Hello, Im from a small orphanage in Haiti and we are currently having trouble with our 1998 Jeep Cherokee. We have had a visiting engineer look over the car and he wrote a short description of the issue posted below. I apologize in advance if this is an easily searchable issue, but we have limited internet and time. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much.


1999 Jeep Cherokee Sport Limit Edition 4-Door 4.0 Liter
Beginning part of the VIN: 1J4FF68S9XL------
The catalytic converter and muffler were stolen and replaced. Once replaced, the engine idles for a few seconds OK, and then almost dies, then idles OK for a few seconds, then almost dies, etc. The exhaust smells like gasoline (may be rich in fuel / incomplete combustion). I looked to see if the check engine light was on, but then discovered that the check engine light bulb is bad. I verified the check engine bulb was bad by turning the key without turning the engine on, and all lights in the dash came on except the check engine light.
It may be that the OBD 2 system has an error code stored in it, however, we do not have a OBD 2 scanner. I found online that you can short pin 4 and 9 on the OBD 2 connector and cause the system to blink the error code out, but that won’t help with a bad check engine bulb.
The vehicle is in Haiti with limited access to tools, spare parts, no access to an OBD 2 scanner, no access to a volt/ohm meter, and a bad check engine bulb. I am looking for help on how to diagnose this problem. I think it might be a bad O2 sensor or a timing belt out of timing (once again we have no access to a timing gun).

 

i dont think it would have anything to do with the timing since only the cat and muffler were messed with but if the O2 sensors aren't correct it will give incorrect air/fuel ratio parameters for the computer to input and it will run rich...maybe if you post an adress i would think people on here would send stuff via mail for free like a bulb for the cel light or spare O2 sensors ( i would if i had spares) hope this helps