97 TJ sputtering and backfiring

[Eberdt123]

Hello, my 1997 4.0 has recently had some problems with backfire and loss of power within the first minute of driving. The jeep normally acts fine after about 2 minutes of driving and within a minute of turning on the jeep, but there is a minute in between that the car likes to act up and not work right. After the jeep's hissy fit is done and it decided to work which is normally resolved by shifting it into neutral and revving it two or three good times, it is obvious one cylinder is missing sometimes but sometimes it decides to work. I am very confused at what the issue could be and was wondering if anybody else had a similar issue. I was going to start with the fuel pump but before I spent any money I thought I would consult this forum. Any help is appreciated! Thank you

 

[CharlesHS]

Usually back fires are caused by a rich or lean condition caused by a dirty fuel injector, a dirty valve seat, pitted valve or possibly even a bent valve.
Pull your spark plugs and inspect them to see which cylinder has the problem.

 

[F250]

I had similar problems and it was a bad spark plug wire.

 

[Hopper]

I had similar problems and it was a bad spark plug wire.

How did you determine which one was bad?

 

[F250]

I pulled it off and looked at it. It was corroded real bad

 

[Chris]

Is it throwing any codes?

 

[Eberdt123]

Is it throwing any codes?

Not that I have noticed. I'm going to get it looked at soon but I am planning on pulling plugs before then to hopefully get an idea
Ill let you all know what I find out

 

[BrunoPizz97]

swap fuel pump
clean fuel rail
swap injectors
re gapped spark plugs

That solved my sputter

 

[Winks42]

Definitely pull spark plugs and see what’s up. Might be worth it to take off the distributor cap and inspect it and the rotar.

 

[BrunoPizz97]

Definitely pull spark plugs and see what’s up. Might be worth it to take off the distributor cap and inspect it and the rotar.

I don't believe that is the issue. But I guess start with the cheapest and work your way up

 

[97' 4 Popper]

My 97 was backfiring badly like you said in the first minute of driving. It would get moving into first then putter/popping and lose power. I did spark plugs and wires and it didn't make a difference. Replaced the throttle body (not just cleaned it) and the misfiring went away.

 

[Winks42]

I don't believe that is the issue. But I guess start with the cheapest and work your way up

Yea thinking about it know it would probably throw a misfire code in his situation if it was a distributor/plug problem.

 

[Eberdt123]

I don't believe that is the issue. But I guess start with the cheapest and work your way up

That's the goal, I'm on a tight budget right now so I am hoping to find something easy but you never know with jeeps.

 

[Eberdt123]

Definitely pull spark plugs and see what’s up. Might be worth it to take off the distributor cap and inspect it and the rotar.

I'll make sure to check the distributor as well, thanks for the suggestion

 

[Eberdt123]

should I also run through some gas line cleaner of some sort or would I just be wasting money? the problem has been going on for a while, I don't think its the gas lines.