I am buying in to the Jeep world today. I have owned a Wrangler in the passed but not for long due to personal issues. I am now looking into buying a 1994 Jeep Cherokee Sport. I am really excited to get my hands on this 4.0 motor. My concern though is that it has a water leak on the back side of the motor. I have done my research and found out that there is a freeze plug on the back side. The man that I am buying from says that the water is leaking out rather fast so this leads me to believe that is is the freeze out plug. With all of that being said i have reserves with this as well. My questions are 1) Should I pull the motor or transmission? 2) and if it is easier to pull the motor should I replace the head gasket?

 

How many miles are on the engine?

 

He says that the odometer reads 120,000 but he is not sure that is correct.

 

Did you already buy the Jeep? If not what has attracted you to that specific Jeep notwithstanding the substantially leaking block and potential misrepresentation of miles on the odometer.

For me, the motor leaking I consider a mild problem even if it needs to be replaced/rebuilt or otherwise in its entirely because there is a ceiling to what that can cost you. The the lack of confidence in the odometer reading is a deal killer, but I am fanatical that way.

Alternatively, I’ve never towed a project home but I can see the attraction to bringing back a non-running Jeep to drivability as long as the worst case scenario budget is earmarked.

Eric

 

Ya, sounds a little fishy alright. The odometer, but he is not sure that is correct, means it's not correct. Water dumping out of it, idk. Unless you're getting it for dirt cheap u may want to move on. There's plenty out there 4 sale.. Unless you bought it already....

 

First thing is first, what is the price? Second, how is the body, is there any rust? As much as I do not like the sound of mileage unknown and the engine having problems, a rust free body in decent shape (inside and out) is worth a second look.

 

I would get the VIN, and use it to find out when was the last time this Jeep has been registered. This can help tell a few different things about the Jeep other than the last registration.. It will tell how often it was registered. For example, you will know if it sat for any length of time during and throughout its life. Maybe it was registered last year? But, it could have sat for the previous five years or something (did the mileage increase any from when it last sat?). If it has been registered every single year? The report will say so.. and you would know it was probably a good runner in that way.

Every time it gets registered the mileage needs to be reported. You would see the final reported mileage on its last registration like that. This is also able to tell you what type of miles were being driven on it from year to year at each of its registration dates... and is another way to indicate wether or not it was a good running Jeep.


(edited to add):
When I bought my ZJ, none of the cluster gauges worked any at all on it. So, there was no mileage to see on its odometer... I did not just go off the word of the seller. I got its registration and I saw its last reported mileage was at about 121,000 miles per this years last report. The seller was saying it had about 130,000 miles on it to me. So, I knew the seller was trying to be honest about it in this way by having the registration report in front of me to see it for myself...

 

I'm guessing by now he either bought it or passed. Would be nice to hear back from the OP.....