'97 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo 4.0L stall problem

I've been having a strange problem with my Jeep. Occasionally, it
will stall out shortly after starting. It keeps running if you just
let it sit there idling, but the stall seems to happen shortly after
it's put in drive. Often, it seems to happen only after repeated
shifts. For example, I'm backing out of a parking space, then I go to
put it in drive and it immediately stalls. I can restart the engine
right away without a problem, and it has never stalled again in
regular driving. I think the condition only happens when the car
hasn't been driven for a while, but I'm not certain. There are no
error codes or other indications of a problem. The only major thing I
can think of is that the automatic transmission has had some issues in
the past. It was running rough a few years ago, and the dealer
claimed it needed to be replaced. Took it to my regular mechanic, and
he just flushed it out or something and said it should be fine. It
has been driving fine for the last 50,000 miles, so I'm not sure
whether that has any connection or not. Anybody have an idea what the
cause of the stalling might be? Thanks in advance.

Kyle

Kyle Boran wrote:
> I've been having a strange problem with my Jeep. Occasionally, it
> will stall out shortly after starting. It keeps running if you just
> let it sit there idling, but the stall seems to happen shortly after
> it's put in drive. Often, it seems to happen only after repeated
> shifts. For example, I'm backing out of a parking space, then I go to
> put it in drive and it immediately stalls. I can restart the engine
> right away without a problem, and it has never stalled again in
> regular driving. I think the condition only happens when the car
> hasn't been driven for a while, but I'm not certain. There are no
> error codes or other indications of a problem. The only major thing I
> can think of is that the automatic transmission has had some issues in
> the past. It was running rough a few years ago, and the dealer
> claimed it needed to be replaced. Took it to my regular mechanic, and
> he just flushed it out or something and said it should be fine. It
> has been driving fine for the last 50,000 miles, so I'm not sure
> whether that has any connection or not. Anybody have an idea what the
> cause of the stalling might be? Thanks in advance.

clean the idle air passage and see if that helps. Sometimes the
pintle gets sticky and that causes a stall.
http://revbeergoggles.com/tb/tb.html

Reverse gear does not put as much load on the motor so it won't
stall as easily as going into drive will.

There are other things that can cause a stall but start there
and check the battery connections to make sure they aren't loose.

--
DougW

When our 88 acts like that, I know it is time to clean the TPS
connection on the throttle body. This connection also controls the
shift points on the transmission.

I recommend a spray contact cleaner like electronic shops sell for these
computer signal plugs and sockets with a skim of dielectric grease
around the plug seal skirts to help keep them clean.

Mike
86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00
88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's
Canadian Off Road Trips Photos: Non members can still view!
Jan/06 http://www.imagestation.com/album/pi...?id=2115147590
(More Off Road album links at bottom of the view page)

Kyle Boran wrote:
> I've been having a strange problem with my Jeep. Occasionally, it
> will stall out shortly after starting. It keeps running if you just
> let it sit there idling, but the stall seems to happen shortly after
> it's put in drive. Often, it seems to happen only after repeated
> shifts. For example, I'm backing out of a parking space, then I go to
> put it in drive and it immediately stalls. I can restart the engine
> right away without a problem, and it has never stalled again in
> regular driving. I think the condition only happens when the car
> hasn't been driven for a while, but I'm not certain. There are no
> error codes or other indications of a problem. The only major thing I
> can think of is that the automatic transmission has had some issues in
> the past. It was running rough a few years ago, and the dealer
> claimed it needed to be replaced. Took it to my regular mechanic, and
> he just flushed it out or something and said it should be fine. It
> has been driving fine for the last 50,000 miles, so I'm not sure
> whether that has any connection or not. Anybody have an idea what the
> cause of the stalling might be? Thanks in advance.
>
> Kyle
>

remove the intake tube to the throttle body and lean off the carbon on the
throttle plate and bore see if that helps carb cleaner works ok but the
parst stores sell the throttle cleaner that is more money

Kyle Boran wrote:

> I've been having a strange problem with my Jeep. Occasionally, it
> will stall out shortly after starting. It keeps running if you just
> let it sit there idling, but the stall seems to happen shortly after
> it's put in drive. Often, it seems to happen only after repeated
> shifts. For example, I'm backing out of a parking space, then I go to
> put it in drive and it immediately stalls. I can restart the engine
> right away without a problem, and it has never stalled again in
> regular driving. I think the condition only happens when the car
> hasn't been driven for a while, but I'm not certain. There are no
> error codes or other indications of a problem. The only major thing I
> can think of is that the automatic transmission has had some issues in
> the past. It was running rough a few years ago, and the dealer
> claimed it needed to be replaced. Took it to my regular mechanic, and
> he just flushed it out or something and said it should be fine. It
> has been driving fine for the last 50,000 miles, so I'm not sure
> whether that has any connection or not. Anybody have an idea what the
> cause of the stalling might be? Thanks in advance.
>
> Kyle

I got some throttle body cleaner and electrical cleaner and sprayed
everything, then put some dielectric grease on the sockets. There
were some carbon deposits around the butterfly. I also replaced the
air filter just to make sure that was good.

Seemed fine once I started it up, though it was a little hard to get
started. I'm not certain if it's fixed, since the problem only
happened very occasionally, but it's good now anyway.

Thanks for the suggestions, guys.

Kyle

On Feb 17, 10:01 am, philthy > wrote:
> remove the intake tube to the throttle body and lean off the carbon on the
> throttle plate and bore see if that helps carb cleaner works ok but the
> parst stores sell the throttle cleaner that is more money

might be the torque converter- that happend to me. it would stall at
lights sometimes, and it would cut out if i went from drive to reverse
or back, but not if I paused and held it at neutral for a couple
seconds. we had a dealership fix it, so i dont know if they screwed
us or not. it cost us around $1000.