, the car wont give me any trouble on restart. it just dies as if something trips it dead. engine sounds smooth, start is fine, what do you suspect it might be?

is there a way i can troubleshoot the ECM unit? is that the black box with fuses in it, under the hood?

please let me know what i could do about it. it seems to be a reoccuring incident with my jeep cherokee (i read it got recalled for it a while ago). it seems i can drive in town just fine, but if i go faster then ~40 mph there is a chance the car dies down.

pls help
thank you

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