96 XJ Country won't Idle.

I posted in the street performance forun, probably should have put it here, I apologize for that. I have a 96 Country, stock with the 4.0L I6. It started fine when I backed it out of the driveway. I parked it on the street and came back to repark it and the engine initially wouldn't start. I did get it started but it wouldn't idle, had to keep my foot on the gas to keep it running. The check engine light stays on while it is running. Any help on what might be going on? Thanks for your help.

Hey man, had the same problem a couple weeks ago, the idle continually got worse, then the check engine light came on, and it didn't want to stay running... Check your coil wire, it's the 7th wire, from the top of the distributor. Mine was all corroded, and the wire was about ready to fall apart. I was pretty sure that would fix it, but I went ahead and got a new cap and rotor too, and did the whole deal, cap, rotor, wires and plugs. Mine works fine now, it should fix your problem too, just have a local parts store reset your computer once you're done, and the check engine light will go off.

Hopefully this helps.

Oh, if you haven't done a cap and rotor before, which i hadn't, it's pretty straight forward, just remember to label which male end gets which plug wire before you start yanking all of them off. I used a sharpy and labeled each male end with the cylinder number, starting from left to right. But yeah, if you forget that, it could make the quick swap a bigger headache Good luck man, post up if you have any problems

Thanks for the help! I will check that out. So strange, it was running just fine and then like a switch was thrown, it wasn't.

battery?

Well, I replaced the distro and rotor, still the same thing. However, if I let it run for a few moments with my foot on the accelerator it will idle when I gently remove my foot. Turn the motor off and the same thing happens all over again. The battery is practically new and the gauge in the panel says it's charging ok. I'm suspecting a clogged fuel filter perhaps. It runs fine at all rpm's, no misses or backfires. All the vacuum hoses seem to be good and connected properly. I'll check the throttle body for contaminants but I don't think that's going to be it. I'm leaning towards the fuel filter/fuel pump. Any opinions?

try the fuel filter, probably needs one anyway

before my pump went out, my xj would start and run fine but would shutter when idling

Does the 96 XJ have the fuel filter seperate from the pump or is it like the later models with them both on the same housing in the tank?

As an added bonus my Check Engine light went out too. Thought I'd have to go to a wrench and get the computer reset.

fuel filter is along unibody rails, right above where the rear break line connects to unibody rail. The pump is in the tank.

does the 96 have the same or "similar" Idle Air Controller? That's what this sounds like to me, be easy on me if i'm waaaaaaayyyyyy off base though. :O

RyanM said:

fuel filter is along unibody rails, right above where the rear break line connects to unibody rail. The pump is in the tank.

Click to expand...

Yes, it's in the same location as the 92 XJ I used to have......thankfully. Thanks for your input.