I've found a 1999 Cherokee sport with 200000+ miles. Good body, possibly a bad motor. The guy says his wife drove it home, she said it was running hot and it quit in their driveway. He hasn't checked it out. Wants it gone. I've got one just like it that needs a new steering column and new dash w a salvage title. Should I fix mine or buy his and take a chance on it? What's his worth?

 

Offer him $500, if he really wants it gone, he'll take it. Don't pay more than $750, though, we already know it doesn't run, and while it might be something simple, it might not. If anything, take the good stuff from yours and put it into his, that way you'll have a decent running XJ with a straight body and no salvage title...part out the rest and make some money back. My .02

 

He wanted 1000 I offered 450. We've been going back and forth but now he's at 875 and I'm at 700. He won't budge.

 

Tell him $750. Then tell him if he wants it gone, he'll take it. If not, walk, and let him deal with the tards on CL, LOL
Neither he, nor you, know what's wrong with it. If he wants more money, have him take it to a mechanic for a diagnosis on his dime, then negotiate from there.

 

Got it for $750 after my mechanic told me that if I didn't buy it he was. Bringing her home tomorrow. This will be my 3rd Jeep, second Cherokee.

 

NICE! Congrats, man...what all did the mechanic say it needed?

 

Nice! Merry XJ Christmas!

 

mechanic said it may have jumped time and could be a distributor or timing chain. That's our starting point with it. Doing some research on it the fan wasn't working and someone put a water pump on it not so long ago. Not sure that it was in the best hands but maybe we've saved her in time. Gonna get into it after the holidays. Merry Christmas everyone!

 

Nice buy.........if I would had a chance I would have paid him the $875 and loaded it up, I need a nice 99 for a parts Jeep.

 

Will a 98 work for you? If so I can hook you up

 

This is not actually possible.........................You would have to physically snap a timing chain for this to happen..........Which is next to impossible to do, unless you found some way to lock the camshaft up while the engine was running...........


I have heard people say this from time to time, and I just laugh..........
I have never seen this happen on any engine with a timing chain, ever..........



Timing belt, yes..................Timing chain, no..........

 

A timing chain gets slack in it with age so that could mess with the timing.

 

It's a 00 and it got hot and quit...it's gonna need a rebuild for the motor. Honestly cheaper to get a known good motor and swap it in, chains very, very rarely jump timing. You would hear the slop in the chain before it got that loose...

Also, odds are if it ran hot and died, it wasn't the first time its happened.

Realistically you could have a running driving jeep for about 1200$ total investment if you pull the motor and swap er out.

 

It's a 99. Not sure if that's what you meant but anyways. I had a Ford Focus with a timing chain that jumped time. I sold it thinking it'd not be worth fixing. The guy had it going in no time. Hoping my luck has returned on this jeep but either way I've got my other one sitting next to it with a good engine worst case scenario.

 

If they put a water pump on it not long ago means it was running hot,And they drove it running hot tell it quit the engine is toast pretty much.But buying it as cheap as you did gives you room to replace/rebuild the engine and still come out a head.