I recently found a good-looking Cherokee online and im wondering if you guys can give some advice on what to look for. It doesn't currently drive, he said it needs a new idle air control valve. that's an easy fix but on a ford when that goes out it can still be driven. it has 250,000 miles on it. i know thats a lot but from what i read the inline 6's can last longer than 300k. its a two wheel frive and seems to have been used primarily as a street car based on the one image i currently have. can anyone give any advice?

 

Take a flash light and small screwdriver for when you crawl underneath it to check the unibody from bumper to bumper. I recently bought a project 96 XJ, not realizing how big of a project it was going to be. The unibody rust was bad and I didn't know what to look for in that area. Now I will be repairing unibody and floor pans as part of my huge project.

 

The major thing to look for in any Jeep is rust. XJ's tend to start rotting on the passenger side floor pan and the rockers. As said, crawl under it and poke at it. Surface rust isn't to big of a concern but flaky scale rust is something to look for. A well kept 4.0l can last for a ton of miles, even an unkept one will take a beating. I know of several that are 300K+ miles, my personal jeep is nearing the 250k mark. The 96 is an interesting year. Its the first year for ODB2 and the last year before the facelift.

 

96 should have an OBD2, so get yourself a WIRED hand held cheapie reader like this:

Also, I would take as many underbody/engine pics as you can and post them here for these experts to peruse, there appears to be a plethora of expert mechanics on this forum... I haven't had a car in 20 years, bought a jeep four weeks ago, and this forum has answered every question Ive tossed at it so far!

My novice advice, is that there are so many XJs on the market, and we are entering winter where prices should drop, I would suggest you ONLY buy one thats at least running and will pass an inspection. Id rather fly half way across the country and drive a rust frree body back, rather than mess with any rust on the unibody (check out Vice Grip Garage on youtube)... but then again, I am a computer whisperer, PS4 maniac, camera geek, but I know NOTHING about cars... working on fixing that though 8)

Good luck, take lots of pics, and post lots of threads is my final advice.