Cj dies for no reason

Buck hour

New member
I am proud new owner of a 1977 CJ7. She has a 258 4.2 and as far as I can tell a Carter carb (). I can be driving or at idle and for no rhyme or reason she will just die. I've already replaced the fuel filter, plug wires, dis cap, starter, alternator, and many of the hoses clamps and belts.

Some one please help! It's hard to enjoy some jeep time when your always stressed about when she will die next
 

I am proud new owner of a 1977 CJ7. She has a 258 4.2 and as far as I can tell a Carter carb (). I can be driving or at idle and for no rhyme or reason she will just die. I've already replaced the fuel filter, plug wires, dis cap, starter, alternator, and many of the hoses clamps and belts.

Some one please help! It's hard to enjoy some jeep time when your always stressed about when she will die next

does it start back up after it dies?
 
An old friend of mine says... It's either fuel fire or air. My uneducated guess is that it's the fuel pump.
 
sweetpeet said:
does it start back up after it dies?

Some times it will start back up right away sometimes I need a jump. I just had the electrical system checked by a buddy. He said the voltage regulator on the alt was messed up. Putting out 15 amps. So again I swapped the alt. Now it barely starts and won't stay running for longer than a few min
 

dparish said:
An old friend of mine says... It's either fuel fire or air. My uneducated guess is that it's the fuel pump.

It squirts gas every time I touch the peddle and when I was changing the fuel filter I hadn't tightened down one of the clamps. The second it started it sprayed gas every where. So I'm hesitant to blame the pump.
 

Some times it will start back up right away sometimes I need a jump. I just had the electrical system checked by a buddy. He said the voltage regulator on the alt was messed up. Putting out 15 amps. So again I swapped the alt. Now it barely starts and won't stay running for longer than a few min

so your having trouble idling? if so, then it's a fuel/air mixture problem. you can adjust your air intake on the carburetor. if its only at idle then I'd say decrease the air.

it doesn't quit when your actually driving, right?

oh, and I just saw what 54cj3b said....thats also very possible :yeah-that:. but once again carb problem
 
sweetpeet said:
so your having trouble idling? if so, then it's a fuel/air mixture problem. you can adjust your air intake on the carburetor. if its only at idle then I'd say decrease the air.

it doesn't quit when your actually driving, right?

oh, and I just saw what 54cj3b said....thats also very possible :yeah-that:. but once again carb problem

No she can and does die while driving. You can be doing 60 and she'll switch into push mode.
 
As of today I replaced the alt and solenoid and now it won't even stay running longer than 30 sec. The good news is I'm running out of things to replace Hahahaha
 

Buck hour said:
No she can and does die while driving. You can be doing 60 and she'll switch into push mode.

Well, that doesn't necessarily mean that it's not a carb prob. The engine could be getting starved. I mean think about it, carbureted engines once they start all they need after that is air and gas. And it sounds to me that you are lacking gas intake to enough pistons. If not that than I guess the other thing could be lack of lubrication causing parts to temporarily simi-seizing. Check your dipstick. But of course that is worst case scenario.
 
Have you checked your power and ground connections. If you have a poor ground or loose connection it will run until disrupted. You want to check and clean both pos and neg terminals. Follow the ground to the chassis connection and check/clean there. Alternator to chassis ground and there is likely a engine to chassis ground
 
I was having a similar problem with mine check your fuel pressure it turned out that a mount broke in mine a partially pinched a fuel line and it would randomly starve for fuel, another way to do it is with a see through fuel filter, when it dies jump out and see if its empty.
 

JPNinPA said:
Have you checked your power and ground connections. If you have a poor ground or loose connection it will run until disrupted. You want to check and clean both pos and neg terminals. Follow the ground to the chassis connection and check/clean there. Alternator to chassis ground and there is likely a engine to chassis ground

I just replaced all the battery leads and ground wire.
 
hillbillyhotrod said:
I was having a similar problem with mine check your fuel pressure it turned out that a mount broke in mine a partially pinched a fuel line and it would randomly starve for fuel, another way to do it is with a see through fuel filter, when it dies jump out and see if its empty.

Did u ever need to jump it to make it start again? At this point the only things left to replace is the ignition coil and the gas pump. Hahaha so it's a 50/50 shot
 

I did all the time but it turned out to be a separate issue, I of put the two issues together and was trying to chase it that way. If you can measure your fuel pressure you can start to eliminate possibilities.
 
it dies while driving? just out of the blue? i would say its a wire issue. if you see fuel squirt when you move the throttle arm, then fuel is not hte trouble. i would say you have a loose connection and when you hit a bump a certain way, you lose a ground or fire or something. when you get home, start the jeep and pop the hood and start wiggling wires. that would be the easiest way to find if its in the engine bay. if its not, pop the hatch and grab the harness that goes to the lights and sending unit and wiggle the crap out of that sucker. see what happens
 
bet you have a pin hole in the float like I did carters are good for this
0038-1.jpg
who ever had the jeep before me attempted to fix it but it came back causing it to run good till float filled with gas and died sit 5 mins run good again than dies and sounds almost like the same symptoms your having


another culprit could be a small piece of debris in your fuel input port
rust dirt ect
 

superj said:
it dies while driving? just out of the blue? i would say its a wire issue. if you see fuel squirt when you move the throttle arm, then fuel is not hte trouble. i would say you have a loose connection and when you hit a bump a certain way, you lose a ground or fire or something. when you get home, start the jeep and pop the hood and start wiggling wires. that would be the easiest way to find if its in the engine bay. if its not, pop the hatch and grab the harness that goes to the lights and sending unit and wiggle the crap out of that sucker. see what happens

The only thing left of the original electrical system is the ignition coil. I've replaced everything thing else in the last two weeks
 
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