igifford

Hey Everyone,

First time poster here with a problem. A few weeks ago I noticed that the car was idling a little rough and the tach would bounce a little between 500-750 rpm but recover pretty quickly to a smooth idle. Then the car started to idle rough at most stops and would occasionally (about once a week) die when idling. The gauges would not light up or anything, the car would just stop running. I could then put the car in park and restart the engine but it would die again if I did not keep my foot on the gas pedal. This is not a problem that happens every time I am idling, just about once or twice a week. If I catch it early enough, I can tap the gas pedal to keep it from dying at stop lights. The problem seems to be more likely to occur when the car is on a hill, however it has happened when flat as well.

There is no check engine light and I hooked up a computer to see if any codes come up, but don't register any codes. I added Seafoam to the gas and throttle body at the recommendation of a friend and the problem went away completely for about two weeks.

Now I am idling rough again and have trouble starting the car. The car will start about 50% of the time without a problem, although it seems to be cranking a little longer than I remember. The other 50% of the time I need to push the gas pedal to get the car to start, and if I don't keep my foot on the pedal it dies immediately. After warming up for a few seconds, I can release the gas pedal and everything is fine.

Any advice on how to further diagnose or fix the problem is greatly appreciated. I am a little cash strapped and not the greatest mechanic in the world but will try whatever I can.

Thanks,
Ian

kidkodiak

I"ve been dealing with the same issue in my 1990 Laredo, so here are a couple suggestions that I'd received when I asked that seemed to help out.

Pull your air tube off of the Throttle Body, and clean out the TB with TB cleaner. Pull off the IAC and TPS from the TB and clean those really good too.

The seafoam was a good move, you might try a full bottle in the gas tank to try to clean your injectors too, in case they're not very clean.

Maybe check/replace your fuel filter too?

I'm sure there are quite a few guys here who can help more than I can, but this might give you some starting points at least.

Good luck and welcome to the forums!

jesses89cherokee

mine has a similar problem but idles okay. just sputters for a second then operates fine after 1300rpm. happens starting from a stop and at rolling speeds too when idling then accelerating. sometime it will just die. no hesitation. just falls on its face. restart it and revs high then returns to normal. its an 89 so i cant pull codes and dont have mad money to be throwin sensors at this thing...