Alright so a friend of mine and I are thinking of buying a cherokee and we found a 92 Cherokee Laredo 4x4 with the 4.0L, 180,000 Miles. for $700. We are kind of on a tight budget so we don't want to have to spend much to get it fully running. Well after looking at it it seemed to have a couple notable problems.

* No Reverse Lights
* Stuck in 4 wheel drive
* Fuel Gauge is broken
* Really rusty rockers
* Small oil leak in front of engine
* and some weird noise that is makes while driving. It sounds like a little squeal. It's rotational and it happens on turns and when going straight. The guy were buying it from doesnt really know much about it but he says it needs a new axle.

So what I'm asking is basically how much and how hard will it be to fix those problems. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I am pretty new at this but I'm starting to get better.

 

If you don't have money to fix it don't bother. stuck 4wd is probably linkage adjustment. If it is a 242 and has uneven tires that will make it stick in 4wd also. reverse light is neutral afety switch, might be able to clean and adjust it. fuel gauge, so what... rust is an issue for a DD not so much for a toy. oil leak is it oil or tranny or power steering fluid, where is it leaking from? noise could be anythiong from bad dif to bearings to rubbing brakes. most sound easy and cheap to fix but you never know. A $700 Jeep is a $700 jeep. If it were me I would expect to sped $1000-$2000 getting a $700 Jeep toalmost where I wanted it.

 

Could just need to tighten the belt, or top of the power steering fluid?

 

Let me reword it, what I mean by not spending much to getting it going is like. I'm not super experienced with axle work and probably don't have some of the parts I more asking like how hard is it to put a new axle on. Oh and the belt is fine, it is definitely coming from the wheel area but we couldn't narrow it down real easily.

 

hahaha k. Good luck with solving that problem

 

The leak was coming from the front of the engine. I didn't get the best look but it looked like it was coming from right under the crank pulley.

 

Oil or Tranny fluid? if oil it could be the pan gasket or front main seal, if tranny fluid its probably the PS line leaking...Tj

 

jack up the side that is squeeking and turn it by hand. might just be a dust shield rubbing or something.

if your putting on a new axle, its the squeeking one? who cares if it squeeks then.

* No Reverse Lights--- probably something to clean
* Stuck in 4 wheel drive--- linkage
* Fuel Gauge is broken--- don't need it
* Really rusty rockers--- natural weight savings for suel efficiency
* Small oil leak in front of engine--- they all leak
* and some weird noise that is makes while driving. It sounds like a little squeal. It's rotational and it happens on turns and when going straight. The guy were buying it from doesnt really know much about it but he says it needs a new axle.--- already covered this one

 

No reverse lights? Not a problem.
Stuck in 4wd? This I don't know about.
Fuel gauge? Ditto the "who cares"...but pretty easy fix, too.
Minor oil leak? Hmmm. Don't park in anyone's driveway and leak oil on it, it's not a nice thing to do...but other that doesn't sound like a big deal. At least you know when it runs out of oil...(that's a joke).

But the rust? Now that drives me nuts, being a Michiganian. I bought a Calif. XJ with zero rust for this reason. It has other personality issues but for low buck money, I'm not unhappy. At least the DPO told me the truth - gotta love that.

Rust is like cockroaches...if you see a big problem someplace chances are you have problems in several places you can't see.

In Columbus, OH, there should be a pretty good supply of relatively not-rusty XJs...and they're (in my experience) nearly as cheap.

 

thanks for all the input, would you guys think it is worth it?