A few days ago i bought a 95 xj. I was driving it down the road when it starting running rough and then died. Pop the hood and look around and noticed my distributor had popped out of the motor and had broke off the ear where you bolt it down. The guy I had bought from had replaced it 2 weeks before I had bought it. Ran fine before. I had done a bit of looking around on the internet and found that there's a hold down clamp the guy didn' put back in when he replaced the distributor before and that's a big reason why it happens. I went got another brand new distributor set the crank to TDC set the oil pump to 11 Clock all that stuff but when install it the button is not lined up on 1. I thought I may of had it. It started right up but had a knock. I was wondering what I need to do here. Any help is greatly appreciated

Setting the distributor is very tricky for someone not familiar in it. Seeing as the gears are helical, it won't just drop straight in, it will attempt to rotate the rotor. You have to "compensate" and slightly turn the distributor the opposite way of which the rotor moved so it will sit on #1 once installed. If not, ignition timing will be off. EX: if rotor is turning to the right once installed, rotate the distributor slightly left before seating so the rotor will sit where it needs to go once seated.

I had followed this video exactly. What ever is going on here is probably simple. I've double checked all connections and all the spark plugs. Now just for the life of me I just cannot figure out what the knockin noise is

Did you put in a new camshaft pickup sensor under the rotor cap at the same time? They can make a knock/loud tick when they are new because the metal contact and the tone ring are in contact. Then it wears down relatively quickly and quiets itself. Since the tone ring is part of the distributor (I think) I suppose the ticking could be caused by that being new as well. I used a stethoscope and my hand to confirm that the sound was coming from that area when I had concerns. It wore in, and quieted down within 24 hours or so.

But you used the term knocking, so perhaps you mean something much more pronounced.

I had to replace the whole thing since the last one broke. It would defiantly be something I'd look into. And the knocking is almost like a rod knock but I dont think it's that. Someone told me it could be something like a spark knock or something I've never heard of that before..

Is the knock coming from near the distributor?

Is the distributor wobbling? Can you feel the knock if you rest a finger on the cap?

I've had replacement distributors that had a shaft that was a teeny bit too long and it caused some issues.

I found the knock after tearing the engine down it was number 5 had piston slap. ordered a dnj rebuild kit just trying to find a shop that can/will do my wrist pins