QuestionHello,
I am hoping you can help me with my 1997 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo 6-cyl.
About a month ago it would not start, in the meantime I had been carpooling. I towed it up to my family's house about 3 hrs away and we replaced the battery, spark plugs, distributor, spark plug wires, air filter, oil filter, and changed the oil. After that the car started up fine. The next day I drove it 3 hours back to Baton Rouge, stopping 3-4 times along the way. The car does have some transmission problems, but I don't think that would affect the issue I'm currently having. So, once back into town I stopped at a gas station and when I went to leave it wouldn't start. The engine turns over, but its not getting any fire. No spark at the spark plugs at all. I was thinking that I might need to replace the pick-up coil and the ignition coil.......could that fix it and do you have any other recommendations? I am not extremely car savvy and don't have a lot of equipment-especially electrical testing stuff. Any help you could give would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!!
Wilks
PS--Another issue is that I am getting a new vehicle in about 1 month, so while it is important that I get this one fixed, I am hesitant to spend a lot of money on parts, etc, especially if they may or may not fix the problem.
AnswerHi Wilks,
While I don't have specific wiring diagrams for the Jeep line I believe that they are similar to the Chrysler line such that you may be able to get a handle on this using the on-board diagnostics. Try turning the ignition key 'on-off-on-off-on and leave on', doing that in 5 seconds or less elapsed time. Then watch the check engine light, which remains 'on', to see it begin to flash, pause, flash, etc. Count the number of flashes before each pause. Then repeant the process to be sure of getting an accurate set of flash counts. The last two counts will be 5 flashes each. Then tell me the counts in the order of appearance and we'll go from there with the code interpretation as to what is wrong. It should help identify which part is the cause.
Also, check to see if you hear the fuel pump, located in the gas tank, humm for about 1-2 seconds when you first turn the key to the 'run' position. If so, that is good and shows that there is power to it and that the engine controller is working properly.
If the check engine light doesn't do any flashing then a plug-in code reader will be necessary to find the fault codes. But I believe you should get the flashing with your '97 model.
Roland
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