Runs great and no rust. He's asking 4900 I'm thinking of offering 4k 132k miles.

 

My fav color.
I dont see why that wouldn't be worth 4k. Id pay that.

 

Depends the year it is what its worth,If its a 97-99 it might bring that much,If its a 00 or 01 most who know jeeps would pass on it.

 

It's a 00 I know about the potential tragedy with this model. ... hard to find 99 around here I illinois with no rust

 

Personally, having gone through the 0331 head crack myself, I would not pay $4,000 for a 2000 XJ. I'd be willing to buy one, but it would have to be a much better deal. I would also plan on replacing the head as a preemptive measure and would consider the cost of the head as part of the cost of the vehicle.

It's hard to tell for certain, but it looks like the overflow bottle has that brown crap in it. It also looks like there's some at the top, where the bottle itself might have overflowed at some point. If that's what that is, it's not a great sign.

 

Also, is this an EPA or CA emissions vehicle? You can tell by looking at the sticker in the engine bay on the driver's side, or you can just look to see if it has the two extra catalytic converters and 4 O2 sensors under the exhaust manifold. I would be willing to pay a little more for the EPA version without all that extra emissions garbage. The EPA version gives you a little more flexibility with exhaust mods and is friendlier on the wallet with regard to replacing cats and O2 sensors.

 

All the 00-01's had the extra emissions stuff on them along with the weaker/lower clearance front LPD30 that started in 00 not the HPD30 that came in all of the XJ's up to 99. It also went to the coil packs on the rails.


For a 00 I would not offer that much main reason year second is that its been modded already by PO not a good sign IMHO. I gave $1800 for my 99 when I bought it several yrs ago.

 

I think it's more of a certainty ???


There's some pretty sad stories in the OEM Tech forum right now

 

Oh no- my 2000 is going to blow up! I see them littering the sides of the hiways

I'd have no problem picking up another 2000 or 2001 if it checked out. Plenty of older models - including 99's have problems- esp if they were hammered hard.

4k seems like a fair price- not a great price- but condition is everything, and thats the one thing you have to find out for yourself.

 

So being a novice and new to this. This dreaded tragedy problem, how much of a fix is it to buy an 00-01 and fix it before it causes a bigger issue?

 

Not ALL of them. For the 2000 year model, you had a choice between the CA and EPA emissions. I know this to be 100% true because I have a 2000 with EPA emissions and a single cat. I ordered it that way when I bought it new.

Here's the entire rundown on the differences between the '00-'01 models and the prior models:

Exhaust: Starting in 2000, the XJ had two 3-cylinder exhaust manifolds with two outlet pipes instead of one long 6-cylinder manifold. This was done to accommodate the CA emissions package, which had two extra catalytic converters in the downpipe below the manifold. HOWEVER, as I said above, in 2000 you also had the choice of EPA emissions, which did NOT have the extra catalytic converters. Where the CA version had the extra cats, the EPA version just had a twin downpipe that bolted into the same location. In 2001 Chrysler only offered CA emissions with three cats.

What this means from a practical standpoint is that your choices are more limited if you want a bolt-on header for either version. You have to buy one that is made for the '00-'01 model years. The 2000 EPA emissions vehicles are friendlier to modification since they don't have that extra garbage. It's also cheaper not to have to deal with replacing extra cats and O2 sensors.

Front Axle: All '00s and '01s were shipped with a low pinion front axle, which is slightly weaker than the high pinion axle found in the '99 and earlier models, has slightly diminished ground clearance and can cause some drive angle issues with lifted trucks. Swapping out for a high pinion axle is a popular mod IF you have a lift. If you don't have a lift, the HP front axle will bang into the stock exhaust. There's nothing wrong with the LP axle. It's just not quite as good as the earlier one.

Coil Rail: All '00s and '01s had a distributorless waste-spark ignition system. There's no distributor and no spark plug wires. Instead, there's a rail that sits directly on the plugs that has three coils in it, and the computer fires the plugs in pairs. Despite the whining you'll see, there is nothing wrong with this system, and there is no coil mod that will give you a hotter spark. Some people replace the coil rail with a Dodge Viper coil pack and plug wires. There are legitimate reasons to do this, such as if you replace the 0331 head with an older 0630 head and don't want to deal with fabbing up brackets to hold the coil rail on.

Head: All '00 and '01 XJs were shipped with the infamous 0331. That's a volume in itself. In addition to the cracking issue, you need to know that the 0331 had provision for the brackets to hold the coil rail in place, and it also had smaller exhaust ports than the earlier 0630 that don't exactly match up to the '00-'01 exhaust manifold. If you need to swap for the earlier head, you will need to be aware of these issues and their solutions.

Intake Manifold: Starting in 1999, Chrysler introduced a new, rounded intake manifold that flowed better. The '00 and '01 also have this manifold. This is really what makes the '99 the best year of all, because it has the only real advantage of the '00 and '01 without any of the drawbacks.

There may be some other minor differences, but those are the major ones.

It's not a certainty. There are people on the board who have reported well over 200K miles without cracking.

However, the problem is that you can't be sure whether you got a dud. If I were buying another one, I wouldn't be able to have any confidence in it. I would always be wondering when/if the thing was going to crack.

For that reason, I would go ahead and swap the head preemptively so that I could have the same confidence in the engine's longevity that you get with a '99 and earlier 4.0L. Clearwater has made that so easy that it's really a no-brainer.

 

It's not a big deal if the head hasn't already cracked. You just order a new cylinder head from Clearwater and replace the 0331. It's about $450, and then you'll have some other miscellaneous expenses. People on the board have done the swap in an afternoon.

If the head has already cracked, you have to determine whether the coolant has damaged the bearings in the block. If not, just swap in a Clearwater and drive with confidence. If the bearings are damaged, there's really no point in replacing the head. You might as well just plan to either swap the motor (with a motor that has a reliable head), sell it to someone who can, or scrap it.

 

Around here that one would be in the $4500 to $5K bracket easy.

Don't let the concerns about the head scare you off from what could be a really good deal. My 2000 has given me precisely zero concern about the head and still doesn't.

I keep everything maintained properly and even spend the $25 to get a used oil analysis run every other oil change. And in between, I do the free at home diagnostic test for water/coolant in the oil. Heat up a piece of steel on the stove, drop a couple of drops of oil on it and see if it crackles. No crackle, no water.

I'm not going to waste a weekend changing a head that there is nothing wrong with, no more than I would scrap a CJ5 because of their notorious habit of turning over during routine driving....It has to be true, because 20/20 and ABC news said so, right?

 

I'm probably going to jump on it as long as I can sell my piece of crap scion. This one was my 2nd choice behind this 00 xj new engine dropped in it asking 5k pretty clean. Makes me nervous tho alot of mods usually means alot of trails. 99k miles on it

 

I'm like you in that I prefer to start with a canvas that is as original as possible. It is AMAZING the damage that even a well intentioned previous owner can cause.

I once spent the better part of 4 days getting rid of the "bumper" that a PO had "installed" on a CJ5 with no less than 20 lbs of #&*@ ghetto 6013 rod.

The modded one doesn't look too bad though - not a lot of sign of trail rash or heavy wheeling. The only real negative I see is the "Black Ice" air freshener - the automotive equivalent of Axe Body Spray.