Starting issue

I have a 2000 jeep wrangler that I have a hard time sarting sometimes. It seems that the longer the car sits, the harder it is to start. The dealership went through the jeep and changed the spark plugs. I thought it was a fuel filter or fuel pump but they say no.

Any thoughts?

John

Is the check engine light on?
I had the same problem and it was the crankshaft position sensor. Althought the check engine light was on and it gave me the error code for it.

Search this forum for crankshaft position senor. There are alot of threads on it.

The check engine light has never come on.

What exactly do you mean by hard start?
One or two cranks, or one or two consecutive series of cranks?
How does it run once it is started?

The longer the jeep sits,the more you have to crank it. Once it starts, it runs great. I can shut off the jeep after starting it and I can restart it with no problem.

I have a 97 Wrangler with a 4 cylinder engine with the same problem - cranks a while to start it and then it runs fine. I just did a tuneup with new plugs, wires, distributor cap, and rotor - had the problem before and still have the problem. I was going to check fuel pressure. I think I'm supposed to see 40psi with key on and engine not running...? Any other suggestions?

I could be wrong(it's happened before :} ) but to me, it sounds like the problem is in the fuel system. to check things out, put a fuel preasure guage on the fuel rail. (preferably after it has sat a wile(when it would normally take a wile to start.) then, turn the key on, and watch the guage. if it takes a wile for the preasure to come up, then I'd check the filter/pump assembly(sorry, but they are both in the tank.)

if the preasure comes up quickly, turn the key back to the off position. continue to watch the guage to see how fast the preasure drops. if it drops really quick, there is something letting the preasure off; either a bad check valve(I think that's in the pump also) or posibly a leaky injector.

I'll put the fuel gauge on it this weekend.

Should I order some replacement O-rings for the injectors and plan on pulling them out also for a cleaning? If so, what's the best way to clean them? Any advice on this?

Try putting some acetone in the (full) gas tank. it will clean those fuel injector quite well without having to remove them. It cleans the intake system at the same time. You should see an increase in proformance too. About one quart per 15 gallons of gas. This works on fuel injection as well as carbs.

Give it a try, it's cheaper manually cleaning.


Happy Jeepin