cheap new toy
 

Well I guess I'll start off by saying this is my first xj. I used to have some nice toys for paying in the mud, but sold them all including my Chevy on 39 inch boggers (that I still miss). I was thinking about trying to get something cheap so I can go mudding again and have been researching and looking at xj's. As usual money was one of my biggest concerns, so I was pretty sure what ever I could afford to get wasn't going to be pretty. Well after checking Craig's list everyday for a couple months I saw this add...
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Nice, but still out of my budget. I think it was a few days /maybe a week later and I saw this...
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Well, long story short I picked it up for $400! Of course there are a few things wrong with it, but since I'm typing this out on my phone at midnight and I have to get up in six hours, I'll get to those in my next posts.

Off to a good start

Smokin deal, post up updates as what it needs. Good buy

Well here it is the night I bought it. Almost got killed twice on the drive home when I tried to merge onto the interstate with semi trucks and the cherokee started spitting and sputtering trying to die. It did that many times on the hour & a half drive home, which of course it didn't do that on the test drive. My wife was following me in her car and I think I called her about 5 times asking her if I should call the guy back and see if I could get my money back. Eventually though, I made it home in one piece and changed my underwear and took pics...

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Well as I said earlier, there were a few problems:
Ran like crap (high idle and lose of power/trying to die when driving)
brakes sucked
had to lift up on the doors to close them
back hatch held closed by a towing strap, that was strapped to hitch and roof rack
no cold air from the AC
none of the electric stuff on the front passenger door worked
no air filter box
obd2 code reader wasn't working
loud crappy sounding exhaust (no exhaust after the cat)
frame damage where rear sway bar mounts on one side
PO cut the rear fenders wrong
fuel line at fuel rail rigged on there
Monster Energy drink stickers

oh yeah, plus it's a 2000 not a 2001. Not a big deal but dude couldn't even put up the right year on the ad. Couple pics of problems...

Fuel line
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Frame where anti sway bar should be attached
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Fender cut wrong
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First and most important step: remove Monster Energy drink stickers

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Already looks a thousand times better! Resale value has quadrupled.

I tried hooking up my scan tool to get some ideas on what to start with but it wasn't working on the cherokee for some reason. I tried to clean the contacts in the OBD plug but it still wasn't working.
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It seemed like it just wasn't getting any power. After looking online I found out that the ground is attached to the stud that holds the dipstick. So I went and took a look. Whatta know, no stud...
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So I found the ground wire just kinda hanging off the fire wall and hooked it up to a stud on the valve cover
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Works like a charm. When I hooked the code reader up I think there was like 20 codes popping up so I just cleared them all, and waited to see what popped back up.

Well I know the original craigslist add said it needed new injectors and coil pack, but for some reason I just never believed it, and the codes were pointing me towards the throttle position sensor. So I popped a new one in and it ran WAY better but something still wasn't right. It had a high/ kinda rough idle.
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So I pulled the idle air control valve and gave it a good cleaning... ran like new!

With the motor running smooth it was time to fix the transfer case...

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Picked one up from a junkyard. Here's a nice comparison of new and old. PO said something about pulling someone out of the mud in reverse when it happened

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Nice deal man!
Even for the price(cheap!!!)
Check us out in the south east region on the forum...south Florida dysfunctional 4x4s....
Good luck on the build

cheap new toy
 

Even know its rough thats a nice score $400 is crazy cheap lol

Let me know how you fix the doors my 89 has a. Busted hinge to

good luck with it look forward to seeing what uou do to it

Great find. I'm looking forward to seeing this built up.

Whew, that Jeep is pretty rough. Fixable but rough. Glad you're making it right. The frame damage. I assume that's rust damage?

How did you even drive it with the transfer case broke in half?

You surely rescued it bravo man!

I never knew a transfer case could even do that

check this out if you have any symptoms of overheating or coolant loss
https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f2/00-...erview-118922/
https://www.google.com/search?q=2000...a&channel=fflb