dontblink182

Hey everyone. I just bought a 1996 Jeep Cherokee Classic. Came with 30' tires, and a 3 inch lift. I had been looking for a reliable daily driver and came across this for $1750 with 129,000 miles. The engine sounds good but I had a few questions...

What kind of basic maintenance should I do first? The owner before me was a 19 year old kid, and I'm not too sure how he kept up on maintenance, his father didn't know either. The engine sounded good, so I bought it. It rides a bit rough right now also.

Thanks!

White92

Welcome. Maintenince on a jeep is pretty easy going.. keep up on the oil level and change it every 3000 miles and it'll run forever. Keep an eye on the air filter.. CCV may get clogged and cause blowby. Easy fix if it does. Also it rides rough because 1. it's a jeep 2. it's a LIFTED jeep. You could try softed springs and shocks.. I hear old man emu has the best ride. Anyways good luck and happy jeeping

KTMrider

Id try to change ALL the fluid and filters. That would give you good peace of mind thats all fresh and good. Good luck

Bustedback

Changing the oil every 3000 miles is overkill, every 6000 will be just fine.

Tural

you can't be serious...

White92

you cant change it to often bud

Tural

i change the oil in my 04 dakota about every 7500 miles, but i will tell you this about the powertech 4.0. it is one of the dirtiest running motors i've ever seen and if i don't change the oil in it about every 3000 miles, i don't think i can hope for an everlasting motor. i've always kept up good maintenance on all of my vehicles, and knock on wood, in my 12 years of driving, i've never had a vehicle not make it to 200k miles, or in two instances 250k+ miles.

Bustedback

Have a lot of Cherokees in our fleet, the oil gets changed every 6000 miles, sometimes longer, never lost an engine due to the oil. Overheating is the only cause that we've had to replace an engine. The Cherokees in our fleet do not have full gauges, only lights. If they had gauges, I'm sure we would not have lost a few engines because of overheating.

jiffy

X2. i would also change the hoses, serp belt & water pump.

canoe58

I bought a 96 Cherokee also. The previous owner never took care of it. It had 130.000 miles on it when I bought it for 1500.00. Lucky everything from the cruise control and air conditioning worked. The first thing I did was change the oil and filter. Flushed the radiator out and changed the hoses. I had to flush the radiator about 4 times in a week. Next will be an aluminum water pump and a new belt too. Tuned it up with new plugs and wires. It now has 146.000 and still runs like a clock. Good luck! Oh and don't forget to gunk the engine compartment too!

xjoffroad

this ^

seriously? you are suggesting someone to change their oil every 6000 even though the people who actually made the jeep suggest otherwise......

like this idea to ^

ColoradoXJ88

Nah, 6000 is way too soon. try every 20,000. That's what I do, and i've only gone through 3 engines!!

Totally kidding. But seriously, 3000 is the rule of thumb, i can't imagine going more than 500 miles over on ANY car. You can change whenever you want, but just know the recommended interval for just about every car is every 3 months or 3000 miles.

xjoffroad

lol

jmm0122

Only 3? Wow thats the 4.0 for ya. haha

jhosgood

I would change gear fluid front and rear
Change the oil and filter
Change the air filter
Put a decent thermostat in there
Water pump
Serpt hose
And maybe flush antifreeze
Seems like a lot but its nice to take a day off and get it all out of the way