Old Jeep Cj

Hoenes

Member
Might be on the wrong forum, but I guess it could be restored someday. Not! My son has an '83 with the 4.2 inline 6 in it. Went from hard starting one week, to no start at all. Getting fuel. Spark at coil is weak and sporadic. The only time it tries to fire, is when you "let off" the key after cranking the starter. Suspected the ignition switch and replaced that. No difference. Replaced coil too. Same result. What would cause it to fire at the tail end of the key stroke? Burnt wire? Any ideas appreciated.
 
Can not say for sure but if it has a ballast resister by pass in the ignition system that could cause the problem. A simple hot wire from the battery to the coil will tell you which way to look for the problem. If it starts hot wired your problem is from the coil back to the battery. If when hot wired the spark does not get better and no start the problem is from the coil into the distributor
 
Old, I tried a jumper wire from the coil directly to the battery. Still nothing. We'll try to round up a different distributor. It not an oem. Someone put on a so called high performance set up. Probably go back to the basics.
 
Points or electronic ignition?? If points they are likely to be bad. If electronic then the pick up is likely to be bad but it can be pulled out and checked at an auto parts store
 
Have cured similar symptoms by replacing cap and rotor before--fairly cheap fix if that's it. Also had an old Ford with a goobered-up (by previous owner) electronic ignition that would do that, and I had to rewire the ignition key to cure it--somehow, he'd hooked it up so that there was no current to the ignition circuit when the switch was in the "start" position and the starter was engaged. You'd have to get it rolling over good, let the key slip back to the "run" position, and it would fire. Worked all right in summer, but when it got cold it wouldn't start, so I pulled off all his old wiring and redid it properly, which cured the problem.
 
When did Chrysler and jeep join forces? if it has a chrysler ignition and a dual ballast resistor does the resistor feed direct to the coil or does it feed the ignition control box? I had a plymouth duster that i drove home about ten miles holding the key turned enough to bypass the resistor but not engage the starter.

Steven
 
Tim, we replaced the cap, rotor, and plug wires a couple of weeks before, because it had a bad miss. As fate would have it, the cap and rotor were Ford parts. Something was cobbed up by the previous owner. I noticed that the hot wire went to the neg. side of the coil. I thought the hot wire always went to the + side of the coil on any neg. ground system. We tried switching it on the new coil, no change. Switched it back, because that's the way it has been all along. I believe they converted it to some type of electronic set up.
 
Steve, I'm not really sure what we've got. It's like the Johnny Cash automobile. Some parts check out '85, some '83. The 4wd parts even other years. Also, I thought the engine was a GM, (Jeep Partnership) but that pretty much rules out a Ford ign. system.
 
So what you have is the old A.M.C. made jeep which was before Chrysler took over AMC. AMC used parts of Fords and Chev etc etc to build there cars and all.
 
I had an 83 with the 6 cyl. In it. Started having strange problem with it bucking and stalling intermittantly. One day wouldn't start, my Dad was a mechanic and quickly located the no spark problem. After conducting a "wiggle test", we discovered the bolt that fastened the ground wire lug from the distributor was about 1/16 of an inch too long. The flat washer under the wire lug wasn't thick enough to allow the bolt to be tightened securily. The black paint had been the only thing holding it and had finally cracked from vibration. I miss that Jeep, only had it 3 yrs, then traded it for an 85 Ranger.
 
Does the Jeep have a Chrysler electronic ignition? Those older Chrysler electronic ignitions needed 11+ volts to get a spark. A weak battery will let the starter turn the engine without getting a spark. If jump starting it works, it's probably a low battery issue.
 

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