The first time this happened was after going through a car wash. It suddenly lost power, although still running, and was backfiring through the carb, and on deceleration through the exhaust. I babied it along, keeping revs up and it got over it and I drove home, although still idleing rough and backfiring through exhaust. The second time was after sitting out in a long week of rain. It started out ok, then started "bucking" at low speeds then went into the back firing. I stopped look under the hood, which looked dry enough. I considered AAA and having it hauled home, but again, babied it along, it seemed to get over it and got home. Over night and it ran fine, but I took it to a Jeep dealer to check it out. They put a new EGR valve in it, a new O2 sensor, and rotor and cap. Yesterday, it rained again (I'm in Seattle). It started out with the bucking, then went into the same backfiring, snorting and generally running like crap. I got it home, put it in the garage and today it ran fine going back to the Jeep shop. The only connection I can figure out, is there is a leak of some sort that allows water into the cab on the passenger side. The carpet is soaked. It's dry on the Renix side, but is there something behind the glove box that is a critical part of the ignition system that could be getting wet? There's also the thing on the left fender edge that could be getting wet. Any ideas? I don't have a lot of faith that the mechanics at the dealer can find and fix an older Jeep that you can't plug into a computer for diagnosis.
Thanks for any advise.
Jess
'89 Comanche - 4.0 with manual transmission, 145,000 miles