Basic things are easier to work on than more complicated things. Not sure where else to go with this...

 

I struggled getting to the bottom bolts on the headers and then i had issues with the power steering pump. I knocked the job out in 2 nights but that was between work. Only thing that makes it hard to work on is not having room to move.

 

The wonderful 4th gen F-fody whose hood isn't big enough pull it's own motor.


The truest and simplest answer to all of this is that cars are designed to leave the factory and be sold. They are not designed to be maintained/repaired long-term and certainly not by DIYers.

 

My F-350 - you have to pull the cab to access the rear 1/2 of the engine.

 

xj is hard to work on? son, you need to get out more. also whoever said long tubes on a 4th gen fbod were bad could use some help, too. oil pan removal is the only thing on a 4th gen fbody that sucks for what it is. like if you drop the pickup tube bolt during a cam swap and can't get it with a magnet.

 

I think the XJ is one of the easiest vehicles to work on. They are just so simple and straight forward. Not much fancy stuff going on. I can name at least 100 other vehicles I have worked on that have been a lot worse.

My example. C5/C6 Corvette. So you have a rear main seal leaking. Well first thing is that you have to pull the trans. Well guess what? In order to get the trans out, you have to remove the entire rear cradle and suspension. Keep in mind, the trans is at the very back, not mated to the engine. So after you get the trans and stuff out, you still have a torque tube that needs to come out. After you get the torque tube out, you have to pop the clutch off to get to the seal. Then you can replace the $20 seal that took you 8 hours to get to just to spend another 8 hours putting it back together.

 

I said they were a PITA, not impossible. For comparison, I did long tubes on my 79 Camaro in maybe 20 minutes. I sneezed and dropped the passenger side header. Blinked and it was bolted in. Stupid simple.

 

I was comparing to rebuilding my AMC Javelins and AMX's, those pony cars where a lot easier than the 90's XJ's
As far as the new stuff (F350, RAM Promaster), that goes to the shop.

 

Work on any Ford Powerstroke.


The rest is gravy, LOL

Seriously, I think the only vehicle I've ever owned that was easier to work on was a VW bug.

 

I hear you Slackdaddy. In order of ease to work on my cars: 79 Camaro, 90 XJ, 02 Camaro. The newer the car, the more of a nuisance. Unfortunately for you, I don't think many folks on this forum really worked on the old stuff. Lot of younger people from what I've noticed. These younger people are used to working on new cars and the XJs are much simpler than the new stuff.

 

I worked on a Triumph and a couple of MGs from the early 70s. You had to pull the engine to swap a clutch on the MGs. The Triumph was easier because you only had to remove the entire interior and seats to get the transmission tunnel out to pull the transmission out through the door. Some of the contortions you had to do to reach some things were comical. You needed three infant-sized hands with the strength of a gorilla. The FSMs would say crazy **** in the procedures that wasn't humanly possible.

We also had a '59 Chevy truck that was a breeze to work on. The difference was size. The truck was just huge, with plenty of room to reach everything. It had nothing to do with American vs. foreign, either. My dad's '66 Corvette has a lot of the same problems the British cars had. It all has to do with the manufacturers squeezing more into smaller spaces.

So from my perspective, the XJ is still pretty easy to work on. Is it the easiest? Surely not. But it's certainly not the worst, and really not worth complaining about.

 

Seriously guys??? I'm from the 60's muscle car generation. Owned most of them (including a Javelin and the AMC SC/Rambler w/390) and worked on many more until my life went in a different direction and lost touch. I love these XJ's just because they remind of working on them and how simple things are laid out.

 

The torx bolts/screws are the dumbest thing. Aside from that it's really not that bad

 

I had a 94 formula and thought "why not throw some long tubes on her". I barked that at myself after about 20 minutes into the install. What a nightmare that was! But it did sound sick when I was done

As far as working on an XJ, pretty damn easy IMO. You can pretty much look at it and see how things come apart. Not like these new contraptions. It seems like everything has a sequence of layers.

 

How else are they suppose to keep you coming back to the dealership?

An evil engineer somewhere is laughing his a$$ off.