Rattle Trap
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Mountainsid, NJ
I have a 1993 Jeep Cherokee Sport and the check engine light has come on for the fist time in the 16 years I have owned it. The Jeep has 238,000 mile on it. Today I brought it to the self service car wash and cleaned the sludge off the engine with Black Magic engine cleaner. I mostly concentrated on the passenger side of the engine (4.0 straight six) since this is where most of the engine sludge was caked on. I washed the rest of the vehicle as well. It started and I drove it home without any problems. Later on that day when I was driving home from the store, the engine began hesitating, it began to buck. When I stopped for a traffic light the engine idled unevenly and felt as though it wanted to stall out. When I went to take off from the light, the engine hesitated and did not want to take the gas. It felt as though it had no power. It did however accelerate but very hesitantly. The check engine light went on. I was able to drive it home, it never stalled out but it always felt as though it was going to. The engine also raced at times when I was stopped, not really high but way above a normal idle. When I got it in my driveway and looked under the hood I checked for the obvious, loose wires, etc, I did notice that the battery cable connections were loose and dirty. I cleaned them and tightened them. I took the Jeep for a drive after that and it ran good but the check engine light is still on and it will not go off. Any ideas on what this could be? Did washing the engine destroy one of the sensors? Could it be a bad O2 sensor? I love this Jeep and plan on keeping it until I die. I have replaced several parts in the past, including the crank shaft position sensor which is only about 2 yrs old so I don't think it could be that. Someone mentioned to me that it could be the cam shaft postiton sensor that is located inside the throttle body air intake. I don't know much about this. Any suggestions on what could be causing this would be very much appreciated.