Help! My 4.0L TJ starts but won't run
 

Hi All,

I'm hoping to pick the brains of some of you experts here and get a little help
with a problem I'm having with my Jeep.

I drive a '99 fuel-injected 4.0L Wrangler TJ with an automatic tranny. About
three weeks ago I drove my youngest to school -- about 7 miles -- 'cause of the
bad weather, and when I got to the school I shut the engine off for some reason
(I honestly don't remember why). By this time the engine temperature was up to
normal. When I tried to restart it, it would start but immediately die. The
only way I could get it to start and then idle was to hold my foot on the
accelerator pedal. If I'd let off the gas pedal, it would die. I was real glad
that it's an automatic. After I'd driven a couple of miles or so it would idle
OK but was a little slower than normal and sorta rough. By the time I got home
this had cleared completely and it behaved as normal.

About a week later it did it again only this time when the engine was cold.
While trying to start it and keep it running I could smell a strong odor of raw
gasoline. I took it straight to the dealer and of course by the time I got
there it was running perfectly. He tinkered with it all day, called me that
afternoon to say that he couldn't make it fail, couldn't find anything
outwardly wrong, and asked to keep it overnight. The next morning he called and
said that he still couldn't recreate the problem and that it appeared to be
healthy as a Jeep.

It's been running fine for the past week-and-a-half since the last episode thru
warm weather, rainy weather and cold weather. (This is Kansas City; if you
don't like the weather, just wait.) My assumption has been maybe a vacuum leak
or loose ignition connection and I've looked everything over, at least
everything I recognize, as closely as possible, but all looks hunky-dory.

So the dealer, the guy with all the tools, bells and whistles, is stumped. And
I'm stumped, which ain't sayin' much. Does anyone here have any ideas? Any help
would be appreciated.

Thanks,

scotty
'99 TJ 4.0L Sahara
'99 XJ 4.0L Sport
'03 BMW Z4

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