I have a 1994 Jeep Cherokee 4.0 with the AW4 automatic. I was stopped at a light And It started to sputter in drive while taking off and died. I restarted it and put it in drive and It kept dying. I finally got it to stay running in drive but you have to stay under 5mph with it sputtering the whole time. I got it to a close parking lot. The Strange thing is it all go into reverse and it moves just fine with no sputtering and normal idle. It also run and idles normal in nuetral. I can also rev the engine in park or nuetral and it revs fine. Transmission didn’t make any strange sounds.The rpms are fine. It doesn’t rev up like a slipping transmission. It idles normal.It shifts into reverse and drives normal in reverse. Tranny Fluid level in good and the normal red color. Transfer case is fine. Drivelines are fine. I replaced the fuel filter. The Charging system seems fine because it has a new alternator. The starter turns over normal and starts up fine. It does have a slight leak in one of the tranny lines the goes into the radiator, but nothing big. The tranny line has been leaking like this for a while. I have always had a couple drips on the garage floor but no puddles. It has never ran out of fluid or been really low. I am stumped. I Originally thought it was the transmission. Now I don’t think so,But still not ruling it out. Does anyone have any suggestions and what it could be.

Have you tested the TPS and the IAC? I doubt it’s drive line related. It sounds more like a sensor or fuel issue

If I had a bad TPS or IAC. Wouldn’t it sputter in reverse also, mine runs fine in reverse.

I’m having a similar problem but mine is a bit odd. Allow me to explain .ok so yesterday I was showing my grandpa my 1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo ZJ and while I was showing him it shut off and wouldn’t start so we listened to the fuel pump it didn’t sound normal so I unscrewed the fuel pressure cap on the fuel rail and pressed down the valve and there was no gas just air but my tank was at a 1/4 of a tank but the fuel pump was working so he held down the valve while I cycled the pump and eventually the Gas came back. And it drives fine now but I also have a problem where it spits and sputters and pops back through the intake when I get on the throttle oh and its not a plugged cat I did a cat delete last night . But there is no check engine light. Will someone please tell me what is wrong with this ole 4.0L I just don’t understand how something has gas and then has no gas even though the fuel pump is running some one help thanks

I don’t think it would be that cause it was still pumping just wasn’t pumping gas it had good pressure it’s just that the pressure was air not gas could it be the pressure regulator

​​​oh I drove it this morning

Cory I’m glad you got your problem fixed on my thread. But can we get back to my question.

I will check to see if the cps is grounding out. I couldn’t imagine the engine would move that much when you put it in drive,but who knows.i have never needed to check to see how much the engine is moving till now. Could this possibly mean a crank position sensor is going out. In my last two jeeps the CPS just stopped working and the engine would just keep cranking and not fire. Anymore ideas on what I can look for while checking this out.