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My XJ started to act really weird today. After leaving wal-mart it started to sputter. When I hit the gas, I did not accelerate, but the rpm went up and it sounded like the exhaust was back firing (hard to tell, it is raining kinda hard).

I then stopped at a local grocery store, and it did the same thing, but ever worse on the way home on some back roads. After coming to a stop the exhaust would get really loud and sputter then when I tried to go, it would sputter really loud and I would barely go.

But once I got it going, it would run ok. When I pulled into my driveway it had trouble getting up the small incline. It sputtered some more, but made it.

I parked it and looked under the hood. Everything still seems in place. I checked under the body at the exhaust, and the hangers for the exhaust right before the cat and right after the muffler are broken off.

Would this cause the problem? The exhaust not getting out? Any help would be great. This is my only DD right now and I have to go to work tomorrow.

Thank you.

Does the jeep have an O2 sensor near the broken exhaust parts?

Yes, and it is a newer O2. I replaced it last year.

Exhaust leaks before/near an o2 sensor can disrupt the readings and cause the engine to run funny.

Try patching your exhaust with aluminum and fiberglass. They sell kits at most generic autoparts stores.

I think my cat might be shot. I am going to check it once it stops raining. The O2 I replaced was the one on the cat. I want to get a high flow cat and decent high flow exhaust, but I need to save up some money first.

Would a bad catalytic converter cause my problems?

[quote=""Duck Vader""]Would a bad catalytic converter cause my problems?[/quote]

No.

[quote=""Monochrome""]No.[/quote]

ok.

On jeep forum they are saying it is either the cat/exhaust or the fuel filter.

If the cat is clogged, I could see it causing your issues.

Should I also check my distributor cap and spark plug wires?

clogged cat is my guess...my xj did similar things.....go underneath and wack ur cat with something and listen for a rattle or something loose....i know that sounds stupid but thats what jeepforum told me...i could hear something all loose in there and i went replaced the cat and jeep drove great afterwards....mine would rev and not go into the next gear....id stay in first for a long time...it would stutter a lot too

Well, I banged on the cat, did not hear much, but it is hard to tell since the whole exhaust system is banging and moving around.

Fired her up this morning and sputtered like an sob. Let it warm up a bit and it calmed down, drove it work, parked it, reved the engine and as the rpm went back down it kept trying to backfire and sputter really bad. The tach was also shaking (the needle) around 800-850 rpm.

Question.

People on Jeep forum are now saying that is sounds like a bad distributor cap/wires. They are the stock ones, and it has been raining a lot these past couple of days.

Does it sound like that could be it?

I will when I get home, but for $35 I can just get new wires and cap and do preventive maintanence (sp?).

...and what a waste of $35 it would be if that didn't solve the problem....

but it has 90k+ and has the original wires and everything. Couldnt hurt. I have to save up and I am replacing the whole exhaust system. Manifold back. I know it needs a cat/muffle and the stock XJ manifold is know to crack. I am keeping this thing forever, so I want to do preventive maintanence as well. I can get the whole exhaust shipped to my door for under $450.

Guess and check mechanics only make for a broke and frustrated owner with a vehicle that still doesn't run right.

[quote=""Monochrome""]Guess and check mechanics only make for a broke and frustrated owner with a vehicle that still doesn't run right.[/quote]

So what I am supposed to do?