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Bucking like a pissed off mule.......

2K views 18 replies 10 participants last post by  jeepgunner12 
#1 · (Edited)
My 97 I6 4L TJ recently came with me to college in the mountians of NC. I had every fluid and seal you can possibly think of changed before I left but during the last hour of my 8 hours trip I noticed a severe loss of power (like pedal to the floor = 45mph). Being the 'flat lander' I am I assumed it was just like this driving in the mountians with a box. After I moved in and was looking for freshman parking she started shaking horribly, I'm talking like a whipped dog that swallowed an egg beater during an earthquake/thunderstom shaking. She was running at around 230 degrees which is 20-30 degrees hotter then what im use to seeing. The next day I took her out for a spin an she did fine, no problems, no shaking, but still that damn power loss. The other day she wouldnt start at all and i had to have her flat bedded from the parking lot. I picked her up from the stealership today, they changed out a crankshaft sensor promising everything was ok. Within 5 minutes of the ride home she started somthing else. Lets say I am at 55mph with 2000rpms. Every 15-20 seconds (without pushing on the gas) she would jump a 1000 rpms and 5mph (felt like she was gonna do a wheelie) then back off after like 2 seconds of that. Then 15-20 seconds later VROOOOMMM shes flooring herself again. I even stopped at a few stop lights and every 15-20 seconds my tires are squealing as she reves up and tries to jump off the line. This is with my foot COMPLETELY on the brake and NO WHERE NEAR the gas, trust me, I was scared as hell.

Im kind of thinking my problem is a throttle position sensor, or that I may have bad spark plugs and only a few of my 6 cylinders are firing all the time. Am I on the right track? Does anybody know the answers for these things? Has anyone ever had a simillar problem?
 
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#8 ·
The mechanic i just got home from said it is the distributor cap and everything around it. Apparenly during my last water crossing, (the highway home about 6 months ago) i flooded it and its finally starting to go bad. My spark plugs also need to be replaced. Im not arguing with him that my distributor might be bad, and i know my spark plugs are bad, but why is it taking this long to kick in?

PS she was shaking horribly all the way home ~20 miles.
 
#9 ·
could be tps sensor but distributor could have corroded now and not getting consistant spark. cap and plugs are cheap do them your self see how it goes if not try the tps clean your throttle body see what happens.
 
#10 ·
tps = throttle position sensor?

How reliable are the computers in these things? The mechanic and all of his buddys are starting to sound like if the computer dosent say it is broken then there is nothig wrong.
 
#16 ·
Seriously? That sneaky bastard! I wonder if he is just as clueless as I am...... I will call them today and see if they have the codes, if not it goes back in a few days anyway, I'll let my old NY blood shine and curse untill he runs them again. :thumbsup:

I thought about the tranny going bad, I do a decent bit of off roading but its nothing very serious and it was fine last time I took it offroad. It was only in the last hour of an 8 hour trip things started going bad so I KNOW its not like i hit somthing offroad.

This is turning out to be a disaster, Could be sprak plugs, tranny, computer, transmission fluid, any number of relays, air intake, throttle body, a bad (out of the box) crank shaft sensor, throttle position sensor, fuel pump, is there anything that isnt potentially broken on this thing besides my seat and windshield???

I appreaciate the help guys:cheers:
 
#18 ·
My first thought before you even said it was an auto was a bad torque converter. That would cause the lose of Power and the gain in heat. With that being said get the codes pulled, the autobone can do it for you they do it for free in this neck of the woods. That will get us going in a direction. The transmission could be responding to another problem. I wold bet that the mechanic who said the distributor was giving you the codes meant that the codes point to an ignition problem, and maybe is unfamiliar with this symptom.
 
#19 ·
Can the torque converter throw codes? Ill tell him to look at it.

Yes, I have ran it through some water 4 times in its life though im not sure its what you guys would call 'deep'.

Once during a huge storm, I went to my girls house to make sure she was ok, it was about 2 feet all the way there. (I'm only 9 feet above sea level in my hometown so everything floods like crazy). Close to a year ago.

Once while I was comming home from work, again, about 1-1.5 feet on the roads. Close to 9 months ago.

Once offroad, about 1-2 feet, running length-wise down a ditch. About 9 months ago.

Once during another storm to check on my boat, Mabey a foot or so on the roads. Mabey 2-3 months ago.

It just sounds so strange to me that I can run it through that much water and be fine, even do stuff like this: (2 days before I left)

and have no problems, but it takes a 7 hour ride for the water to do damage?
 
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