well sorry to bug you guys with this, but im having serious failres all over the board with my jeep its a 95 XJ sport, 4.0L, AW4 stocker. had some starting issues a few months back and i would take more than 3 attempts to start and i just let that go, well then almost out of nowhere it began skipping while it was running, then it progressed to it would die out in the middle of the road and come back to life with a turn of the key. so heres what ive done so far:

replaced fuel pump and in tank filter along with inline filter, relay for the fuel pump circuit and pressure regulator on the fuel rail. no effect
so my next step was plugs, wires, dizzy, and cap. that didnt fix it either
upon doing the cap and dizzy i noticed EXCESSIVE play in the dizzy shaft. asked a mechanic about it and he said it was WAYYY out of spec (1/16" of play)and the bearings were shot. so i replaced that, along with it came a new cam sensor. this time i made a difference. now its still hard to start (almost stranded me in the parking lot at work today) and very sluggish until about 1800RPM then it runs smooth and strong until it hits about 3500RPM where it feels as if the rev limiter has kicked in WAYY early...however it seems more like a lack of spark than a rev limiter. also as a side note the crank position sensor has been replaced last spring just about 8 months ago. im kind of lost right now, and after replacing those parts kind of broke for a little while. its my only set of wheels and ive gotta get something together for work just need some advice as to where i can turn from this point on, ive got the mighty haynes and im mechanically inclined so anything will surely be entertained and as much BS as ive gone through in the past month or so with wasting money. i still love my XJ to death and will end up getting a newer one eventually... thanks in advance

 

have you ever checked the cps wires for cracks and worn spot touching block grounding out

 

ground wires by oil dip stick and back of head loose or corroded?

 

Well the old cps wire was cut. And with the new distributor came a completely new one. So that solves that. Also didn't notice any frayed broken or cut wires by the dip stick

 

the crank position sensor not cam position sensor

 

are you 100% the timing is on my friend did an engine swap and it sounded like that we switched all my sensors with his and nothin after a month of tinkerin found that the backyard mechanic didnt get the timing right

 

well thats the thing...i ****ed up the indexing and reset it or at least i think i reset it...would it run being off one tooth? i did the TDC method for piston 1 remove plug, bump starter till compression and then fine tune with the harmonic balancer. but would that really cause this much problem? misfiring and not revving high enough? i mean this backyard mechanic is an amateur at best but i didnt think it would even run if it was one tooth off...

 

and ill have a double check on the crank sensor. it could very well be PART of the problem

 

Were any of the fuel & ignition parts you replaced actually determined to be faulty? Whats the battery voltage and terminals like?

 

unfortunately i acted all on hunches and symptoms ive expirienced before. the plugs were the only thing wayy outta wack...they were at a gap of .042 on average when i pulled them and replaced them. and the cap the contacts were pretty bad looking. the fuel pump was a little weak it seemed. the battery read normal on the gauge. approx 9 volts on start up 12 volts with the key on and 14 volts while running. terminals were also cleaned

 

one tooth can make a difference in running but not the stalling issue do you have a manual to help with dist placment

 

I had the same problem last summer.. turned out to be a fuel filter. its cheap and relatively easy to install. Please let me know if that solves your problem. Hope I could be of help

 

fuel filter has been changed, and injector cleaner/dry gas added in concentrated amounts, also positioned the distributor according to the the manual the oil pump gear and position of the rotor were where they should be, manual said to take the valve cover off and do TDC that way, but everyone i asked said do the starter bump cause there was no need to take the whole valve cover off to find TDC. i would assume the stalling out issue is something electrical, loose ground bad sensor etc. but it never stopped at 3500rpm before.

 

my friends cherokee would die all of the sudden just idling but i dont think we ever high idled it it was rough and then died and yes a tooth is very critical

 

Looks like ill have to get ahold of someone who knows how to time really well and check my work. Cause that is the only thing that made a difference. Perhaps if its off by a little bit by correcting it I may have a Jeep that runs like a champ again but then again it could be all screwed up and I couldn't have a rounded cam lobe haha