benjy_26 Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 Ok everyone. I ran into something this week that has me scratching my head. A buddy of mine recently purchased a 1994 Jeep ZJ with the 42RE, 4.0HO, Dana 35, and is 2WD. This vehicle is a Laredo, if it makes a difference. The vehicle has 250,000 miles on (what I presume to be) the original engine. It had plenty of power, and made all the right noises. Over the last couple of weeks, he's installed a cold air intake, a new set of wires and plugs, cap and rotor, freshened the CCV system, installed a new high flow cat and muffler, threw in a MSD coil I had, and installed my old ported and polished throttle body as well as a '99 WJ intake manifold. It ran very well after these mods and he was averaging about 16mpg in mixed driving. I then didnt see him or the Zed for a few weeks. This weekend, he came back with the CEL on, a weird, misfire at low RPM, a VERY low idle speed, and severe missing and what seemed almost like the fuel cut off on a very aggressive RPM limiter hitting right around 4000 rpm. His average MPG has also dropped to 15.2MPG and the truck feels noticeably more sluggish. We did the CEL sequence with the key and came back with a fault at the MAP sensor. I have a few new spares laying about, so we decided to throw them in. The issue persisted. Checked the vacuum line, all was in order. There appeared to be some fraying of the wires in the connector, so we checked them, made sure everything was plugged in and it all checked out. We checked plugs, wires, the coil, changed the fuel filter, tps, iac, cap and rotor, took down the exhaust before and after the cat.... issue is still present. I even have a spare ECM of the proper serial # ( I have a LOT of ZJ parts lol) that we threw in there and it's still displaying the same symptoms. The only thing that I can think of is that my buddy may have knocked a wire loose somewhere or perhaps accidentally created a short somewhere while installing a set of Hella fog lamps on his bumper. He ran the wires through the firewall grommet near the steering column into the passenger compartment, All vacuum lines and fittings seem to be in proper order, btw. Only other thing that I can think of is that maybe the CPS is failing, or we just need to swap out the whole ECM harness (I swear I have one somewhere in my closet). Any suggestions? I am honestly stumped. :dunno: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sloride Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 o2 sensor? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benjy_26 Posted February 17, 2014 Author Share Posted February 17, 2014 I didnt think to check, but I've never heard of an O2 sensor trigger such a violent, hard fuel cut off before, especially when thr rngine is still well within the safe RPM range. I'll check it out tonight and report back with what I find. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HOrnbrod Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 Did you check the MAP connector for the 5VDC reference voltage (pin C, BLK/GRN wire)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
randomguy310 Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 I would change the cps had mine give me all sorts of trouble on my 00 xj then bought a cheap ebay one ran but like crap.. bought one from auto zone been running fine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
airspeed Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 Bad fuel? Phase separation... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benjy_26 Posted February 18, 2014 Author Share Posted February 18, 2014 Bad fuel? Phase separation... He's filled up once more since it started happening. We also changd out the fuel filter and threw in a can of Seafoam into the tank this weekend. Issue persists. What is phase seperation? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benjy_26 Posted February 18, 2014 Author Share Posted February 18, 2014 I would change the cps had mine give me all sorts of trouble on my 00 xj then bought a cheap ebay one ran but like crap.. bought one from auto zone been running fine I keep hearing that the CPS can give weird conditions when it's failing. I'll have to pull it and check it out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benjy_26 Posted February 18, 2014 Author Share Posted February 18, 2014 Did you check the MAP connector for the 5VDC reference voltage (pin C, BLK/GRN wire)? yup. We checked, and at first it checked out fine, but, if you hold the multimeter to it, the signal fluctuates. I thought it might be something physically wrong with the connector or harness, but there are no obvious signs of damage. I went so far as to tap into the wire carrying the reference voltage near the ECM and the same thing happens there, which lead to us swapping the ECM. I have NOT checked the voltage since the ECM swap. I'm feeling that maybe I should... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dasbulliwagen Posted February 18, 2014 Share Posted February 18, 2014 Ive seen the CPS go out shorting the 5V reference, causing all the sensors on that 5V to go out. This is the most common failure, I would replace the CPS first. Ive also seen the "distributor" shaft wear out and wobble causing wierd misfires and cutout. If you can, take the cap off the "distributor" and try to wobble the shaft. If you have any sideways movement, replace it. At higher RPMs the shaft will wobble causing the sensor to not pick up correctly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benjy_26 Posted February 18, 2014 Author Share Posted February 18, 2014 Ive seen the CPS go out shorting the 5V reference, causing all the sensors on that 5V to go out. This is the most common failure, I would replace the CPS first. Ive also seen the "distributor" shaft wear out and wobble causing wierd misfires and cutout. If you can, take the cap off the "distributor" and try to wobble the shaft. If you have any sideways movement, replace it. At higher RPMs the shaft will wobble causing the sensor to not pick up correctly. Got a new dizzy in; no joy. At least we got rid of an oil leak, though. :). We're waiting on the CPS. Just our luck that nobody in the area has one in stock! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benjy_26 Posted February 18, 2014 Author Share Posted February 18, 2014 My buddy also picked up a complete wiring harness from the local U Pull it. Not a bad deal at 10 bucks.. and it seems like a good idea to have a spare. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boman40 Posted February 19, 2014 Share Posted February 19, 2014 I would re torque intake bolts, vacuum leak, fuel pressure? low? or just bad gas, fuel cleaner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benjy_26 Posted February 19, 2014 Author Share Posted February 19, 2014 Fuel pressure checks out ok. Ran through a coupke tanks, used berryman in the system. Nothing going. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
randomguy310 Posted February 19, 2014 Share Posted February 19, 2014 cps, ten min fix.. just my thoughts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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