I have a 1998 Cherokee 4.0l 4x4 300k miles, I’ve been chasing this issue with no luck. Started off misfiring and dying at stops on the way to the beach, limped it home and tried to drive again the next day, got broke down on side of road. Managed to get it home and scanned with no codes besides 02 sensors which have been needing replaced since the wiring was ate by the front driveshaft. Checked fuel pressure and it’s good, checked plugs and wires and some wires were brittle and broke in half so put new plugs and wires, had mechanic come and say it needed a MAP sensor, replaced map and runs a little better but still dies, I ended up trying a new cranksensor with no luck. The jeep will start and idle fine but once it’s been a few minutes it will misfire and die when you first give it gas in gear or try to stop or slow down.

 

Have you looked inside the distributor cap?

 

Are you saying you ARE getting codes from the O2 sensor(s) due to the driveshaft "eating" the harness? Are the O2 sensors still installed but not connected?

 

yes there connected but the harness was tore

 

I have there was minor corrosion on the points and I cleaned it up, no cracks or anything, I was thinking maybe the ignition coil is bad because the spark plug wires were brittle at the ends inside the jacket

 

Bump

 

I dont think they will run well at all without a fully functional front O2 sensor, as it is one of the main sensor inputs to the PCM, and if your harness got "torn" I would be suspect of the integrity of the wires, both open and short cicuit could be happening.

A short in that harness is bad news

If you have front O2 codes, I would replace the front O2 sensor for sure

The rear one doesnt matter much, it can be disconnected, but will throw a code, but no CEL on my '96