Hey Guys,

I just bought a TJ Series 2 3.5L 4spd auto with tippy yesterday. One the drive home I noticed a few annoying niggles such as when going up hills it feels like the car is shuddering and feels like it will stall. And when slowing down/braking it will do the same the engine feels like its chugging and going to crap out.

There is no CEL, when putting your foot to the floor it has no problems changing through gears etc.

Am i right to think this is ignition related or may it be something else i should look at?

Uphill, with a fair bit of throttle and high gear? Try changing down a gear and see if that helps. Sounds like it is misfiring. Could be plugs, leads, distributor cap, ignition coil.

When you slow down with the foot off the accelerator, what do the rpm drop down to? If too low, it's the ISC motor.

Worth checking the service records to see what has been done to the car recently. How many km on it?

A gummed up throttle body, dead ISC, misfire through bad leads/plugs won't give you a CEL.

Sounds like this car has been neglected and needs some DIY TLC.

Uphill with low-moderate throttle, but when going high throttle it goes much worse!

I thought it may be ignition related but it's revs are very low at idle even though i adjusted the throttle/airflow thingy haha. When slowing down it chugs arse too. It's got 230k on the clock, the guy was a mechanic and neglected it to a point, recently got new plugs and oil though. Confirmed by checking them physically.

Service records have been neglected since the 100k service =/

Mechanics are like that, spend all day on other people's cars and aren't inclined to work on their own. (Usually)

Probably needs new plug leads or a new ignition coil, and an ISC.
Due for a belt (etc) change too, I would think. I hope you got it cheap.

Mechanics are like that, spend all day on other people's cars and aren't inclined to work on their own. (Usually)

Probably needs new plug leads or a new ignition coil, and an ISC.
Due for a belt (etc) change too, I would think. I hope you got it cheap.

That they are, the leads and plugs look new which is odd, will try the dizzy cap etc later today.

I got it for 730 bucks. TJ series 2 wagon in red that has been resprayed with 2pack :)

That they are, the leads and plugs look new which is odd, will try the dizzy cap etc later today.

I got it for 730 bucks. TJ series 2 wagon in red that has been resprayed with 2pack :)

Wow! I'd buy that! Worth your while to fix.

Hi, I'd check the battery and alternator - if it isn't charging properly it causes problems with the distributor, leading to loss of power and very rough idling. Checking the voltage is easy/cheap to do before you go spending money replacing things that may not be actual the source of the problem. Also, check the leads with a multimeter to see if the resistance is within spec - again, cheap and easy to do (at least for the front bank).