I want to say I’m done with this jeep, but unfortunately I can’t bring myself to get rid of it. I’ve got a 96 with 109k miles and the AW4 transmission. It all started the day after I swapped out the distributor for a new aftermarket one. My transmission acts up after driving for about 20mins, it’ll drive perfect up until then. When it warms up, it will randomly unlock the torque converter while cruising at 50+. It will only lock back if I apply more throttle and then when I let off just a tad to main speed then it’ll unlock again and stay there. Occasionally, if you come to a stop and run through the gears it’ll lock back up again. If you continue driving it’ll act like it’s slipping when shifting in some gears, but it’s never consistent. Sometimes when cruising at a consistent speed it’ll randomly jolt and it feels like it was about to shift and decided not too, it may do this 2-3 times in the span of a minute or 2. The jeep has also gotten stuck in gear 4 times over the course of 600 miles. Everytime it was either 2nd or 3rd gear. When you come to a stop it will return to normal. It often returns to driving normally for a few minutes and then repeats itself. This is not my only issue, and restarting the vehicle does help a little. My dome light works when it wants too, my reverse lights also recently stopped working, the ring light on the ignition is now stuck on and the relay gets hot, and my ac compressor also stopped functioning. I’m not sure if these problems are related, I figured the more information given would help anyone understand the situation better. I had absolutely no issues at all prior to the distributor swap.

Things I’ve tried:
I eventually got some codes after 2-300miles of these issues. They read: 24,31,35.(my electric fan is wired to a switch)
Swapped TPS (NTK)
Trans Fluid and filter flush (filled with dex/merc)
Added a trans cooler
Cleaned all grounds in the engine bay
Added a ground from fuel rail to firewall
Checked brake light switch
Installed a new NSS
Checked connections at tcu and tcu plug near the dipstick.
Tested the resistance of the solenoids (all within spec)
Adjusted TV cable
Checked pcm connectors


I added 12v to the power wire for the reverse lights on the NSS plug and the lights come on but they are dim. I probed the same wire with a test light while the vehicle was off and had no ignition power, with the test light clamped on the positive battery terminal the light was dimly lit. I then grabbed my multimeter and repeated this process to find that the wire had somewhat of a ground connection and the multimeter read 6v. I’m not an expert with vehicle wiring, but I’m pretty decent with electrical work. This leads me to believe there is a short to ground in the wire that leads to the tail lights. Please correct me if I’m wrong and any input to this situation would be greatly appreciated. Something tells me it’s gotta be ground issues, although I’m not 100% sure. As for the transmission, if the grounds are not the issue I will be replacing all 3 solenoids.
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Throttle position sensor, code 24. It will definitely cause erratic shifting . Other codes are evap, and fan circut. If you want to be sure of whsts happening those codes are your guide. Get an obd2 scanner. Theyre 20$ and can could save you thousands. This site is also a goldmine of knowledge https://charm.li/Jeep/1996/Cherokee%202WD%20L6-242%204.0L%20VIN%20S%20MFI/Repair%20and%20Diagnosis/

 

Yes, I’m aware. I have obd2 readers, I should have been more clear in stating that I do know what the codes mean. Hence why I changed tps, as that’s where I started.

 

Gotta test those circuits dawg. I bet it comes back to that tps.