Jeep sputter after warmup

Hey everyone, new here.
I have a 2007 Jeep Commander Limited 4x4 V8 Flex Fuel with 243,000 miles
It has been sputtering on and off at idle and when coming to a stop. The rpm will drop and jump back up. It has also stalled on me as well and have had hesitations while driving on the highway. The issue seems to be happening only after driving for a bit (20 miles or so) and coming to a stop or if doing a bunch of starting and stopping. It also seems to be worse and more frequent the hotter it is out or if running the A/C
So far I have replaced
Spark plugs
Ignition coils
Alternator
Battery
Fuel pump assembly
MAP sensor
Throttle position sensor
Fuel injectors
Have done a compression test and cane up with around 150 all cylinders
I have had several codes come up as I’ve changed parts.
Multiple p300 codes as well and p0300
Multiple p200 codes as well. Both banks
I do have EVAP codes right now but that’s because we broke a couple of clips on the even lines when changing the pump and need to get them back in
There’s been p0171 and p0172 bank one at the same time come up. P0171 and P0131 are both currently pending.
The fuel system seems to go into closed loop pretty fast but I have seen both banks go in open loop drive and open loop fault on multiple occasions
The LTFT on both banks is currently running at about +25 at idle and mostly while driving. In park at 1500 rpm it was +28-30 and at 2500 rpm +15-18
I have been looking at the voltage for the o2 sensors and it does not jump up and down like normal but not sure if that’s an issue with the sensors or in response to what’s happening.
Sorry for the long post. I have been chasing this down for a while and not sure what to go with next.
Thanks in advance for any help

From the symtoms you need to fix your evap system first as a vacuum leak is causing the lean codes. On symple way to confirm evap contributing to the lean codes is plug off the evap solinoid at engine or disconnect the wiring clip to the evap solinoid and plug the spot where the line connects to it. Watch your fuel trims when you turn jeep back on should be much closer to zero

Thanks for the reply. The broken clips are on the evap lines at the fuel tank, can that cause a vacuum leak from there? The issue was also occurring prior changing the fuel pump

Yrs it can. Since you have positive fuel trims it is a vac leak or injector lean condition. In order to find out what all is causeing your leaks you need to plug all known leaks first then test for the unknown leaks (smoke test, water test, fuel injector pressure drop test and a few others depending on what is found).

What is the fuel injector pressure drop test?

The injector pressure drop test is where you hook up a fuel pressure gauge and using a fuel injector tester (plugs into injector to turn it on a set amount of time) cycle key to on position a few time to bleed any air out of pressure test gauge. Then with each injector record the starting pressure and then activate injector tester then record the pressure after the tester has run. repeat test on each injector. Any difference in readings between injectors of 1 psi or more after running tester means injector or injectors with the most drop are bad and need replaced or cleaned out.
So if you have a rest pressure of 45 and you activate the tester and pressure drops to 40 for most of them and one or two drop to 35 these injectors will need cleaned or replaced.

Gotcha. Well I hope the injectors are fine since they were just replaced a few weeks ago. Just curious , Would a vac leak not be causing the issue all the time instead of only after driving for a while or pretty hot out? Can the o2 sensors cause this type of issue?

With a vac leak the positive fuel trims will get closer to 0 fuel trim at higher rpm. So check live data stft and ltft while driving if it gets better (closer to 0 versus 20+ stft then its a vac leak)
Also when car is in closed loop is where vac leaks affect fuel trims the most. So yes after driving a bit and car goes into closed loop it will affect it more especially at idle and low rpm driving ~25 mph and under or less than 1500 rpm approximatly


the other thing to check would be maf sensor if equipped for grams per sec reading at idle and while driving. With a 4 liter it should be close to 4-6 grams a sec at idle and increase to 90-100 at ~3000 or wide open throttle. As a under reporting maf will cause lean condition but at all rpm ranges. If it is a map sensor set up it can do the same thing if not function correctly at all rpm ranges.

As for o2 sensors yes they can but rarely. Most of the time they sense the problem not necessarily cause it which is why i said to plug your evap leaks first then either smoke test intake or spray water around intake and vac ports and listen for it getting sucked in you will hear it

Ok I’ll try and get a better look at the fuel trims while driving. I know in park they got better at 2500 rpm but seemed to be worse at 1500. There’s no MAF and I have already replace the MAP. Is there something I should be looking for on live data with the MAP?

Map sensor should read around 10 at idle and climb when accelerating. Doing wide open throttle snaps you will see it drop at times just make sure the sensor volts dont drop to zero or peg out if it does then it might be bad but i can list out the tests for it afterwords

Ok so reading the fuel trims at idle, 1500 and 2500. I will try and post pictures
On a cold start the ltft was about 25-27 each bank. It stayed close at 1500 rpm, dropped to 14-17 at 2500. Dropped to 0 at 3000 rpm with the stft about 14-17
After warming up the higher rpms were not consistent. Sometimes the fuel trims would drop then go back up as I maintained the rpm. They would sometimes drop as I snapped the throttle and other times didn’t move as much.
Not sure if this is important, the trick seems to run a bit smoother after revving it up for a bit.
It looks like some greyish smoke is coming from the tailpipe when I rev the engine when it sputters and it looks like there some smoke coming from the back of the drivers side firewall area. The pcv valve and the EGR are both in that location

Ok this info points to an exhaust leak so check the pcv valve tubing and egr tubing for holes where smoke comes out along with exhaust manifold gaskets and around catalytic converter. Just look for the smoke coming out. If you have a smoke tester this will work better but if not just look while someone revs engine. Make sure e brake is set and vehicle is up high enough to look around or on a lift.

Ok I’ll see if I can get some help looking for it. So would an exhaust leak explain everything going on? The sputtering especially when hot, stalling, lean codes in both banks, o2 code and the injector codes? I’ve even had a rich code pop up before as well.

It depends on where the leak is at.

What where all the codes exactly you said multiple p200 codes and p300 so please list those

Currently the codes are
P202, p204, p205, p0131, p0171, p0174 and there’s a couple of evap codes as well. I actually have not seen the 300 codes come up in a bit but p300 usually comes up if I’m running for too long.
I’ve had p0172 and p0430 as well as p1128 closed loop fueling not achieved bank 1 upstream.

Ok check your wiring harness to the bank one o2 sensors that come in contact with your injectors 2,4 and 5 wires. Also ohm test all of your injectors and give me the readings.

classic vacuum leak symptoms with those trim numbers. Secondly, I was thinking dirty throttle body for most of your comment before you mentioned the lean codes and very positive trim numbers especially at idle.

Edit: I missed the p200 codes you mentioned. If those are injector codes and they continue to come back. I'd START with these codes

Thats my thought too paul.
Its possible the injector clips were not fully seated when the injectors were replaced or injectors are bad out of the box.

Thank you both for taking time to help with this.
It was doing the chugging before I switched the injectors. I did have an injector code pop up once before the switch but it was mainly p305, 304 along with 300. Now it’s the 200 codes with p300.
I did drive it today, first 15-20 miles it was driving perfectly fine. The fuel trims were in the mid 20s and would drop into the teens giving it gas. Even dropped to 0 at WOT. No stumbles while driving or any chugging when I came to a light. Stepped in the store for about 30 minutes and when I restarted the Jeep it was doing the chugging and the RPMs jumping. If even stalled on me.
I gave it gas and it helped me to get going. Got the live data going while it was having the issue and bank 1 ltft was -0.8 and the ST was +7.8 but bank 2 was ltft +20 and the ST was -14. Bank 2 was in OL-Drive then went to CL. The more I drove and got to the highway it seemed to clear up and the fuel trims started going to normal ranges. Had a couple small stumbles while driving but they went away and by the time I got home the fuel trims were around 0-3 both LT and ST. Even let it idle a couple minutes and they stayed in a good range.
I checked the codes and the pending p171, p174, p131 we’re gone. I had stored and pending p300 and the 200 codes with the evap codes were still in there as stored codes.
Would a vac leak be this intermittent? Is it possible there’s another part like PCV or EGR causing it?
Sorry for the long post, trying to give as much info as possible and hoping I’m not confusing anyone. Thanks again!!

Took a couple pics of the trims while I was driving after it started chugging and as it improved