Please Help, Looking to buy
 

I am in the process of looking for a Jeep XJ. I found one close to me on CL that the guy is asking $2000 for. He already said he is willing to go lower than $1800 but it wasn't discussed in detail as I didn't want to offer too much prematurely.

The vehicle will not be a daily driver, it will be mainly recreational. I really only want to spend about $1500 and it is a 1992 I6 auto with 165k miles. not sure what axles are under it. It is in good shape as far as the body and interior goes. He is going to replace the battery so I can test drive it and hear it run. He said there is a "tick" or light knock in the motor that he noticed recently before he parked it for the last 6 months.

In researching the motor knock or ticking i found could be a bearing, bent rod, broken piston skirt, valve train, oil pump, flex plate in tranny, or who knows what else. I am not a mechanic but with a manual and forum help I generally work on all of my own stuff.

My question is- How much should I offer or should I offer on this?

I've found that the value of a vehicle can vary quite a bit by region. Check ads for your area, and see what similar vehicles are selling for. Then, give it a good test drive/inspection and bargain accordingly. The noise could be anything, of course, but in general, these are not quiet motors. Many of them have ticking-type noises and run for a long, long time.

The engine knock could be something as simple as loose flexplate bolts, but the 4.0 is a noisy engine to start with, it's aint no Lexus.

The "tick" could be as simple as loose flexplate bolts or an exhaust manifold leak...or, it could be one of those other things you mentioned. See if you can take it to a mechanic for inspection before purchase.

If you could get it for $1500, that's probably a pretty decent deal. However, I have seen people buy theirs for a handful of hundreds. I bought my 2000 Cherokee Limited for $3000 here in central/south Florida from the original owner who never abused it (and it had working A/C). Just thought I would throw that out there for a price comparison....
These Jeeps do tend to make a lot of odd noises... You'll get use to it eventually. lol

Welcome to the forum!

Thanks for the input guys. As I have been reading up I have found a lot of people say they have strange noises and ticking and run that way forever. The owner said it just started recently. I just didn't want to buy it for $1500 and in a couple thousand miles the motor let go.

I live in California so like Florida, prices are higher. As long as I didn't get a "I wouldn't pay $500 for that" response I think I'm ok with paying between $1000-$1500. Maybe I can talk him down to $1200 due to that noise and it will end up being a great deal

Definitely true...
I sold my ZJ with a horrific exhaust noise and terrible oil leaks in socal for $2700, so I think you'll be doing good as long as the rest of the vehicle is not trashed.

Best of luck to ya! Post pics if/when you get it.

Don't forget to take a good look underneath where rust hides, if applicable. The floor pans in particular tend to have issues.
Unless the XJ was in So Cal it's whole life...then probably not. THen again a water leak can do it too.

That engine tick...yeah, I think it's tougher to find one that doesn't have some sort of noise. Make sure it's benign.

Haha no he won't

At less than 200k miles for $1800 especially if prices are higher in your locale, then it sounds like a deal to me.

Can't touch them for that around here either lately, unless they're a basket case.

Well sounds like the unit I'm looking at should be a decent deal for the price. I'm pretty sure it spent majority of its life in SoCal and where I'm at it is hot and dry. Rust isn't usually a big issue here unless its literally bare metal and even that stays ok for a bit.

lol, good eye... I think I wrote that before I had my morning cup of coffee, so please excuse my typo. :whistling2: