OK, so here is what happened. My wifes 2004 Liberty with the 3.7 4WD began having intermittent stuttering issues. She said it felt like she was running out of gas, but no check engine light came on (yet). Friday on her way home, it began bucking again, but it was a random once in a while thing. This last time, the check engine light came on. So, being a somewhat mechanically inclined fellow, I googled how to pull engine codes without an OBD scanner and found the neato way Jeep shows the code in the odometer display. Came up with a P0300 random engine misfire and P0344 Camshaft position sensor circuit intermittent. OK, so back to my good ole friend google and find that there are many recommendations to do cam and crank sensors for these codes at the same time. But I'm a cheap bastard who just spent 4 weeks off work for knee surgery and went with just the cam sensor.
Immediately after replacing the cam sensor, car was hard to start, but did after two tries. It idled fine, no issues there. I hit the gas and the problem was like it was hitting a rev limiter at 2400 RPM. The more gas I gave it, the harder the rev limiter seemed to be. Just lightly pressing the throttle and holding 2300, it runs fine. Touch up to 2400 and it drops back to 2200, revs back up and drops again. More throttle, the problem becomes more pronounced. The highest RPM it can reach is 2700ish, but that is with the foot on the floor. Driving and it becomes a rodeo experience.
So, I replaced the cam sensor next, still having the same issue. Rechecked all the connectors on cam and crank sensors; all good. Checked wiring, no visible issues. Pulled everything back apart I did to get to the cam sensor and rechecked that I didn't knock something loose; all good there. Put it back together and still having the same issue. Rechecked engine codes, still showing a P0300 and P0344. What else should I look at to figure out this problem? Seems odd that a random issue becomes a constant issue after replacing the faulty items...
Immediately after replacing the cam sensor, car was hard to start, but did after two tries. It idled fine, no issues there. I hit the gas and the problem was like it was hitting a rev limiter at 2400 RPM. The more gas I gave it, the harder the rev limiter seemed to be. Just lightly pressing the throttle and holding 2300, it runs fine. Touch up to 2400 and it drops back to 2200, revs back up and drops again. More throttle, the problem becomes more pronounced. The highest RPM it can reach is 2700ish, but that is with the foot on the floor. Driving and it becomes a rodeo experience.
So, I replaced the cam sensor next, still having the same issue. Rechecked all the connectors on cam and crank sensors; all good. Checked wiring, no visible issues. Pulled everything back apart I did to get to the cam sensor and rechecked that I didn't knock something loose; all good there. Put it back together and still having the same issue. Rechecked engine codes, still showing a P0300 and P0344. What else should I look at to figure out this problem? Seems odd that a random issue becomes a constant issue after replacing the faulty items...
