I have a 1995 XJ, 4.0L, 4x4, 5 Speed manual. 187xxx Miles on her. I look at newer jeeps and considered maybe buying a new jeep but it took me all of 5 seconds to decide that my XJ is the best car that I have ever had. This said there are a few problems I have run across.

I am making this post because there are some persistent issues that I am concerned about. I need to increase the vehicles over all dependability. So how can I accomplish this. I was prepared to pay almost $300 a month on a new car so I figured if I put just half that into the "Vera" (my old jeep) I can keep her around for another 100k miles or so. I just don’t know where to start. Apologies for the long post. But I am hoping that maybe someone else will see this that has just purchased an XJ and maybe they will know where to start.

To give a little history, this is what I've replaced since I got her in 2007.

Regular oil/filter changes Pennzoil High Mileage

Radiator, Freeze Plugs Hoses, They rusted out.

Distributor cap, Rotor, Plugs every year. Replaced the ignition coil.

Crankshaft position sensor and that other sensor that is on the firewall just above the valve cover in the center, don’t remember what its called.

Fuel filter. Considering the pump and tank soon, when I changed the filter the fuel coming out of the tank was very orange.

The main problems I am having.

Transmission:
Sometimes when I am at a light, out of gear, Push the clutch and try to shift into First, it wont go. I try any gear and it still wont go. Im thinking there might be a problem with the hydraulic clutch. Any ideas on this?

Engine:
I have been having this problem where the motor intermittently idles very rough; I can feel the vibration in the drivers seat. It seems to happen when the engine is hot, and I have turned it off, gone into the store or something, come out and start it again, and it acts up, usually if I drive it a little it goes away within a few minutes. Now when I replaced the Freeze plugs, I lost a couple of the bolts that hold the intake manifold and exhaust manifold on the motor, but I redistributed the bolts to be even round the parts don’t know if maybe some air is getting in. I have not replaced the injectors, or any of the emission sensors like the O2 Sensor. I might eventually want to rebuild the motor but right now I dont want to put down that much money yet and I'll want to do it myself, and I dont have a garage to keep an open motor as i live in an apartment. Maybe I can do it with the motor still in the jeep as clearance is not an issue, still up in the air on that one.

Any input or advice about any part of my post would be most helpful and give me a benchmark to start from.

 

I get that rough idle at stops as well every now and again. I think mine is caused by a dirty O2 cencsor. You may have a vaccum leak with the lack of bolts holding the intake down. I would check there first.

As far as your tranny goes, does it feel like reverse lock out or more of a bending. Does it grind when you try to put it in? Does it ever just pop out of gear? I havent looked but i think we are to new to have shift forks but I could be wrong. The synchros could be going out as well. It doesnt sound like a clutch issue because when or if the clutch was bad you wouldnt be able to drive it at all beings that the clutch keeps pressure on the flywheel.

 

As far as the clutch goes, spot on. Master or slave cyl could be leaking internally. Does it have any fluid leaks? If so, R&R. If no, try bleeding it. If it acts normal after, it just had air in the system. If it goes back to being a PITA after a while or bleeding makes no change, Replace the hyd. parts. As far as the engine, I would get some intake bolts from the junkyard and see if it makes a change.. Also check the fuel pressure when it's acting up.

 

No grinding or anything when that happens, once I get going it shifts fine. It never pops out of gear. There is a light grinding sound sometimes as i get it into reverse or first when first start it up, but I attribute that to me not giving ample chance for the transmission to speed up to the same speed as the motor. But when it gets stuck it feels like I dont have to clutch in at all, and come to think of it, I do feel play in the clutch peddle, sometimes its alot sometimes its very little, it seems like when I have this problem, the clutch pedal has more play. I will start with the master and slave cylinder, its one of those things that I probly wont have to replace often and each part is less than $100 at napa.

 

Mine did the whole not shifting into first at lights and also into reverse. I bled the system and it shifts fine now. Turns out my clutch wouldn't disengage all the way. Once I got it into gear, It would shift ok but I understand that the syncros in the trans helped with that. That is why some people think that you don't have to use the clutch to shift once you get the truck moving.

 

Ya I have the same issue with my reverse. Im not a transmission guy but I think it may be synchros that are going out, or potentialy be a warn out throw out bearing. I know for sure I need a new clutch, well thats what the dealer told me but meh. Ill wait till Im wicked deep on a trail and let it go out so I can pay some gawd awfull price to have it brought out.

Also, Ive never bleed a clutch before. What kind of process is it and how hard is it?

 

Get all the bolts back holding the manifold on.

 

OK so here is an update. I bled the clutch at the slave cylinder and it worked great for about a day. Yesterday the same thing happened, but I noticed there was a lot of play in the clutch peddle, I was able to push it half way down without any resistance from the master cylinder. So I am going to replace both the slave and master, but am up in the air about replacing the piping.

Any recomendations? I amm figuring if im there I might as well do it and be done with it, but its about $80 bucks on top of the roughly 150 for both the master and slave cylinders, visual inspection dont show any kind of rust on the outside but it appears to be painted or coated.

 

Replace the hose between the two cylinders also.

 

I am having this exact same issue right now. Why do you say replace the hose? Is it just to narrow down one thing that could be causing the issue or is it known to go bad?

I did purchase the slave cylinder seperately from Napa, but thwy have the hose and master seperatley, or you can buy them entire kit. I probably would have done thus but the price was a lot more and had to be ordered, same situation from the dealer except they only had the entire kit, if memory serves.

I work at a ford dealer and had a guy inspect my slave cylinder, he said there was a clip on the end of the shaft (?) that was damaged so I figured start with replacing the obvious problem. I will let anyone know once I have an update on this.

Still curious why the hose is so recommended though..??

 

The hose was an issue on earlier models like the OP's.

 

Good to know.

Well, I just bought the slave for now, I'll update here once I get it installed.

 

**UPDATE**

Just replaced the slave cylinder, could not get it to bleed from the slave itself so had to use a vacuum pump to bleed through the master. (Maybe this is the correct way but I've never done one before)

Initial test drive, trans shifts perfectly now, a little bit notchy going into reverse but nothing new there.

Going to let it sit for a few hours and re-test it before I call it good. I've been burned on one before where there was still air in the lines that surfaced after sitting.

I'll update again later but I'm feeling pretty good about it. Super happy too because i thought for sure it needed a clutch.

 

Clutch is still working fine, slave cylinder was the culprit. This was the least expensive thing it could have been. Hope you have the same luck.