paulb3190

Hi All, I bought my first Jeep, a 1997 Cherokee with 95K miles about 6 months ago and I love it.
I've had all the fluids changed and a full service including new rear springs and shocks and it was running great. I also had a new distributor fitted.
However, I've recently noticed that occasionally when it gets to around 55/60 mph the car jolts. It doesn't always happen but when it does it will happen every 10 seconds or so.
When I slow down it stops and when I'm driving around town at 20-40 mph it never happens.
Any help or suggestions to solve this will be appreciated.
Thanks
Paul
(London, UK)

evil_goat

Does it jolt once, or back and forth? Does it stop, or only when you slow down. It could be death wobble which is when the steering and suspension in the front wears out, and it starts to shake. I'm thinking that it is a misfire issue. Did you have the issue before the new distributor was fitted? You should check the spark plugs, wires, distributor, and whatever other ignition-related parts there are.

97grand4.0

tune it up

agreen

Sounds like a secondary ignition issue. Coil, cap, rotor, wires, or plugs. Take a close look at the coil. They do crack occasionally.

paulb3190

It will continue to jolt every 10/15 seconds until I slow down. Once speed drops to 40/45 mph and below the jolting stops completely.
Also I didn't have this issue before the new distributor was fitted. And in fact getting the correct new distributor was an issue too. My car is a 1997 which I believe was the year of the facelift and mine is the later model. The original distributor I purchased using the VIN number wouldn't fit and neither would the unit for the earlier pre-facelift model. Therefore, my mechanic used the first distributor and took the spindle from the bottom of the distributor that was on the car and fitted that to it which of course fitted. We also fitted new spark plugs and leads.

Do you have any idea why we had such a struggle to get the correct distributor? I used jeepey.com here in the UK and they usually know their stuff.

paulb3190

Thanks for all the help so far too, it's appreciated.
I will check all the parts mentioned.

agreen

Well it sounds like you might already know what is causing this.

Why did you originally need the distributor replaced?

The distributor also must be installed correctly, or it'll have serious issues. Here's a picture from Cruiser54's website that explains how it has to be installed: