Well long story short, My Wife was driving my 97 XJ down to NC, and she broke down. Was towed to a shop in town, and the car sat there for 2 weeks. Then they started to throw parts at it to see if they could get it to work. They try went for Crank angle sensor, no go, but did drop a socket into the bell houseing and had to pull the transmission to get that out. Then they found the dist., was bad. Installed a new one, and did get the engine to start. Yea.... short lived.....Car wouldn't drive over 40 miles a hour. Then was told that the Cat was bad and needed to be changed. They took the car to another shop, but a couple of days later, It came back, saying that the Cat was ok, to look for other problem?
So I gave up on this place, and had Cherokee towed to a different shop, in different town. Now at a different shop......They couldn't get it to start ?? Come to find out, that the first place, reinstalled the old ( bad dist ) back into the jeep and didn't tell anyone. So now the new place had to order and install a new Dist., and the problem is back with the car not reving over 2k rpm's. And this tech is at a lose ??? and me too. Had them do a compression test and all is good. And now they want to take the car to a Jeep dealer, to see if they can find the problem ??

any help out there ???


Thanks........Mouse

 

What did the first shop charge for the new distributor? Not the labor, but the actual part. They took it out and put the old one back in without telling you. Why? Did they charge you for dropping the transmission to fish out a socket they dropped? I would hope not. The labor on that isnt cheap. I dont like that shop at all. But enough about them.

When was its last tuneup? Whats the fuel pressure? A compression check was done, but what did the plugs look like? How was the cat checked? Do you have a code reader that can read and display live data?

 

If the distributor was bad, how so? I've heard that if the gears bust it will kill the whole engine, so it sounds like that's not the case here.

The distributor is widely known to be quite finicky on the installation and even the FSM might not be entirely accurate on the proper orientation. Many folks have installed the dizzy and thought they did it exactly correct but were one tooth off, which will result in failing to start. I've never dealt with this personally, but it's definitely a "thing" with the Jeep 4.0 and well documented on this forum.

Bear in mind that in a lot of shops, a lot of the guys are either too young or it's been too long since they have dealt with a real distributor system. Jeep was late to the distributor-less ignition party and even then by 00 the TJ and the XJ had moved on from the mechanical distributor.

Most dealers either won't even touch a Jeep that's so old or haven't seen them in so long that it's also likely they're not going to be much better than any other shop these days.

The distributor thing is a huge red flag. I'd look through all the old forum posts here, paying special attention to anything with Cruiser54 or CCKen's name on it. I'd then look at Cruiser54.com and get real familiar with the distributor tips and tricks there. Once you have a good feel for what exactly to do to install and index the dizzy, get a good quality new part and install it accordingly.

I do agree with fb97xj1 that there's no good reason NOT to do some additional diagnostic exploration, codes, fuel pressure checks, spark testing, etc. It's cheap enough that grabbing a new set of Champion copper plugs, setting the gap carefully and installing them is definitely worth doing regardless.

 

I would also make sure that if they changed out the CPS from the original to an aftermarket and it didn't have an effect, I'd want the original and if it's an old part but Mopar, I'd prefer that to a new aftermarket part.

The fact they dropped a socket in the bellhousing and dropped the tranny (couldn't they have just removed the inspection plate?) is a real confidence destroyer... so I'm also of the mind that I'd avoid the shop going forward.

 

Well thanks for the reply, as per 1st shop, they only charged for the crank angle sensor, no labor and none for transmission remove and reinstall. They took it to a muffler shop for the Cat., and they send it back to them,as they checked it, and told them it didn't
After that is when I had the car towed to another shop.... They are still trying to fix....They installed new Dist., changed plugs, cap, plugs, rotor, and are now at a loss to fix. They did find 2 vaccum leaks and fixed. ...........and now want to take to dealer to trouble shot to see ????


Thanks again........Mouse

 

Hey Pat
also Thanks for your reply.......I did a CPS a few years ago.....Not a mopar parts, for no start problem, And as the Dist., it was also install about 5 years ago, it was shot with bad bearings. This time the first shop said it had some burnt wires inside it ? And this shop said the plugs were trashed up.


As for more running info.....don't have that. They only tell me over 2k rpm, the engine back fires, and won't drive over 40 mph..

Thanks for any and all info guys..........Mouse

as for the trans remove, they did want to move the trans convert , might jam and cause more damage

 

If it starts but won't run over 2k, and I am no expert, but could be the distributor was installed one tooth off? Might have them check that..hope this helps

 

I don't think you are going to lose by going to the dealer. They can't be any worse than the clowns you've been to so far. Take it in, give them the history, and ask them how they intend to proceed. If htey are going to throw parts at it, yank it out of there. They should be TESTING all the basic functions, like timing, fuel pressure, etc.

If that's what you run into, get on Yelp and try to find a good mechanic. Ask at the local NAPA - they often know who is good and who is not. They do have to be careful, as you are basically asking them to rat about their customers. Just ask for positive recommendations. "Where would you tell your mother to take her car?"

 

If the distributor is indexed one tooth off, all you have to do is rotate the distributor to align it properly to fire the cylinders. We used to install Chevy small block dizzys off one tooth purposely so there would be more room to get a wrench on the clampdown because of the vacuum advance can.

 

Well just got the word that this shop is giving up on my jeep........they can't get it to run right. Sooooooo now I am going to have to get it towed to a Jeep dealer and see what they can find? I do so much, having it and my wife stuck 4 hours away in NC. Not much else to do, but wait and see again.


Mouse