I didn’t drive my 2001 Cherokee Sport for 6 weeks. When I tried to start it, the battery was dead. I pushed it backwards out of the garage about 2 car lengths, then I tried to jump it. It started, after taking a while to build up a charge, but I had to press on the gas. It would not idle though. As soon as I took my foot off the gas, it would shut off. I tried running it for 2-3 minutes, but it still immediately shut off once I depressed the gas.
Could this be related to letting it sit around for so long? Any suggestions?
Quite possibly the battery was old and the lack of use did it in. If the batter was more than 5 years old I’m not surprised at all.
I don’t believe this has anything to do with the battery at all. I’m not sure what that is. Bad fuel pump maybe? Fuel filter clog? I’m sure someone will be along that knows.
My 1999 Cherokee Sport routinely sits for months without being started. While I do have to press the accelerator pedal slightly in the Winter to keep it running until it warms up, it has always cranked over and started.
Do you have the original battery? If so, you may want to replace it. Also have the electrical system tested to see if you have a ‘leak’.
Letting things can lead to all sorts of problems. The fuel filter was a good suggestion. Could be the fuel injectors too or the ignition. If you can smell gas or if you pull a spark plug and it has gas on it, work on checking the ignition.
My parents left a car parked outside for a month in the winter. When they tried to start it, no luck. Father opened the hood and out popped a groundhog. It had been hibernating in there and chewed up all the wires. The car was a write-off. Thus began my mother’s vendetta against groundhogs.
I parked my van at one of those airport lots. Flew out to a computer conference. Came back late at night six days later and the damn thing wouldn’t start. 10pm and stranded at the airport valet lot. :mad: Taxi cab home and then a tow truck took the van to the dealer. As usual it was the carburetor.
I eventually sold the van because they never did get the problem fixed. Always unpredictable. It started fine if I used it daily. Let it sit over the weekend and I’d have trouble starting it Monday. Vehicles in the 80’s & early 90’s had horrible carburetors. Total crap.
I have a question that will be easier to answer with a tachometer. Does it seem like you have to use the accelerator to hold the engine at a normal idle speed, or is it that the engine dies at the normal idle speed so you have to hold it at a higher speed?
If it’s the former, it could just be that the computer needs to relearn the idle. When the battery is disconnected (or run completely dead), the computer loses all the parameters it was using to make the engine idle at the right speed and has to run for a while before it relearns them. Normally, this should only cause it to hunt for the idle speed for a while, but if your truck is out of tune or you have some stale gas it could not idle at all. I would suggest warming it up all the way (assuming no check engine lights come on) and seeing if that helps-- I suspect once it gets up to normal operating temperature it will eventually idle without assistance. After that, fill it up with fresh gas and get a tune-up if it’s never had one.
The parasitic draws on some vehicles can drain the battery in two weeks. I sense your battery is not new either. In any case, it is unwise to use the alternator to recharge a dead battery. Jumping a low battery or in emergency situations is OK though. When you started the engine up, the alternator was working overtime to charge that dead battery. The alternator will sacrifice itself in a sometimes unsuccessful attempt. In any case, it will put more of a load on the engine and tend to stall it out.
At a minimum, I recommend charging the battery with a charger or replacing it. Then drive it around the block a few times to see how it ends up. While it is true that there can be a learning curve on the drive-ability, I have not found it to cause the type of stalling you describe. But I suspect nothing serious until after you get a good battery in there and still have problems.
This is exactly what happens when a battery goes bad. It went dead first but is probably old and going dead was enough to kill it for good. This has happened twice in my Jeep. The first time I drove to a store, went in to get a newspaper, came out 30 seconds later and it wouldn’t start. Jumped it off and it kept dying unless I kept it revved up. You can try to charge it, but you’re probably better off replacing it.
The engine won’t run at all if the accelerator is not pressed. It will turn over when I turn the key, but it won’t start until I press the gas. As long as I keep my foot on the gas, it runs. As soon as I take my foot off, it goes immediately down to zero. No stopping on idle and sputtering out, just straight down to zero. No idle at all.
