My son has a 94 Jeep Grand Cherokee V8 that I think has a bad Crankshaft Position Sensor (CPS) but now I can't find where the old sensor is located on top of the bell housing for a V8. The car engine had a complete rebuild about a year ago and ran great. The car stopped after a fender bender and my son had it towed to his home. When I worked on trying to get it started, I found it had spark and power to the coil for one second. After a second the autoshutdown relay clicked off and there was no spark or power to the coil. I put a jumper wire to power the coil positive wire to get the car started to get it to my home. I took off the jumper wire at home and it started right up and ran OK for 2 weeks before the same problem started again. This time I towed it to a garage but they didn't want to work on it after I told them I had put power to the coil to get it home, but they thought it was likely the Crankshaft Position Sensor (CPS). I read a number of similar posts and it sounded likely so I got a new sensor but now I can't find where the old sensor is located on top of the bell housing for a V8.

The V8 looks a lot different than pictures I found for the 4.0 Jeep CPS which can be seen on the back of the engine on top of the bell housing. I can reach behind and below the distributor and also feel the metal transmission fluid dip stick housing and bracket, but no CPS. Which side of the trans dip stick housing is the CPS on? Is it on the driver side of the trans dip stick or behind the distributor?

A great article on the CJ jeep 4.0 for replacement of the crankshaft sensor (CPS) is at http://www.4x4xplor.com/cps.htm

Also, between the throttle cable, fuel line, and other lines on running on top the V8 on the back of the engine; and the exhaust muffler pipe and lines running on the bottom, how does one get a socket on the CPS bracket for a V8? Does the trans mount and exhaust piping need to be loosened or something to get better clearance?

Thanks

Steve K.

 

Should be on the passenger side of the bellhousing.

 

94 would have a distributer ????.............I'd be looking at the pick-up coil in the dist..........

 

Thanks Mark, you are correct I think. I was surprised I found the CPS in the Haynes manual I have for the jeep and it says the CPS is just past the end of the right head on the bellhousing above the right muffler. We'll see how it goes. I took out the EGR tube per the manual and I found it I think - I have 1 bolt out and working on the second one. Getting the bolts back in on the new CPS in is going to be tricky. Thanks for the help. If the CPS doesn't do it, the camshaft sensor below the distributor may be next.

 

Installed new CPS sensor and car started immediately. Ran for 30 minutes and turned off. Restarted fine once. Now new problem. When I put it in reverse, the car backed up and when I put it in drive the car instantly died - again no spark. Check engine code only shows battery disconnected recently. My son had almost the same thing happen before it quit last time. He put it in reverse and the car stalled and it wouldn't start. Now new CPS and same problem again. Is it possible that putting the car in reverse can have anything to do with the problem?

 

Could be some things now....

Lock-up solenoid (usually located in the tranny pan)

Torque Converter