Hi all,
First post on the forum. I utilized the search feature for similar "lurching" problems and saw many people posting the same types of responses but I have yet to see a bonafide solution. I will describe my problem in the greatest detail I can offer and hopefully someone can help us out. This problem has been plaguing us for months.

What: Jeep Cherokee Sport 4.0 Standard transmission with ~150,000 miles

Problem: Several months ago the Jeep started to "lurch" or sputter upon acceleration. Our initial fix was to "massage" the gas and let the Jeep work through the problem itself. After this stopped working, we started flicking the key on and off while it was "lurching" and that also seemed to temporarily fix the problem. It was around this time that the Check Engine light would flicker on and off. We managed to pick up a code for the downstream O2 sensor and replaced it, resulting in no change in performance but it did solve the problem of the Check Engine light. The problem seemed to level off for a few months and we were able to manage a brief hiccup here and there. It was during this time that we started to pick off sensors and address other commonly mentioned solutions in hopes to fix this problem. Nothing seemed to work for more than a temporary fix.

Fast forward to one week ago and this "lurching" problem got much, much worse. It was worse than before and the Jeep at some points was undriveable. As of now, the Jeep starts and idles wonderfully, it just begins "lurching" whenever you put a load on the engine. We can not even drive it out of the parking lot. In our opinion, it seems that the engine is not getting enough fuel to it. Does anyone have ANY idea what could be causing this problem? Below I will list all of the checks and repairs we have made.

REPAIRS
Cleaned Idle Air Control (IAC) Sensor
Cleaned carbon from throttle body
NEW downstream O2 sensor
NEW Throttle Position Sensor (TPS)
NEW Camshaft Position Sensor
Replaced spark plugs and wires (multiple times)
NEW Exhaust system
Inspected and replaced vacuum line components
NEW battery
Cleaned fuel injectors

Any and all help will be appreciated.

 

Would it rev above 3k rpms with a load on it?

 

Based on past experience, I doubt it. It has great difficulty going uphill. The symptoms are greatly increased under an engine load.

 

up stream o2, crank sensor. or, bad distributor. how did you clean the injectors? the magic in a bottle or actually take them out and haved cleaned?

 

@ chill

Forgot to mention that we did change the distributor and rotor about a year ago as well. We aren't getting a DTC for the upstream O2 or the crank sensor. The injectors were cleaned with "magic in a bottle".

Just a note, the downstream O2 sensor was changed 2 months ago but the DTC is back again.

 

I had something similar. the test that thje transmission dude did, was to tap the brake when the lurch happens and see if RPM shoot up. it happened to mine, had it rebuilt before something got trashed in there 1100$

 

I have found some jeeps are picky about what parts you put in. some problems with running cheap autopart store tps,o2 sensors. Those parts I buy at the dealership. very expensive but they work. some other forums talk about how the cheap tps don't work right.

 

I am also having this problem. Any solution yet?

 

Raising this thread from the dead....

Any final solution to this? Just purchased a '98 XJ Classic and this problem doesn't seem "normal". I'm going to look at changing out the TPS and IAC this weekend.

 

Just wondered if any of you tried adjusting your throttle cable?