156K miles
fuel filter replaced 35K miles ago
no other known problems
It's happened 2 times, both in near-identical circumstances, about a month apart, most recent - yesterday: The little Liberty runs around fine during the day (hot, 95+ temp). It's garaged, when I go to start it in the morning (cool, 70 deg), it will start fine, as it always does - runs about 5 seconds and then dies and won't restart. Starter spins it fine, but won't hit or start - as if there's no fuel
The first time, it restarted with a small shot of ether (while my son was cranking it - I know enough not to shoot ether into a stopped engine). No further problems until yesterday: Same problem repeats, only this time, ether won't get it going. Today I have the brilliant idea to pump up the primer on the fuel filter - first dozen pumps nothing, then I can feel the pressure start to build. When it feels pretty solid, I hit the starter and it spins for about 3 seconds, then takes off and runs.
I should mention that I've noticed that now it normally takes about 1 - 2 seconds to start, whereas a few months ago I recall that it was a near-instantaneous start as soon as I turned the key. Is this a pertinent symptom?
So I'm thinking:
1. bad fuel filter?
2. is there a secondary fuel pump that pushes fuel from the tank to the filter that's going bad?
3. a check valve on the fuel filter?
4. fuel tank not properly vented - when it cools overnight it sucks fuel away from the fuel pump/filter?
Local Jeep dealer wants $129 for a fuel filter + $17 for a new "pigtail", I don't understand fuel filter and pigtail in the same sentence. I can tell you that the dealer is no help with correctly diagnosing the problem - the first time they wanted to charge me gazillions of $$ to start replacing fuel injectors????
O'Reilly has a WIX 33647 fuel filter for $30, but I don't know if that's really the problem or not.
Help out a fellow Jeeper here - I'm willing to be schooled by your extensive and vast experience. I doubt I'm the first to ever see this problem, so someone's got to have the definitive diagnosis and fix for this anomaly. I'm interested in conclusively identifying the root cause of the problem and correcting that, instead of band-aiding the symptoms.
Thanx,
PJ