ok guys, I've been searching for a while, lets see if anyone can help.

month and a half ago I overheated the xj really bad and blew out the radiator. I changed the water pump, radiator and t-stat. soon after all this was done i noticed it wasnt running properly and the check engine light was on. got it checked out and misfire cylinder 2

since then ive done a tune up (plugs, wires, cap, rotor) compression test checked out ok (all in between 140-150) I have seafoamed in vac line and gas. I was told by a mechanic that he thought the injectors were working properly. also cleaned the iac (throttle body itself was pretty clean) slightly loosing coolant, but no oil in coolant and from what I can tell no coolant in oil.

the jeep runs smooth and normal sometimes, and sometimes it runs rough at startup, then smoothes out quickly, and sometimes it will randomly run rough while I am sitting at a light. sometimes it sounds a little like a diesel engine when it is first started up and idling.

i did notice when doing the cap and rotor that the post the rotor sits on has some side to side play, but at the time I thought it was ok. then today while watching the engine run i heard a ticking and after searching I concluded it was coming from the distributor and I could feel it while touching the cap, I dont believe anything is arcing but will check at night.

Do I need to get a new distributor? (I assume I should)
Could this be causing the misfire code?

I know this was long winded, but I'm trying to be thorough, thanks for all your help guys

 

anyone have any ideas? im stuck

 

Could be alot of things. I for one vote there is a bad injector, leaking down while shut off will cause it to run rough on start up, also if the injector gets to hot while driving it may cause a mis fire also. Switch two injectors and see if it follows.

Side to side play in dis. is fine, just so it doesnt "wiggle"

 

I'll have to check the injectors better, but the mechanic said its running a little rich so he didn't think there would be a fuel related problem. As far as the distributor, it is more of a grab it a PUSH it back and forth wiggle, not a grab it and TWIST it back and forth, problem?

thanks

 

hmm, yeah dont think there should b shaft play like that.

 

this sounds like the start of a bad head gasket. Due to the over heating, when the engine sits water leaks into the cylinder causeing a rough start. it will also leak a small amount of water into the cyl #2 causeing a misfire code. I had this same problem with my wifes liberty. It racked my brain for months. Tried everything to correct the problem, plugs,injector, and coil pack. One day she parked it at work when she came out at lunch it would not turn over.... the gasket split completly and it was hydrolocked.

 

could this be the case even if the compression test checked out?

I was dead set it was head or head gasket due to the overheat but the compression was normal so I thought maybe not, but I don't have too much experience.

Thanks

 

The leak is likely to be too small to knotice on a compression check. I went through the same process. During heat cycles it will get worse. One other way to check is to open you rad cap when cool enough to open and let it run till the stat opens wait and look for small bubbles to rise in the rad. You may need to add water during and after this process as it may flow out the open cap. I did not learn this till after the head gasket problem with the kj. I want to add that you may have "play" in you dist. but this will not cause a repeated cyl.2 misfire it would cause a random misfire depending on where the dist. "falls" during engine cycle. Fixing a head gasket on a 4.0 is not hard and relatively cheap. Cheaper than a hydolocked motor. Hope this helps.