Johnny1217

How well does your rigs run and for how long?

See for me I feel like my rig has some major problem every other week. It's costing me a fortune just to keep it running. The worst part is I can't afford the parts it needs because I gotta fix everything it breaks

Theres been an ongoing fight with my track bar in a (what seemed like) never-ending effort to stop it from clunking when now it finally did.

Now the breaks/something pops the drums are shot and I cant fix it because I thought everything was ok and ordered Adj. LCAs and a steering stabilizer with the money that would've fixed it...

Anyway, For you DD guys out there (and anyone else with relevant input), what condition is your rig in and how often do things break vs how often you wheel it?

I rigged mine up so I could get off Long Island and go upstate and really wheel. I feel so unsafe in it now. Like I'll lose an axle going down the block.

NewXJaddict

Mine is my DD also and Lately it has been giving me the run around. Been fighting with it for a while now. However, mine is an 87 so things are bound to start breaking, yeah it sucks when I REALLY want to start working on upgrades and keep having to dump money into just basic parts. Feels like every time I fix a part, something else breaks the next day.

It gets irritating at times but it still gets me back and forth to work for the most part.

Ender

Got to have faith in it. I always talk to my Jeep buddies about angering the "Jeep Gods" if you anger them then they will punish you by making something go wrong with your jeep, and posting what you are will definitely anger them. Good Luck. My rig runs great, but where I live there is no good off-road spot and I haven't been yet because I first need to buy bigger tires so I'm sure that helps.....

Johnny1217

what really drives me nuts is that its a 99, and I bought it at 129,xxx.

I'm going nuts now, and I have to drive 44 miles to and from 4 days a week for work. (all highway)

I feel like I'm seriously driving a deathtrap.

NewXJaddict

Yeah I know how you feel lol. I have been thinking about getting a different daily driver some kind of small car that will just be for back and forth around town that way I can park the XJ and work on it. But in reality I don't have the money for that either. lol.

Johnny1217

thats what i was thinking too it sucks but im going to have to get rid of my XJ...

no rdplz

My '99 is in really good shape and I try to wheel it as often as I can - about every other month is how it works out for the most part. I wouldn't say it's perfect, but preventative maintenance goes a long way. You also have to consider your mileage. 100k is a big maintenance spot. As is 150k, then 200k, and so on.
The best thing I've found is to keep a log of everything you do from the day you buy the vehicle. Every oil change, tire rotation, spark plug change, modification, filter change, fluid flush, even as far as new windshield wiper installation goes in my log with what I did, the date I did it, and the mileage I did it at. This lets you look over it and see what's coming up, therefore allowing preventative maintenance. It's the key to keeping any vehicle running better for a long, long time. Every time I buy a vehicle I do some simple things to start me off fresh: new plugs, wires, cap & rotor (or coil packs depending on the vehicle), all fluids and filters, thermostat, shocks, brakes, lights, tire rotation, and wipers. Yeah, it's a lot, but you can't be 100% sure of the condition of these parts unless the PO has kept a record - which most don't. Plus, this pretty much does a complete overhaul on your typical small repairs. From here, you just follow the recommended time lines for maintenance needs.

NewXJaddict

Yeah. When I first got mine it looked fairly well taken care of but the longer I own it the more I realize the previous owner(s) did not really take care of it that much. I Mine is getting close to the 160k mark so everything is just kinda falling apart slowly.

EUGENE the JEEP

mine is a 1990 base ,runs good 210500 now .no problems at all just basic mant. thats all.

CodeXJ

Mine is a DD, although it's bone stock right now. '93 with 194k miles, has only given me trouble twice. Once when the fuel pump failed, and once when the battery decided to develop a bad cell and die on me. Both were simple enough to fix. Although I do have a persistent power steering leak that I've yet to track down.

rweaver138

What else has gone wrong? Sounds like normal problems to me. After you lifted it, I assume you had track bar problems, not out of the ordinary. And now you need to replace your rear brakes, again not surprsing. I'd put money on it that there still the brakes that came with it the day it rolled off the factory line. People like to neglect to replace drum brakes.



Oh, and 1,000 posts.

sandaddik2

thats why i got a ford ranger for a dd and just wheel the xj...
and no im not rich

the only ongoing thing that i cant seem to fix is to patch up all the oil leaks, its like the exxon valdeze on wheels
i got it down to where it only drips 2 drops when you shut it off but now the steering box pukes fluid only sometimes, about every 2 months itll do it so i start to forget about it cuz it hasnt been on the top of the to do list

Johnny1217

After the lift the tranny went. Don't even know why. There was no SYE in it for about a month, then when I went to have it installed (yeah, thats the one thing i had done, I don't know much about drive train) the tranny was torn to bits needed new gears. that was fixed, put my 33's on it, then went wussy wheeling out by me. (track bar was not replaced) After i realized that the TB was a problem i replaced it with a RE one. The orig. mount was destroyed during track bar removal, so I drilled it out and installed everything to spec, It wallowed out almost every mount on the frame, and then finally the 5/8ths hole that the TB was actually through. Bought a new mount and bolt, drilled it out and now its fixed.

Other problems were the radiator and water pump went while on my way up to lake george, Defrosters/heat/ac all does not work (no known culprit yet, I haven't even began to look into it b/c of everything else), Lost all power to the running/brake lights on the left side of the car spontaneously. The exhaust fell off (nbd, but cops are pretty mean about mufflers out here so that was another bill) tires REFUSE to stay aligned. Even without any wheeling.

The E-brake and drums is the latest problem. The drums are locked up. the pads are shot too, but the drums themselves are so destroyed.

It takes me forever to build up the funds to fix one thing, then I get another problem as soon as I fix it.

Half this stuff I haven't even touched on or asked on here about yet b/c im still hunting answers for old problems.

Johnny1217

sorry for double post but what really drives me mad, is that my old cherokee, this beat to hell 99 sport, is still running today at 265,xxx with regular maintenance. The only bill EVER for this car was for the yolk on the rear driveshaft. It broke at 188,xxx. Since then, it made it upstate with a friend of mine, then to her neighbor, who still has it today.

Cherokee94

Sorry to hear your problems, My XJ is a 93 with 233,000 on the clock i purchased her in 2007 when i came to Canada (actually British long story wifes Canadian etc) always wanted an XJ i paid $1500 for her and 3 years later shes still my daily hack and i love her to bits.

Ive had repairs to do namely, brakes, shocks, starter and battery and recently the front hubs.

probably put in about $1000 but shes been worth every penny and i dont think its a lot of money for 3 years running.

Mines going to need new Rockers soon as ive got rust holes, planning on doing some mod work to the body but im taking it slowly as apart from holes in the rockers shes very solid for a 93.

dont get rid of the XJ

my rig.