terzdesign

Before I begin, I hope you other users on the forums don't mind me posting every other day about a new Cherokee I'm looking into. I just want to get advice before I throw down the money.

This is an 2001 with 123,000 miles. Carfax is clean. The paint looks good, no body damage.

Issues I saw: The valve cover leaks. Seems to be a trend. The only real issue was that when I engaged the 4WD H it felt really rough, and then it didn't want to return to 2WD. I know next to nothing about 4WD. I had to put it in reverse to get it to shift back. The tires are worn and need replacing. Also, there was a light amount of smoke coming from the oil dipstick tube when I checked that. Should that be worrisome? The last thing would be the oil looked like it had been shaken up (small bubbles) when I removed the oil cap.

The car has very, very little surface rust, nothing on the floor pans from the bottom or rocker panels. Check the picture. Everything was very clean and really quite impressive. The best Cherokee I've seen thus far.

They are asking $4900, but I told him that there was another that was the same year and all that was $3900 with a warranty. That is true actually. I bet they would do $3600. Decent deal or keep looking?

RTorrez1

I would be concerned about the bubbles in the oil. Since 2000 and 2001 have the 0331 head and are know to crack due to a defect in the head. The bubbles in the oil does it look milky? If you ar not to sure I would double check it. and I you do decide to buy one that is a 00 or 01 I would suggest that you do a compression test on all the cylinders to make sure that you don't buy one with a cracked head. It wouldn't be the end of the world to pick up one with a bad head if you don't mind replacing it and I wouldn't pay anything close to $4900. Also I would look really close to the underside since they sprayed a section with new under coating.

Demonoid369

I feel like you should take a step back, stop looking and start reading..... Start reading about the Cherokee, the different things they came with, the different in years, the common and uncommon issues. What to look for, what to avoid. What your intentions are for the vehicle, etc...... Get where I'm going? Before I bought my jeep I did a bunch of reading and searching and learned I wanted a late model, knew I wanted one that was a basic(SE) because I had my intentions for it to be a expedition rig so I didn't want to deal with power/electrical issues like window, locks, etc.... Plus the ease of going doorless. That my honest to god opinion and insight, stop looking and start searching/reading

HudsonN

Here's my jeep logic at this point;


If its cheap and clean (no rust, ripped apart, etc) buy it.

They're easy to fix and parts are cheap. I wouldn't pay anywhere near 5k though.

Turbo X_J

This is good advice. Say I post a picture of a female along with a brief description, do you want to marry her and be with her for the rest of your life? Probably not and I think you will get the point.

salad

No rust = good. Those rockers are in great shape, comparatively speaking of course. They look original which says a LOT as they're almost always the first things to go on an XJ. The undercoating looks pretty strange, it appears that someone applied it with the vehicle on the ground. It's not on any of the rocker (probably because that pinch seam is in the way on that angle) and only on one side of the ribbing in the floor pan

Are you testing the 4x4 on pavement?

The condition of the oil concerns me. You need to read up on the other issues of a 0331 head and how to spot them.

Otherwise pics look good.

terzdesign

Well, it's a good thing I DID start reading up on these things. I failed to mention in my original post that when I went to drive the car I noticed the coolant was nearly at zero. I didn't think anything of it until I read up on that crack head ordeal. The dealer filled up the reservoir when I told him. He said that the mechanic would have filled that up when it was serviced a few days before and it was strange that he hadn't.

With the bubbles on the oil cap and that being low I am now super suspect of this jeep.

DieselDaze

pass on price and concerns...

Next thread I want to open is this awesome xj you scored at a killer price....

put together and bring with you a check list of things and check each one off on the vehicle you look at..

for your first xj it's probably a good idea to stay clear of late '99 with 0331 head and '00-'01..

as stated read up do your research, make a list and go get yourself an XJ... !!!