vacuum leak? or what

Ok my Jeep is bein weird. The check engine light came on. Then the next time I started it it was gone. It came back on the next day while driving. This was then followed by the transmission shifting around a lot. It'd drop out of OD and sometimes all the way down to 2nd at 45-50 mph. It had occasional stumbles, and hesitations. Yesterday morning it wouldn't start. I figured it had to be a vacuum leak cuz it all makes sense, especially when you add in the non-functioning cruise control. Today after work I pulled the battery out and checked the hose down there. It's fine. The spot I spliced together last time still looks fine. So I taped the ends of it anyways. Along with a splice in the cruise control hose. I started it, there's no light, and the vents all function as they should. I highly doubt my taping fixed it, anyone got any ideas what this is, or any other vacuum hoses to check?

This morning it started real hard, idled rough and stalled three times in the 3 mile drive into work. I had to pop into neutral and it would start back up again. It seemd that if my foot was on the brake, it'd idle, but as soon as my foot came off the brake, it stalled. The tranny wouldn't shift out of first unless I stomped on the gas and ran it to redline. Then it'd go into 2nd and that's far as it would get. So I'm convinced that its a vacuum leak, but no idea where from. Surely some one out there has an idea. Or maybe my understanding isn't as great as I thought and its some other problem with similar symptoms.

i would test the battery, tps, map, and clean the iac and throttle body.

you should be able hear a vacuum leak.

Yeah, I was startin to lean that way. I took it to a shop here and they said it sounds like that. And after thinking, it does make sense. Not to mention a buddy at the dealership here agrees that it fits, and I trust his word.

The ECM grounds (I think it was the ECM, its a black box on the drivers side of the engine bay) were loose so those got tightened and it at least was able to idle. The tranny is still bein weird, won't shift til redline. Cruisin at 4500 rpm to the parts store to scan with the OBD II gets old the frst time you do it. It called out the TPS, one code said it had a high reading, the other said it was off. So I bought the TPS, and will install it at work, see if that's the problem. Hopefully yes and then I can just keep an eye on those grounds.