Mods - feel free to move this to whatever category....maybe Jeep of the Month? LOL

I bought a '01 XJ from a small dealership here in MD. I wont say who, but he is a mechanic/garage who does inspections, tags+title, sales, and service - one stop shop.

A mechanic friend gave the XJ a look over - 92k miles, no rust, never been off road, 4x4 worked. Looked nice, lift, big tires - there's probably a picture of it on one of my earlier posts. Tape deck was clear as a bell.

The dealer assured me that he would service and tune it up. I never saw the initial state inspection as he was handling the tags. After driving it for a couple weeks - maybe a couple hundred miles, the check engine light came on - Emmision EVAP code. I took it to a shop close to me...who after looking at it said it was in such bad shape he wouldn't even work on it. would be $5k-10k and three weeks.

So, I went ahead and got my own State inspection - see pic.


Failed miserably. And that's just half of it - tons off stuff wrong - leaks all over the place. The terms "time bomb" and "death trap" were used by the mechanics to describe it. I faxed my inspection to the dealer the next day and demanded a full refund. It took him a couple days, but he was fair and gave me back a full refund down to the last dollar. Glad I didn't have to mess with the cops, lawyer, etc...I'm sure he was too I'd guess committing inspection fraud doesn't fly too well with the State of MD

anyway - now I'm back in the market for an XJ! I'm in Baltimore MD if anyone has any leads. probably going to look at a couple this weekend.

 

And everyone lived happily ever after.


THE END

 

Looks to me, you could of done a little work and had a good Jeep, get a stabilizer, adjust the drums or new brakes, get new tires, do a little tail pipe fixing, work on the fender and bumper a little, aim the headlights, get new wiper blades.

the only thing I see that makes me go hmmmmmm, is the frame repair.

CV joint is a easy fix.. So I don't really see a lemon, I see a 14 year old jeep that needed someone to love it and fix it..

oh well at least all worked out for ya..

 

Im glad you got your money back and im glad I dont have to have my jeep inspected cause yeah they would pry freak

 

All those sound like a normal maintenance stuff for a 14 year old vehicle. Nothing to be scared of. But hey whatever works for you.

 

I agree. "Lemon" is probably not the best term...but you get the point. Either way it needed a ton of work on top of all the inspection stuff - valve cover leaking, oil pan leaking, Trans pan leaking, drive shaft seal leaking, AC leaking, intake manifold gasket leaking, check engine light on due to random cylinder misfire (evap code) brake fluid filthy, tie rods had play, muffler needed to be replaced, and a few other things....so just best to get my money back and start fresh.

 

So, where is this mechanic friend's accountability in this equation?

He allowed you to BUY this vehicle.......

 

Like others said, the only thing remotely concerning is the "frame repair" note. Otherwise it is all maintenance items (brakes, steering stabilizer, u-joints, muffler/tailpipe, etc.) which are somewhat expected on a 14 year old vehicle. Granted if the dealer sold you a supposedly inspected vehicle that needed nothing, they definitely were commiting fraud and you did deserve either a refund or compensation for the repairs, but what ever shop told you that was $5k-$10k worth of work was trying to screw you just as much as the dealer (if not more) unless the frame was in really bad shape and needed major repair (beyond a small patch or two). That is $1k-$2k worth of work and a day at most, and a lot less if you do the work yourself.

 

moral of the story.. get a new "mechanic friend" and kick the old one in the nuts.

that said, are you expecting show room quality out of a vehicle that hasn't been in production for nearly a decade and a half now?

 

Right on. The "mechanic friend" gets off scott free and somehow the dealership is on the hook for everything.

What happened to accountability in this world?

 

hmmm.. i wouldn't bring the mechanic friend with ya anymore thats for sure.. and in your case i think it would be better to find a clean stock xj. like already stated nothing looks too bad other then the frame repair. and to be honest most of that is kinda expected when buying a lifted jeep from a used car dealer.

 

Just out of curiosity, what was the price of the Jeep when you bought it?

Lifted 14yo Jeep, "never been off road"? Entirely possible, but if I'm looking at an older 5.0 Mustang with drag radials and a line lock that's "never been raced"... I'm going to question everything that comes out of that persons mouth.

Before you purchase your next jeep, find a shop(plenty do this) that offers pre-purchase inspections. They'll throw it on the lift, check everything out, let you know what repairs you'll need. Usually this costs in the neighborhood of $100(we charge $85 at our shop). A lot cheaper than buying a turd.

If the seller is cool with it, great. If not, he's probably hiding something.

 

^This, While it isn't specifically stated in the report I'd almost be willing the bet the "frame repair" noted is for cracks around the steering box which is very common on lifted XJs that have been off-roaded fairly hard, especially if a steering box brace or reinforcement plate is not used.


I would imagine that a lifted XJ that hasn't been off road is pretty rare, far fewer people build XJs "for the looks" than Wranglers, odds are if someone built it to go off-road (lift, aggressive oversized tires, etc.) it has been off-road

 

I think this is the 2001 he is talking about..

 

Im just glad all worked out for ya..And like others have said, take a different mechanic friend. The one you took didn't do to good of a job for you.