My 1996 Jeep Grand Cherokee will not start I have to press the gas pedal what"s wrong?

Since people here arent much help, go to the forums on the bottom in the link i gave and register and ask in the ZJ Grand cherokee section im sure they cant help you as its a Jeep forum. Do you hear the gas pump turn on when you turn the key to the power position ? It should make a little humming noise in the back where the trunk is for a second or 2 when you turn the key on (not the engine just on for the power)

Dont use anymoe fuel injector cleaners you can wear seals out by using too many. My suggestion is to buy a can of seafoam and clean out the engine this way. You can buy them in a liquid or spray form at any local autoparts store. Seafoam is about $6 a bottle. Have your husband help you with this, or get the autoparts store people to do it for you. Advanced Auto Parts will do it for free. Take off the air cover on the throttle body of the engine. Im not talking about the cover on the airfilter box. I mean the cover on top of the engine that goes to the air filter box. Now with the engine off pull the lever with the cables on it (should be on the left) and open it all the way and look down inside. If its all black and grimy you probably have nasty carbon buildup and this could be why the engine wont start without giving it alot of gas.

Now turn the engine on and have someone inside the car giving it around 1500 rpm's and hold it steady as best you can. With the seafoam bottel (i recomend the spray) spray it down inside the throttle body slowely. Dont spray so much that you stall the engine, if you hear the engine sputterring give it a little more gas and stop spraying and give it a second then continue spraying. Spray about half the bottle down there. Then shut the engine off and let it sit for about 8 minutes. Turn the engine off and rev the engine up and down. Dont rev it above 4,000 rpm. Just rev it up and down, you should see white smoke coming out the tailpipe. Be warned there will probably be alot of smoke.. this is the carbon that was built up in the engine clogging it up. After the smoke is gone, put the rest of the bottle of seafoam into the throttle body with the engien at 1500rpm like you did before and repeat the steps, engine off wait 8 minutes, turn it back on and rev it until the smoke is gone..

Another thing you should do is take off the Idle air Controller. This is connected to the throttle body by 2 screws. If you have a the 4.0 inline 6 engine it will be on the throttlebody behind it. Unplug it and unscrew it... carefull not to loose the screws and DO NOT drop them in the throttle body. Do all this with the engine off.. Now the idle air controller has like a little metal knob on it. Take a rag and clean all the black gunk off it and install it back like it was.

If this doesnt help then it could possibly be way overdue dirty sparkplugs that need replaced. Or it could need a new battery. If it cranks really slow like its dying then the battery might be drained. If it was the alternator like your female friend said, the Jeep wouldnt be running once you got it started. The battery starts the Jeep, and the alternator runs the Jeep once its started so i highly doubt its the alternator... . Go to this forum and ask there.

http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f13/

Go to an auto parts store and have the guy there check your coolant level. He'll have to wait till the engine cools down, If the coolant level is good, I'm sure it's the thermostat. That should be a cheap fix at any repair shop. If the coolant is low, have the auto parts store top it off and then start wondering where the coolant went in the first place. It doesn't just disappear. It is probably leaking some where so look for puddles where you park and check the coolant regularly. Good luck.

Nothing you have said so far makes any sense. On computer managed cars it won't matter if you put your foot on the gas pedal brake pedal or the roof. If you can hear a difference when it is cranking your better then I am. Your husband is no help and your girl friend doesn't have a clue either.

So how long has the engine light been on did you say? Remove the type covering it and go to Auto Zone and start with the codes and call back.