just when everthing was *PERFECT* arghhhh

[ryan]

Just finished changing the rear main seal due to an oil leak, everything goes extremely well, no leaking AT ALL!!Anywhere!!(transmission, t-case everything is bone dry) Also while I was underneath I fixed my gas guage that wasnt working. It was one of the two wires that had come undone. I plug the two wires back together, clean up and start the truck. Truck runs perfectly, gas tank needle is now working!Take it for a spin around the block... I am in heaven..go inside have a beer, pat myself on the shoulder, and say to myself, "wow that went well".
Due to the fact that I am such a lightweight I am (not a drinker), the one measly beer goes srtaight to my head and I become a *master mechanic*, and decide to go look into the engine compartment to see if there are little things I could fix etc (dont forget I was under the assumption that I could perform a SOA, engine swap, transmission rebuild, MYSELF in under an hour...yes that's how happy I was with myself...when really my knowledge of mechanics is LIMITED to say the least)
Anyhow, I am looking at all the vacuum hoses that lead from the air cleaner to various areas including directly from the air cleaner to the back of the intake manifold and I realize that some had fallen off. I plug one back into the nipple on the back of the manifold (yes this was the place it was originally connected to because of its length and positioning. Then I go around to the passenger side and notice that there is a double plug, that plugs into the air cleaner that had also fallen off, so I plug that back in as well. It can only go in one way so I know what I did was right. Lastly I notice that the heat riser(stove pipe ) connection from the manifold into the air cleaner is off, so I take the air cleaner off, center it up making sure I dont disconnect any vacuum lines, and put everthing back together.
Get into the truck, start it, idles fine and smooth, give it gas it, the engine runs fine. Decide to take it for a spin around the block. Put it in drive, press on gas and I feel this awful vibration, hesitation and futtering sound, I step on it to see if it makes a difference, it is the same feeling the whole truck is vibrating, weird helicopterish sound coming from the exhaust, and basically sounds like the engine is muffled or something with no power to it.
So I unhook what I hooked up vacuum wise, same problem ...check for pinched vacuum hoses..dont see any, now the truck has no power. I dont think it would make it up a small hill.
When in park or neutral the engine runs like a sewing machine, when under load it futters and has no power..What did I do ?? Sob sob. I should have just left it and not touched anything because for ONCE, EVERYTHING ON THIS TRUCK was working 100%.
Man I love these trucks but what a heartache.
Anyone have a clue as to what's up?
Thanks in advance for all the help. Without you guys and gals on this site my rig would be half of what it is now.
Ryan

[ironroad29]

well i can't get in to see your jeep ,looks good from the preveiw though did you disconect the wires you hooked up ? 'just a thought

[ryan]

ironroad29,
Thanks for the reply, I did disconnect everything back to the same way i had it but no difference.
To see the rest of the photos you have to sign in with your email address. Dont know why but the pictures up up for free so I cant complain

[Bob Barry]

Sounds like a spark-plug isn't firing. Either a spark-plug wire came loose, or is near a metal object and grounding out when the engine is under load, or your resistor wire to the coil has TOO much resistance (corroded, partly broken, etc). I'd hook those vacuum lines back up, and start looking around the #2-#4 spark-plugs to see if you knocked a wire off when you reconnected the hot-air hose to the air-cleaner housing.

[ryan]

Bob Barry,
Thanks for the idea, I never thought of checking for that. I will the moment I get home from work. IS this the reason why it only happens during acceleration?
Ryan

[ryan]

OK this is an update. Yesterday when I got home from work, I checked to see if any spark plug wires were touching the exhaust manifolds, causing them to ground out. None were, they all seemed fine, I also re checked ALL the vacuum hoses and they are all in the right place.
Start the truck, it runs fine, press on the gas the engine rpms go up, ebverything sounds fine....put the car in gear, press on the gas, the engine starts shaking. Drive around, there is an awful vibration and you can see the hood shaking as well.
Turned car off- opened hood started checking the spark plug wires at the distibutor, all are fine except one which is completely corroded, I clean it off and ...problem is still there.
Now I am going crazy trying to eliminate problems, so I start the truck, put it in drive and it idles normally. Try to do a brake stand (I NEVER do this) to see if the engine shakes only under load. It does, I can get the engine to shake like crazy with one foot on the brake one foot on the gas and the transmission in drive. Oh by the way the same thing happens in reverse.
I have eliminated a lot of things but still have not even come close to finding the problem.What is causing this?
Help please!!
Ryan

[tito]

I'm the last guy to give mechanical advise, but here's an idea.

Have you ever engaged the 4WD system before? Sounds like the hose you reconnected at the back of the manifold was the vac hose to engage/disengage the transfer case. I'm wondering if the PO disconnected it intentionally to prevent this vibration problem. My thought is reconnecting the vac pressure may be causing something in the t-case to semi engage and bind, causing the vibrations and sluggish power. Maybe try disconnecting the hose and see what happens. I have no knowledge of how t-cases function internally, just an idea to isolate the problem.

Good Luck

[soccer dad]

I am truly sorry & I wish I had somthing to offer.

I do want you to know that I have learned a great deal from following your threads with problems and the advice you get here. When you had camshaft problems, I couldn't wait to get home each day to see if you had it solved yet. The same now.

This is the only place on the internet that I've seen where people help each other so much.

Someone will provide an answer. I hope it's before the weekend so you can enjoy it.

[kingmatt16]

This exact symptom has happened to me many times. Both times it was a spark plug wire that had been burned on the manifold. Even if you feel you have checked your wires, check them again. Pull out each one, and look for cracked or brittle areas of wire. I hope this is the simple solution for you. Good luck.

Matt

[irbob]

On the spark plug thing...one way to check for bad wires really quick is to spray water all over them at night time and look for sparks. Do that and see what happends.

Since you were around the carb area hooking and unhooking vac lines I am leaning tward a couple of things that could be wrong.

One is that the choke may be stuck and the other is that the flappers in the air cleaner tunnel may be closed choaking off the air flow. The inner flap stays closed until vacuum is applied. When the engine startes it should open all the way. Check for that. The outer flap opens when the engine warms up so you should be able to stand there and watch it open as the engine heats up. The reason I say this is that you hooked the vac lines up the the air cleaner housing. Be carefull of the linkages on the flaps they are plastic and a new cleaner will run you no less than 25 bucks.

Let us know what u find out. Can't wait.

[ryan]

OK heres another update...
first let me answer some replies
Tito, I checked my 4 wheel drive, engaged it then disengaged it and it seems to be working fine. The light on the dash lights up indicating that I am in 4 wheel drive. Also, to check I can spin my back tires in sand when in two wheel drive whereas I cannot when in 4 wheel drive. (the truck digs in and moves)
Kingmatt16 OK Last night on the way home from work I ordered new spark plug wires. Will pick them up tonight and install them. Thanks for the tip.
soccerdad_ I hope I get the truck running by the weekend too. Its a long weekend here (Monday off) smile.gif
irbob
Rather than checking the wires I am going to replace them all tonight. I understand what you are saying regarding the flaps and I will check that as well tonight. What I dont understand is why the engine wil run smooth at any rpm when in park or neutral but only reverts to shaking when under load (DR23)
Thanks for ALL the help. Tonight I am going to change the spark plug wires, and work my way down eliminating possible problems.After the wires are changed, and I see no difference I will continue by changing the cap and rotor. I really hope this is the answer. It bothers me SO much I dont want to sleep till its fixed. Why do I love these trucks so much??
Like I've said before..without all the help, advice and knowledge I have recieved from this board my jeep would be half of what it is today.This site has the nicest most knowledgeable people on the net. It is also a family oriented site which is a complete bonus.I admit it , I am addicted to the site, and it gives great pleasure when reading about a fellow fsj'er figuring out their problems with their rig- I honestly feel the joy, cuz we have all been through a fair share of good and bad owning these trucks.
Thanks again and will post again after tonight work
Ryan

[wanablikemike]

I had a buddy that had a similar problem (If I remember right) and it was because his tranny/chassis bolts had come loose and the whole drivetrain would bounce around when under any load. I doubt that this is what happened to you because of the way it started, but stranger things have happened. You never know.

Hope you get it!

Byt the way ... SWEEET Wag! ;)

[DerJeep]

Make sure your plug wires are in the correct order (firing order). I have seen a case where the Wag started up fine and idled great, but when put in gear would run like crap and die out. Found two plugs wires in the wrong order and once straightened out, everything was fine.

[Millerluck]

I'm with irbob on the flappers.

With it unhooked from the stove pipe it might have been pulling in fresh air and running ok through the little 1.5 hole.

When my brother and I picked up his GW the inner flappers vacuum hose was broke. I tried to fix it my streching the line to reach it. The thing was way to brittle and broke again and again.

We wedged a pice of the line inbetween the arm to hold it open.

Well I never realy looked very close at how the inner one worked, but I knew the vacuum line was unhooked on my GW for it. So I checked it out a few days later. Yup it was only open 1/4 of the way. It ran pretty good like this. But it sure woke things up after I took care of that inner flap.(crunching sound)

So anyhoo. I would check into that stove pipe flapper and inner flapper like irbob says.

Also the little wire they use for the electric choke can fall off easy. I've had this hapen before too. Lost power and made it run real rough after the engine warmed up.

Later

Larry Miller

[ryan]

Well IT is Finally fixed. Problem was my spark plug wires. Nothing to with what I had touched originally. I replaced the spark plug wires with new ones and everything ran perfectly. By the way, NONE of my spark plug wires were visibly damaged, I guess one or two of them were corroded or something. Thanks for all the help everyone and pointing me in the right direction.
Ryan