Liberty tried to leave me on the side of the road.

ok, going to work this AM I was doing 65 then it felt like the engine cut out but not completely. I lost 99% of my power and by the time I pulled over the engine was off. The Tach was going all over the place from 0 to 7000 RPM but the engine was not racing, it was very quiet as in idle or less. Check Engine light came on.

Pulled over, turned everything off. Opened hood, nothing special, did check transmission fluid and it was fine. Tried turning it over and it struggled like it had no fuel but started. Pulled into traffic, got about 100 yards and it did it again.

Waited a few, plugged in my OBD reader, started it up, no code, engine running fine. Was able to drive the rest of the way to work, including stop lights and such with no issues at all, about 10 minutes of mixed city/highway.

I'm thinking the Check Engine light was on because the key was in the ignition and turned to the ON position but the engine was not running, not actually showing Check Engine.

Thoughts were:

Crap in the gas?
Bad fuel pump (I've had a Dodge do this and they just go out and stay out)?
Grounding strap on engine?

As some back info this is a rebuilt engine, about 6,000 miles on it.

Do you hear the fuel pump running?
If not swap over the fuel pump relay with an identical one next to it and check the fuses....you can jumper female pins 30 and 87 together in the fuel pump relay socket...with ignition On and fuses OK the pump should run.

What year is this KJ...2002 or 2007?

Have you managed to pull codes before with this KJ using this OBD Reader?
Have you checked for codes in the TCM as well as the PCM?

The 2002 KJs are difficult to pull codes from as they use a PCI Bus.

Billwill said:

Do you hear the fuel pump running?
If not swap over the fuel pump relay with an identical one next to it and check the fuses....you can jumper female pins 30 and 87 together in the fuel pump relay socket...with ignition On and fuses OK the pump should run.

What year is this KJ...2002 or 2007?

Have you managed to pull codes before with this KJ using this OBD Reader?
Have you checked for codes in the TCM as well as the PCM?

The 2002 KJs are difficult to pull codes from as they use a PCI Bus.

Click to expand...

It's the 2002. As it is currently running, everything sounds fine. At the time I was on the side of the road I am not sure I could hear much of anything other than traffic. I used a cheap, wireless ODB reader and my phone with a couple of different reader apps, none of them showed anything. It is rather limited in what it will pull. I'm at work now and won't be driving home till later to be able if it does it again.

Are the fuel pumps prone to issues? Where is it, tank or external?

Billwill said:

Do you hear the fuel pump running?
If not swap over the fuel pump relay with an identical one next to it and check the fuses....you can jumper female pins 30 and 87 together in the fuel pump relay socket...with ignition On and fuses OK the pump should run.

What year is this KJ...2002 or 2007?

Have you managed to pull codes before with this KJ using this OBD Reader?
Have you checked for codes in the TCM as well as the PCM?

The 2002 KJs are difficult to pull codes from as they use a PCI Bus.

Click to expand...

It's the 2002. As it is currently running, everything sounds fine. At the time I was on the side of the road I am not sure I could hear much of anything other than traffic. I used a cheap, wireless ODB reader and my phone with a couple of different reader apps, none of them showed anything. It is rather limited in what it will pull. I'm at work now and won't be driving home till later to be able if it does it again.

Are the fuel pumps prone to issues? Where is it, tank or external?

I'd check your grounds.

So checked straps, great shape and grounded. Drove home and actually in the same darn place it stalled out again. This time the Engine light stayed on and threw a code, P0320. Looks like I need the Camshaft and Crankshaft sensors from what I find online.

Billwill said:

Do you hear the fuel pump running?
If not swap over the fuel pump relay with an identical one next to it and check the fuses....you can jumper female pins 30 and 87 together in the fuel pump relay socket...with ignition On and fuses OK the pump should run.

What year is this KJ...2002 or 2007?

Have you managed to pull codes before with this KJ using this OBD Reader?
Have you checked for codes in the TCM as well as the PCM?

The 2002 KJs are difficult to pull codes from as they use a PCI Bus.

Click to expand...

Can pull generic codes most times without even a scan tool on these by doing the on off key dance, codes will display on odometer.

Yeah I have to use the "key" on my 2002 Export CRD as it is pretty impossible here in SA to get a reader that will read and erase codes on these early KJs because of the PCI Bus that is used.

I drove into a local Bosch Dealership and asked if they could read codes out of my Bosch ECM....they took one look at the Bosch part fitted and shook their heads. So I would have to go to the local Jeep Dealers who are really pretty useless and expensive.

I get codes by rapidly turning the ignition OB/OFF 4 times and after the 4th ON time leave ignition ON and codes will display on the Odometer display with the latest code display last supposedly.

All codes are only shown once although they may be returning repeatedly and they sometimes transpose the last two digits.

Can also not delete the codes.

Fuel starvation or air-in-fuel normally do not post codes at least on my old CRD.

The codes drawn however helped me many times with pointers as to where my problems are and then I can climb in with my Multi meter to fix up the problems which are mainly electrical.

I have managed so far for the last 17 years to keep my 17 year old Lady going!

Just had this happen in my 2003 Liberty. It would run fine for an unpredictable amount of time, then stutter like it was starving for gas. The tack would jump all over the place like described in the OP, the engine would stutter then usually die. I pulled all the fuses I could find to check them and ensure that had there been any corrosion, that it would be somewhat removed on the contact areas by exercising the fuses so to speak. I was able to limp my jeep home nearly 50 km by getting up to speed, then coasting as far as I could. It seemed to help bypass the stalling issue, but didn't eliminate it.

JBDive,

Did you happen to get the problem figured out?


Neil

nlife said:

Just had this happen in my 2003 Liberty. It would run fine for an unpredictable amount of time, then stutter like it was starving for gas. The tack would jump all over the place like described in the OP, the engine would stutter then usually die. I pulled all the fuses I could find to check them and ensure that had there been any corrosion, that it would be somewhat removed on the contact areas by exercising the fuses so to speak. I was able to limp my jeep home nearly 50 km by getting up to speed, then coasting as far as I could. It seemed to help bypass the stalling issue, but didn't eliminate it.

JBDive,

Did you happen to get the problem figured out?


Neil

Click to expand...

Cam Shaft Sensor and Crank Shaft Sensor replacement, unsure which was the fix but both are right near each other and might as well change them out at the same time. I eventually started throwing codes which helped figure this out, off hand I'm sorry I don't recall the codes but it was pretty obvious once I had to codes and just a quick Google of them and symptoms.