It's hard to believe the E36 cars are now 18 years old. How time flies!

XJs are stupid easy to work on except when you've got to deal with a rusty fastener or component. That's when you can run into problems. I've spent a lot of time driving and working on German cars, and they tend to be much more corrosion resistant than Jeeps. Sure, you might have some more complex parts and systems (to say nothing of those damn plastic bits that break), but the chances of having a seized bolt are much lower.

As for reliability, I wouldn't hesitate to hop in my XJ in the dead of winter or the heat of summer and drive across the country. Same with my VW. My GTI has 100 track days on it (probably 30k miles of flat-out driving), and the engine is as good as new. Never burns oil and all I've done is change the plugs and and cooling system components to be safe.

 

i have been a tech for 14 years and all chain stores are pushing that more and more, if you think about it most instructions say not to add lubricant when torquing engine and transmission components. That being said most of us jeep guys and gals have the wheels off so often that we have to torque them often.

 

yes it works, however, sorry wont work on closed head nuts like XJ

used my torque wrench in reverse to check how tight the mongrel things actually were.

The front diff fill plug was at @100ftlb,,, enough for me to shear a 1/2" to 3/8" adaptor

I am seriously thinking of spraying inside the boxed frame rails with mixture of used ATF/engine oil, it really helps prevent fasteners corroding

the studs and nuts seem a bit low quality on these XJ Jeeps, dealing with various older vehicles, some are better than other in this respect

 

I am glad you had good luck with yours, although they were built a little better back then, everyone I know that's had one that's out of the warranty period have had nothing but problems with them. My dad had one that he spent over 10K in repairs and it still didn't run right, and it didn't even have 100K on it.

 

LOL mine is an E46, the E36 cars are 20+ now! Those were great cars too, loved my old '96. Though their interiors didnt hold up as well, lol.

 

did they smell like crayons lol

 

Agreed. In all my years of working on cars of all different makes, models, and countries of origin I would describe the Jeep as the easiest. If he can't jack up a car without instructions, then he should just stay with refueling his vehicles as the most technical thing he tackles.

 

Even the passenger side window motor?? Lies!
They all break on the E46
They are overall reliable cars, but part prices are high.

OP,
If you are having trouble working on a Jeep definitely do NOT get a Subaru. PITA to work on
I suggest financing a new or off-lease car. Would be much happier overall - just get in and drive.

 

Every Subaru I've worked on has been a breeze. Same with BMW. Basic hand tools all ya need.
XJ gets a special place in hell for being impossible to work on without $25,000 worth of tools ya never heard of.

TwistedWrench, that's a gorgeous E46. Is it a 325, 328, or 330?

 

Ha! Freudian slip on my part. I've been looking at E36 M3 track cars lately, and the E36 was on my mind. The best part about crappy interiors on old BMWs is taking them out to fit in the cage!

 

Thanks man. 2000 328i 5spd with '09 328 wheels, full length header & CAI.

LOL, well my passenger side is fine, but i did have to replace the driver side regulator awhile back.

$95 with new motor. Bout a 10min job once the door panel was off.

Id say thats pretty on par with XJ parts prices, lol.

 

Honestly, they price window regulators like De Beers prices diamonds. I assume they have warehouses full of window regulators that they won't sell to keep prices high.
Those things should be like $45, especially for the XJ because of it's stupid design

 

You are doing something wrong then. 99% percent of the repairs I've done on my Jeep has not required anything other than hand tools. In fact, every car I have ever worked on has rarely required special tools. You can't make opinions based off 1 troublesome vehicle you have owned. You can, but you look like a fool when there are so many people here that regularly work on their Jeep without 1/4 of the issues you encounter.

If all of the XJs had issues like you encounter, there would be an endless list of threads here and every other Jeep forum expressing the same problems. There also would not be as many XJs on the road still.

The problem is not all XJs, it is your XJ or you.

 

I don't know why you make such a big deal about a stuck lut nut, all you have to do is turn it until it comes loose or breaks the stud, and if the stud breaks it is cheap and easy to replace.

 

His fundamental problem seems to be that his Jeep is severely rusted. As has been stated further back in the thread, a rusty anything is going to be a real pain in the butt to work on. A rusty Subaru or BMW will be no better. (BTW, older Subarus tend to eat head gaskets - know what you have to go through to replace them?)

I've worked on quite a few different vehicles as an amateur shadetree mechanic for over 40 years now and am finding the XJ is one of the easiest to work on. About the only thing simpler might be something like an old Rambler with a flathead engine and no electronics beyond the radio.

As far as the original question, for grins I checked Cherokee and Grand Cherokee repair videos on youtube and just about all of them do not show jacking up the Jeep. The only one I found so far was this guy showing how to change a front tire using a floor jack. To work on brakes though you'd want to lift on the axle center and use jack stands near the ends.