benevolentelephant

Well I finally found an XJ I liked......thought I'd upload a few pics. Moderator, if this isn't the right forum please move.

It's an '01 2wd Auto with 155k on the clock. I thought long and hard about this car because of the head cracking issues for this year but I liked it a lot: so if it happens, it happens......

I'm the 3rd owner and it's clearly been taken care of: interior is in excellent shape and the underneath is the same. Leather, keyless entry, nice stereo etc. I think it has every option for this model year except 4WD.

It needs a couple things: headliner is completely down and the steering needs something. It had a new steering box last week so I'm reading up on other causes. It's a little bit stiff. Not very, but a little bit. I'm off to buy a grease gun tonight!

It drives NICE: lots of pickup, sharp brakes (just had front rotors and pads). AC is cold. I hope this is gonna be a good one! Thanks for reading a long post.

93_xjcherokee

Nice looking xj. I like that metallic blue

jay_sco

Congrats. Looks like it's been taken care of.

Turbo X_J

A serious overheat can damage any cylinder head.
If the entire cooling system has yet to be replaced do it now.

benevolentelephant

Thanks guys: yes, I'm surprised by how much I like the color: I was hoping for black or green but I'm diggin' the blue.

And yes it looks to me like it was taken very good care of: the carpets are almost perfect, the headliner is sagging but the cloth is like new.....nobody smoked or spilled anything in there. It's surprising to me that it's a 15-year old car with 155k and ALL the electrics work, even the cruise.

benevolentelephant

Thanks: the cooling system was flushed and a new thermostat and rwdiator cap installed before I got it. I looked HARD for any signs of previous overheat or gasket failure and saw none. I'll keep a weekly eye on that water level!

Fred/N0AZZ

His point was its time to replace the radiator, water pump, fan clutch as all are at the age to fail and any one of them could cause the head to crack as it is the dreaded 0331.


All of these items are cheap the radiator the most and its under a $100 at AutoZone I have 2 of them.

s346k

dang. I only have 1 radiator and it does just fine. seeing the words xj and leather together looks odd. then seeing a picture of it almost makes me uneasy. nice xj for sure.

benevolentelephant

Thanks guys, good advice. I'll look into doing radiator and water pump at the same time. Hadn't thought about the fan clutch but I will! I'll look to see how tough a job the water pump is.

benevolentelephant

Just watched a YouTube video on water pump replacement: looks pretty straightforward. Easier than my transverse V6 Ford which I've done in the past (no room to work at all).

dmill89

It is pretty simple, easiest if you do it all at once, with the radiator out of the way, there is a lot more room which makes the water pump and fan-clutch (especially the fan clutch) much easier. It makes sense to replace the hoses (rad and heater) and serpentine belt while you have it all apart as well.

Fred/N0AZZ

LOL Yes I bought 2 of them one for mine and my son's. I agree the leather looks very nice and overall VG condition. The nice part about that 2wd is if converted to a 4wd all it needs is a HPD30 no worries on the LPD30 they came with.

benevolentelephant

Thanks! Leather's gone a bit hard so I'll see what I can do about that. It's not too bad but I'm gonna try to stop it getting any more crispy.....

WyoCherokee

Page 5, i did a quick write up on water pump replacement https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f46/pr...211258/index5/

A trick for the fan clutch.. Use a small flathead screw driver to wedge between the nuts the shaft to hold it while you use a gear wrench to loosen one at a time.

I like the leather!

benevolentelephant

Thanks WyoCherokee: Great write up.