Jeep Strokers

G'day - My son has a '96 XJ with 5 speed. Runs great, but occasionally throws a CEL. Scanning reveals the above codes, but there is no misfire. I suspect the distributor is just out of range as far as indexing. Sound logical? Thanks for any other suggestions.

Alrighty then. An update - we just went out to index the distributor on cyl #1. Got a mirror, cleaned the timing marks, and lined up the front pulley mark with 0. Pull the dizzy cap, and sure enough the rotor is pointing at about 6:00, while the mark for #1 plug is at about 5:00. Get my 1/2" wrench and loosen the clamp bolt to align the mark and rotor. But . . . it won't budge! WTH? I pull the bolt and clamp off the base completely, and see that there is a cast key that will not let the distributor rotate in the block.

So, what now?

Even the CPS on my 2005 4.0 can be rotated to index it. Why not on the '96?

Thanks for any help.

You are running a stock camshaft in this engine?

SilverXJ wrote:You are running a stock camshaft in this engine?

Yes. This is a 100% stock 1996 Cherokee that we just picked up a couple of weeks ago. 142k miles, but VERY well maintained and in excellent condition.

After erasing the codes the CEL will stay off for days. The CPS was supposedly replaced by the prior owner.

Here is the proper indexing for the OBDII distributors.

If you can't get the distributor to line up on a stock engine w/o cutting the ears on the distributor mount your timing chain is most likely stretched. A little off shouldn't hurt though.

Thanks IH - if it stops raining long enough today I will take a look at the marks and alignment hole. That helps.

Chris - this distributor housing does not have stops at the base within which you can rotate the housing, it has a fixed extension in the base casting that keys to the clamp bolt. Is that the "ears" you are referring to?

Since it looks fairly new, I am also going to see if it may be off a tooth on the distributor gear.

Thanks again for the help.

Just for the sake of thread closure, the XJ has been running perfectly for the last month with no CEL. I did not reindex the distributor, but I think I know what the cause was. I did not mention this in the original post because I did not realize it might be the issue. The wire harness from the pickup plate in the distributor was pinched between the cap and the top of the distributor housing when I took the cap off the first time to check the cap condition (it was new). I think the previous "mechanic" failed to keep the wire in the little notch completely, and it must have created a very small signal loss at random times. Since putting it back properly and resetting the codes, no more CEL.

Carry on.