LongLiveXJ

Currently looking at a 2000 XJ Classic. It's cheap and rust free, but it has a blown motor and almost 300k miles. The owner claims that the transmission is tight but original, and so are the diffs and tcase. It also needs ball joints. So i'm wondering if this is a safe investment if I throw another motor in it, or if i'm gonna be faced with a failing trans and/ or axle or tcase. What is the usual lifespan of these things?

Thanks.

dmill89

Is the trans an auto or manual? If it is an auto 300k mi would be a bit on the high side, 200-300k mi is probably about the average life of an AW4, but they have been know to last much longer as well (500k mi+) with proper maintenance if not abused, so it is hard to say how much longer it may last (autos have internal clutches that will wear out eventually but there is no way of knowing how much longer they will last unless you pull it apart and then you might as well just do a rebuild). The transfer-case and differentials can last virtually indefinitely if properly maintained and not abused as can a manual transmission (though the clutch will obviously wear out, and master/slave cylinders also wear out).


The good news is that motors and transmissions for an XJ are both cheap, you should be able to get both for less than $1,000 with low mileage. You could probably even get an entire low-mileage drive-train (Engine, trans, transfer case, both axles and drive shafts) for less than $2k but that would be allot of work to swap over (especially if you are getting it from a donor vehicle or pick-n-pull and have to take it apart twice).


If you can get it cheap, it is rust free, and you don't mind doing the work to fix it, it is definitely worth it.


I personally wouldn't get another complete 2000-2001 motor due to the 0331 head issue (known to crack if overheated) though. I would either get a block and a 02+ WJ (Grand Cherokee) or TJ (Wrangler) "TUPY" head (corrected casting that fixes the issue) or a new head (from clear-water cylinder head, etc.), or just get a 97-99 engine and either fab something up for the coil pack mounts (99 and older had a distributor rather than coil-on plug used in 00+ so they don't have the mounting bosses) or use a Dodge Viper coil (plug and play with the harness but a remote mount coil box with plug wires rather than coil packs mounted on the plugs eliminating the need for the mounting bosses on the head).

cap'n cook

it probably wouldnt be worth it if your just fixing it then trying to sell it, but if you plan on keeping it i would say worth it if its like $500-$1000 and 1,000 might even be pushing it. what i like about buying worn or broken cars for cheap is that alot of the things wrong with the vehicle are things that i am planning on upgrading anyway. not really on engines and trannys, but axles and such

LongLiveXJ

I actually have a 96 motor/trans that I was planning on swapping in if I picked this one up. It only had 156k. Also I'm looking for a daily road driver, so after some new ball joints this thing should be good for a while? It was owned by an old man, so I don't think it was abused.

cruiser54

That sounds good. I'm not an expert on this, but there might be some changes in the trans controls/speed sensor etc.

Hopefully someone will chime in to confirm whether that's an issue or not.