Can a bad crank sensor or bad coil cause stalling without setting a code?

A neighbor and friend’s 1997 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.0L with about 300,000 miles has been randomly stalling for years, at idle, city and freeway. It always starts back up, mosyt times right away, but always within a few minutes. In anyone’s experience can a bad crank sensor or bad coil cause the stalling without setting a code? Did I mention there are no codes set? :slight_smile: The PCM has been changed several times, no luck. New cap, rotor and cam position sensor in the distributor, zilch. All ground connections at the battery, engine block and body have been cleaned and buffed, same with positive connections at the battery. The damn thing runs like a top and is clean in and out. I suspect the fuel pump because I had an experience where a bad fuel pump caused stalling without setting a code on a 2005 Escape, just trying to determine if one of these cheaper parts can do the same if faulty, stall the engine without setting a code.

Jack

Yes!

Read what it says about a Check Engine light.

Tester

Thank you, it is very valuable to get this kind of feedback. I should reiterate that the vehicle stalls at any speed, or at idle, usually starts right back up, and the vehicle otherwise drives like a dream.

Jack

We are going to try changing the CPS on this Jeep. Two days ago, it stalled, which is normal behavior. P0320 code was set. I cleared it. Yesterday the same code was set with no stalling, and no other driveability symptoms reported. I will order one the sensors offered by RockAuto, probably the Standard PC176

To bring this to a conclusion, I changed the crank sensor over 6 weeks ago and the engine has not stalled or hiccupped once since.

6 Likes