1996 Jeep Cherokee idle stumble?!

95Trooper

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 23, 2008
Location
WNC
Hey guys, recently picked up a 1996 Jeep Cherokee for a steal of a deal. I noticed the Jeep had a stumble at idle when I got it home. It's sort of like this...purr purr purr hiccup purr purr purr hiccup. It will do this for as long as it sits and idles. RPM's don't drop when it hiccups. I replaced the spark plugs with Champion copper plus plugs, new wires, distributor cap and rotor button, new air filter, new IAC and cleaned the throttle body over and over until it was carbon free. The Jeep has no check engine light but I did put my code reader on it and it had a stored code (P0420) which is for the catalytic converter. The cat is completely gutted though. Could it be an o2 sensor maybe? The Jeep drives perfectly going down the road with no hiccups whatsoever. It's just at idle when it decides to act up.
 
a_kelley said:
Did it do that when it's not been started in awhile? What's coolant look/smell like? How many miles?
Click to expand...

I've been driving it daily so I'm not sure. Coolant is green and smells fine. Oil is fine and so is the level. No milkiness to it or anything. It's not running hot. Has 125k miles on it
 
mbalbritton said:
How many miles on it? Next step would be a compression check.
Click to expand...

i second compression test, injector lean out will burn a valve, which can/will cause a stumble. pretty common I've found in the few that I've played with.

IF you're lucky its only gotten to the lean injector phase and your experiencing a lean miss on one or 2 cylinders.

Sounds like its had fuel issues for awhile since the cat has been gutted, if there is a current P0420 your check engine light should be on, its there a bulb present in dash ? does light illuminate on key on for a few seconds (betting not)

It was a "steal of a Deal" to make it someone else problem. certainly fixable if you're willing and able
 
Check the IAC for carbon build up. Clean it and see if ti goes away.
 
Back
Top