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Hanging Throttle, 97 XJ

Jim D.

NAXJA Forum User
Yeah, me again. 97 Sport, 87,000 miles, 5 spd, AC, Up country suspension; never crashed. Beautiful Jeep, truthfully. Have read the FAQs, and once had an 87XJ and the throttle position sensor regularly failed, leaving me with a 2000rpm idle...so appreciate the info therein. Now I have a 97 XJ Cherokee Sport 5 Spd w/AC (purchased new, so it's a known commodity). Randomly, the throttle is hanging up; sometimes not much, sometimes completely. (Very exciting!!) Clutch out (foot off the pedal) and the idle immediately returns to normal - thank goodness. I've lubed the springs (there are two) and shot WD40 up the cable opening. Seems to fix it temporarily. The Jeep dealer is telling me (I think, we're speaking Spanish) that the bushings seated in the thottle body mechanism oval out, hence the occasional problem. They want to disassemble and replace the throttle mechanisms. I'm thinking "stronger spring" for the manifold spring (not the wrapped spring mechanism next to the throttle body; the other one) attached to the intake manifold. Advice or ideas???
 
Jim,

Actually had the same problem with my 98 XJ with 5 speed.
What the problem actually is.... is the IAC (Idle Air Controller) sometimes called the Idle Air Solenoid is slow to respond. This component is attached to the back of the throttlebody with two torks (15) screws.... You need to remove the IAC, clean the inside seat where the solenoid disc meets with throttlebody cleaner and then clean the disc too.... Carbon gets inside and slows the IAC response to signals from the ECM.
The best way to do this is.... Is to remove the TB from the intake manifold, remove the IAC, TPS and MAP sensor from the TB and thoroughly clean the TB with TB cleaner....
I do this once a year as a maintenance item.

Charles
 
Jim,

There are chemical cleaners that can be purchased at the local autoparts store that say Carburetor Cleaner (donot use on throttlebody) and then there are ones that specifically say Throttlebody Cleaner; that is safe for plastics and sensors.....

Charles
 
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