Hey! I'm new on here and I'm thinking of buying a 98 jeep cherokee with automatic trans. I need it for my property up state PA. I went to look at it and the front dif is leaking and the trans fluid is burned. Now I never heard of a tranny in a jeep go bad but if the tranny fluid is burned is it possible that the trans is on its way out or does the fluid and filter just need to be changed? The rest of the jeep looks good, it has 104,000 miles and he wants $4200 for it. Much help would be great!

 

That seems a bit steep for a 98 with 104,000. I pretty sure that's over blue book. I could be wrong though. I know I only paid $4700 for my '99 almost three years ago.

As far as the leaking diff, how bad is it leaking? and where from?

Also, the AW4 is very sensitive to heat. If they over heat lots of stuff can go bad. Most people that run the auto in their xj will eventually run an auxillary cooler.

Lastly, welcome to the Forum.

 

Thanks! Its not leaking that bad. Should I pass on this one?

 

I can't say for certain without walking around it and kicking the tires, but if he isn't willing to come down on price quite a bit, I'd keep looking. You can get really nice XJ for over $4,000 now.

Just as a point of reference, on Kelly Blue Book a 1998 Cherokee Sport with 104,000 miles, in "good" condition is worth $2,830. If it's a Classic SE (the super duper tricked out model) then it's worth the $4,200 he's asking.