Mystery no start, starts just fine issues..

1995 XJ, 4.0L automatic trans. NP242 transfer case.
The other day, driving the jeep, was fine. parked it, an hour or so. Got in, cranks but wont start. called tow truck, while the truck was on the way, i went and tried starting it in N. started up just fine.. Let it run, turned it off, tried starting it in park. started up after a couple seconds of cranking. Tow truck showed up, to be safe i just drove it on the truck (ran just fine). Got home, wouldn't start.

So after researching i went ahead and checked all fuses under hood and inside, all fuses are fine. I then went to try starting it, it started up just fine. there is fuel pressure. So i started it up again, then looked in engine bay and noticed the the distributor was moving side to side, a lot of movement to me. A few months ago i had my engine rebuilt, had blown head and needed a new distributor, plus engine leaks. The distributor, cap, rotor, wires and plugs are all new.
Question, should the distributor be moving at all?? And what could cause the engine to crank but not start, then start up as if nothing is wrong??

No, the distributor should not move. With it loose, In one spot it should start and then not in the other.

So in theory, because of the movement of the distributor it may have caused my no start problem? Which would mean that it should be under warranty still. Thanks for the help. Now hopefully the shop will honor it.

Thinking, would the distributor be moving because the bolts are just loose, or could it be with an installation issue? Im going to try tightening it, but if its more than just that im going to have the shop fix it right.

Do you have a manual of any sort? Follow instructions as per positioning. Actually I am unsure about your description of the distributer moving side to side which means wobble to me. Did you mean it actually spins back and forth? Anyway, lol, try tightening it down when it runs, and not when it does not. I'd relate the looseness fact to the shop over the phone, and go from there.., as they might have slightly overlooked torquing it down properly. Worse case scenario is the tip of the distributor base to the oil pump connection is strange causing movement of the distributor overcoming a "just-snug-base-nut", but I doubt that.., as such a 'jerking' condition could explode the rotor within the cap.

Old school looseness of the clamp would allow distributor to move, i.e., spin enough to put engine out of time, i.e., similar to your description too. That's how we would, in part, time our engines, either by a simple 12 volt light, or strobe light noting timing notch on crank shaft pully notch to timing mark gauge plate, plus, or minus depending on advance or retardation degrees required, blah, blah. Once everything lined up, we'd tighten down nut/bolt to base of distributor. So my first question, and last suggestion is to get a manual of any sort as per the year of your XJ. Best is the Factory Service Manual, (FSM), although the prices of such are trendy, i.e., check out ebay.

There should be a cast metal stop that only allows the distributor to set in one sport and not rotate (not 100% sure about the newer 95 year, mine are 87-89). Some people have been know to break the location limiter tabs off so they can fine tune the timing, but since the ECU actually controls the timing, it is a waste of time.

If the dizzy can rotate (missing tab, loose hold down clamp) it can be firing at the wrong plug wire in one location and the right plug wire at the other location of the rotation swing cause rough running and no starts.

With out looking at it I have no idea what all might be wrong with the dizzy and mount, other than a missing tab and loose bolt. But if the tab is gone you need to read the instructions for getting it bolted down in the sweet spot here in old Naxja threads, finding the sweet spot. The search terms are "INDEXING the DISTRIBUTOR"

i have video of it moving, not in circles, but i guess its side to side, videos makes it seem not as bad, and i have pictures of that tab, not 100% its on right..how can i post pictures?

if this works, this is one picture of the mounting tab.

https://scontent-lax3-1.xx.fbcdn.ne...=5db185bc4d8f0c005c733fed8afb7b0b&oe=57EEBD7A

This is another. does it look right?
https://scontent-lax3-1.xx.fbcdn.ne...=9c80ff9f35408f6b8fe8ecfdfb46931c&oe=57FE0589

What matters is if the rotor under the cap points at plug #1 while cylinder #1 is at TDC

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRHW0i3V6qM

https://www.google.com/search?q=jee...la:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&channel=sb

update, i checked my CEL codes, i got (in this order) 12, 54, 11, 24. planning to just replace the CPS and the TPS

Did the rear main leak? If it did try removing your cps and clean it then reinstall. My 89 had to be done a couple of times in 8 years.