Jeep Repair: bucking in first and second gear, catalitic converter, throttle plate

Question
Hi i have a 98 jeep 4.0 inline six standard transmission. the problem iam having is when i first start up then go to take off the jeep bucks and theres loss of power.after fethering the clutch a few times it clears up and drives nomal I did a tuneup and it still does it.when it happens it feels like somthing in the gas line is getting clogged.Could it be the clutch if so why would it clear up after afew minutes.or could it be the catalitic converter. iam lost on this one.Any suggestions would be of great help .THank You

Answer
Hello Ralph,

  It doesn't sound like a clutch/transmission problem to me. What I would recomend to you, would be to replace the fuel filter, and do a fuel pressure check to make sure the fuel pump is operating properly. Generally, this problem is always caused by the AIC, TPS, or computer itself. The AIC is a little motor on the throttle body, that gives the engine extra RPM by turning the throttle plate a little. This keeps the engine from stalling when it is cold and under load. The TPS is a sensor mounted on the throttle body, and senses the postion of the throttle plate and sends it to the computer so that it can send signals to the injectors. Your best bet would be to first try this procedure to try and find a fault code on the computer:  http://www.allpar.com/fix/80s-codes.html     Also, remove your red battery cable, (after trying to get the codes from the computer), and leave it removed over night. This will reset the idle control circut, and may help. Let me know if you have any other questions. Good luck with the Jeep! --Jeep4x4man