New to the forum, but its been helpful to me, thanks. I've read the other sputtering threads, but my issue is a little different. Apologies in advance for the long thread.
2006 TJ SE 2.4L 4cyl MT. 65k miles. 31" tires. NO check engine lights via scanner or dash method. New oil/filter/air filter.
My TJ sat 3-4 years until I bought it. I threw a battery on it and it started right up and idled, which was pretty surprising. I drove it around very gently for maybe 50 miles to get it home as it had no brakes, needed new rear Spicers, oil pan, and a few other things I've taken care of.
After a few days, it started to run pretty rough. I put in 3 gallons of 91 gas (was trying to get rid of the old stuff but wanted to see if a little refresh would help, I'm at 1/4 tank now), and it ran a bit better.. but still had a rough idle, on the verge of stalling, under load was VERY hiccuppy, and anything under 3000rpm was rough running. Power seems to be quite down as well, although I don't have a good frame of reference for the paltry 4cyl as I'm new to Jeeps. I did some research and decided to buy NAPA camshaft and Mopar crankshaft position sensors (The Mopar camshaft is NLA). I haven't received either sensor yet.
I got antsy and decided to try new plugs, so I got the oem Champions copper, and it made a big difference, BUT at the same time I was doing the plugs I noticed the MAF sensor plug lock was broken so it was very loose. Ah! So I zip tie it on securely, gapped, torqued and replaced the plugs, and now the TJ idles very well, 90% good with an occasional light rpm flip flop, and holds rpms well at speed. I'm guessing the MAF plug was the major issue - perhaps it worked itself loose while I was doing those first 50 miles. I did clean the MAF as well with some spray cleaner. A light mist of oil was present in the intake plenum. The engine fan kicks on and it runs cool even after idling for an hour while I worked on the stereo. BUT, its still really hiccupping and sputtering when accelerating. It just sort of falls over itself. There is still something major going on!
When I was changing the plugs, I noticed that the plug closest to the windshield was wet with gas (and some white stuff was on the boot, but that might have just been dielectric grease?!). The plug next to it was a little wet as well from gas. The other two appeared dry. The plugs didn't look too bad, perhaps the previous owner replaced them not too long ago, but two of them were not gapped correctly - ~.03 instead of .04. That's probably not significant especially since I don't recall which ones were not gapped properly, but I'm mentioning it.
I also threw in some Berrymans B12 because of Vice Grip Garage, and I think it may have helped a bit, but I'm man enough to admit perhaps that's a placebo.
So, I recall in one of @Jerry Bransford posts he said it may be "an upstream o2 sensor", but that was in discussion of a 2.5L I believe, not my 2.4L. I'm not sure if this logic holds on my rig, and if the part #'s are the same, and if I have more than one.
I do have a hole in my exhaust, and I was wondering if perhaps a mild loss in backpressure could be causing the acceleration sputtering issue? I could afford a generic one off of Amazon https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09PSPTN16/?tag=wranglerorg-20 or the Walker from Rock auto looks ok: WALKER KIT2320155 https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinf...bF93pw71OwLewnhCfLbeavcJTN9jeX54UPB5wFauqGw==
(Any other recommendations there - options seem very limited for the 2.4l.)
The only code I've seen on my TJ was for the speed sensor, but a mouse had chewed the wires, so after I soldered them back together, my speedo started working again and the code hasn't returned. I thought it may be a clogged fuel line, but I think my tank is plastic, and I've read the filters are large, and 3-4 year old gas isn't badly varnished yet, etc.. the '06 doesn't have the connection to do a fuel pressure test - so not sure how to check that, but I'd guess if it was a fuel delivery issue, it wouldn't run high revs well either. Any other ideas would be helpful.. Thanks!
2006 TJ SE 2.4L 4cyl MT. 65k miles. 31" tires. NO check engine lights via scanner or dash method. New oil/filter/air filter.
My TJ sat 3-4 years until I bought it. I threw a battery on it and it started right up and idled, which was pretty surprising. I drove it around very gently for maybe 50 miles to get it home as it had no brakes, needed new rear Spicers, oil pan, and a few other things I've taken care of.
After a few days, it started to run pretty rough. I put in 3 gallons of 91 gas (was trying to get rid of the old stuff but wanted to see if a little refresh would help, I'm at 1/4 tank now), and it ran a bit better.. but still had a rough idle, on the verge of stalling, under load was VERY hiccuppy, and anything under 3000rpm was rough running. Power seems to be quite down as well, although I don't have a good frame of reference for the paltry 4cyl as I'm new to Jeeps. I did some research and decided to buy NAPA camshaft and Mopar crankshaft position sensors (The Mopar camshaft is NLA). I haven't received either sensor yet. I got antsy and decided to try new plugs, so I got the oem Champions copper, and it made a big difference, BUT at the same time I was doing the plugs I noticed the MAF sensor plug lock was broken so it was very loose. Ah! So I zip tie it on securely, gapped, torqued and replaced the plugs, and now the TJ idles very well, 90% good with an occasional light rpm flip flop, and holds rpms well at speed. I'm guessing the MAF plug was the major issue - perhaps it worked itself loose while I was doing those first 50 miles. I did clean the MAF as well with some spray cleaner. A light mist of oil was present in the intake plenum. The engine fan kicks on and it runs cool even after idling for an hour while I worked on the stereo
. BUT, its still really hiccupping and sputtering when accelerating. It just sort of falls over itself. There is still something major going on!When I was changing the plugs, I noticed that the plug closest to the windshield was wet with gas (and some white stuff was on the boot, but that might have just been dielectric grease?!). The plug next to it was a little wet as well from gas. The other two appeared dry. The plugs didn't look too bad, perhaps the previous owner replaced them not too long ago, but two of them were not gapped correctly - ~.03 instead of .04. That's probably not significant especially since I don't recall which ones were not gapped properly, but I'm mentioning it.
I also threw in some Berrymans B12 because of Vice Grip Garage, and I think it may have helped a bit, but I'm man enough to admit perhaps that's a placebo.
So, I recall in one of @Jerry Bransford posts he said it may be "an upstream o2 sensor", but that was in discussion of a 2.5L I believe, not my 2.4L. I'm not sure if this logic holds on my rig, and if the part #'s are the same, and if I have more than one.
I do have a hole in my exhaust, and I was wondering if perhaps a mild loss in backpressure could be causing the acceleration sputtering issue? I could afford a generic one off of Amazon https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09PSPTN16/?tag=wranglerorg-20 or the Walker from Rock auto looks ok: WALKER KIT2320155 https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinf...bF93pw71OwLewnhCfLbeavcJTN9jeX54UPB5wFauqGw==
(Any other recommendations there - options seem very limited for the 2.4l.)
The only code I've seen on my TJ was for the speed sensor, but a mouse had chewed the wires, so after I soldered them back together, my speedo started working again and the code hasn't returned. I thought it may be a clogged fuel line, but I think my tank is plastic, and I've read the filters are large, and 3-4 year old gas isn't badly varnished yet, etc.. the '06 doesn't have the connection to do a fuel pressure test - so not sure how to check that, but I'd guess if it was a fuel delivery issue, it wouldn't run high revs well either. Any other ideas would be helpful.. Thanks!
