Please someone tell me what this is

I turned on the car this morning and it started to sought of sputter?
when i try to step on the pedal it went just fine

I drop the kids off and continued on my way to my therapy and it sputtered again like when i first started the car i was at a stop light so i shifted to nuetral and step on the gas the rpms gauge hesitated then went up and i shifted into drive and went. I got near the office and right by the bus stop i just turned the corner it started to sputter i step on the gas hard and it just kept sput... sput.. sput... step on the gas again and it was like a miny explosion (pop) sound out of the tail pipe consistant with me stepping on the gas, unfortunately i was not dress for the occasion to get dirty i pilled over to the bus stop and pop the hood turn off the car and tried to restart still doing the same so i poped on the fuel gauge and started it gauge read 30-31 psi and thats while it was doing the described. I pressed on the throttle and the gauge of course jumped up a little and went back down to the steady 31psi but still the car was jumping like crazy making these popping noises i pinched the supply line just to see what would happin with the gauge and nothing so i shut it down.

when i started it back up the gauge pressure started rising very slowly pass the normal 31psi i think it was because i pinch the line (be4) so i shut it down took of the gauge and restarted the car and it idled real high i unpluged the TPS three connector (seems to stop high idle for me) and waited a second the car idled normal i plug the three connector back in and i drove to the nearest parking.

it took me a hour in my therapy when i came i started the car and drove straight home right before i could get around the corner it started to sputter and everytime i stepped on the gas it made that poping noise out the tail pipe? is this backfire? or misfire? i dont know what either feel like
or if you kno what this is please let me know

I have a 88 xj 4.0 6cyl

misfire or backfire, there are three parts to the equation. fuel and air, spark, and timing. you have checked just the fuel part.

could be a bad cps, bad coil, faulty egr, spark plg wire....although it does sound fuel related.

I'd look at the CPS first and make sure the wires aren't cooking on the exhaust manifold.
Could be other things, like mentioned.

thats so funny cause i replaced all but one of those parts already last summer
the timing is not ajustable on a inline six so where does that leave me?
new timing chain? how would i know?

coil, egr, last summer brought knew could any of these still have went bad?
cps, more recently, i had to replace because of burnt wires i thought i fixed that problem by zip tie onto wires on firewall

funny thing is the last it started the sputtering i couldnt get it to stop and when i finally did i was reaching to actually unplug and then plug the cps as soon as i move the wire the carstop the sputtering and idled high i then unpluged the tps 3 connector replugged it and drove around the block and parked the car

need to know how to know eactly what it is? what test should be done? etc.

Sounds like you narrowed it down when the truck idles different when you jiggle the CPS wires.

so i should replace it again?

what about the timing chain could that do it?
being that inline 6 ignition timing is not adjustable?

SINCITY192 said:

so i should replace it again?

what about the timing chain could that do it?
being that inline 6 ignition timing is not adjustable?

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Timing chain and/or belt failure is not going to come and go. If it jumped a tooth or slipped it will just get worse, never better.

I would invest my time in figuring out why the CKP wiring is causing a problem. Poor connection, burnt wiring, cheapo CKP.

Speaking of, why haven't we started a "Best CKP" thread?

no mechanic but it could be that your cat blew the honey combs and its not gettin good compression because its pluged and when u step on it your clearing your cat so your compression is coming back but i dont know iv just been told that happens some times im not a mechanic or a engine guy and that could be the reason for the pop

new exhaust system from tail pipe, to cat, muff, and exhaust pipe, cant be clogged right?
im thinking the CPS wires were getting to hot or something

im gonna check for any damage if there is none what should i go for next?

if you dont have this, download it and print it out if you can

http://www.lunghd.com/Downloads_and_Links/Jeep_Renix_Fuel_Injection_manual.pdf