I've been having trouble staring my '98 TJ 4cyl in the morning, and I'd like to pull the trouble codes from the engine- I've tried the on-off-on-off-on trick with the ignition- but neither the check engine light or the odometer flashed any codes at all. Not even 55. I've looked all thru the newsgroup for an answer, but with no luck. I
*did* see a post that said that some jeeps don't show codes, but have to be hooked up to an OBD scan tool to get the codes- any truth to this?
As far as the problem itself, the first start of the day the starter turns just fine and after an extra 4-5 seconds of cranking the engine sometimes struggles to life. Sometimes it takes just an extra second or two. After the engine does start, it runs "weak" for about 2 minutes, too much gas or load on the engine will stall it out. After that, it's fine the balance of the day. I'll park it at work and fire it up 4 hours later, and it starts and runs just fine then and at the end of the day (another 5 hours later). I've been going out at 10pm and running it for a minute or two, and that seems to make it easier to start in the mornings. Seems like the longer it sits the worse it gets- I let it sit for a day and a half once and at noon, it just wouldn't start at all.
After cranking it many times, I walked away in disgust, and then an hour later, wouldntcha know, it started right up.
Any ideas?
Many thanks-
Jason Iceman