Cherokee shuts-down while driving - help please!

krustyman

New member
I have a 2000 Cherokee Sport....while driving the engine shuts down for about 1 second, the speedometer drops to zero, all power is lost & then POOF! it justs keeps on going like nothing happened.....? Dealership has replaced the crank sensor & cam sensor, problem still exists....they now want to replace my entire wiring harness because they say there is a short somewhere ($1000) & while they're at it replace the ECM ($650)...a lot of cash! I found a used ecm on ebay for $150 and figure I might just try my luck at seeing if that takes care of it...I have a remote start system that has been working fine for years, but wondering if I should just rip that out to make sure no wires having to do with that are compromised....anybody heard of this before? would love to hear any suggestions...
 

Is the engine actually dying for a second or are you just losing all the gauges?

The reason I ask is if the motor dies you should have to restart it if you have an automatic. The other reason would be that there is a very common problem with a connector behind the dash that connects the gauges. It is very common that you'll lose all your gauges for a moment, and the problem will get worse to where they won't come back on until you give the top of the dashboard a good hard whack.

Fear not, it's harmless but yeah it is annoying. You can have the dealer fix it or you can live with it. I had a 2000 Cherokee and chose to live with it. I found that when it happens a really really good hit would make it stop for the longest periods.
 
Thanks Twisted...actually it's not just the gauges, the whole transmission/engine stops, making a huge lurch that is a little sketchy going 70mph....but I just happen to notice that the speedo would drop out when it happened. I do have an automatic but I guess the hesitation is not long enough to completely stall the engine.....it feels more like throwing on the emergency brake for a split second.
 
If you replace the ecm you still have to take it to the stealership to have them reprogram it.
 

Maybe it's misfiring badly? I've never even heard of something like this. But I did have a ford ranger 4 cyl. for a while that I didn't have any cash to fix, and by the time I did, it would lurch down the road kind of like you're describing. It turned out to be running with 2 broken plugs. Lots of lurching.
 
Thanks Twisted...actually it's not just the gauges, the whole transmission/engine stops, making a huge lurch that is a little sketchy going 70mph....but I just happen to notice that the speedo would drop out when it happened. I do have an automatic but I guess the hesitation is not long enough to completely stall the engine.....it feels more like throwing on the emergency brake for a split second.
Ah well it was worth a shot. Well after you get it fixed and the gauge thing finally happens to you you'll know why :lol:

Sorry I couldn't help ya.
 
I wish I could be of help, but I just wanted to chime in to say let us know what it was when you do figure it out!
 

Everything dies then comes back on? I would check a power or ground problem first.
 
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