When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Hi all, I'm new to this forum and although I'm no stranger to wrenching on Jeep's this is the first time I've owned one myself. I purchased a 96 ZJ Limited 4x4 with 39K miles bone stock from the original owner. She was an older lady who used it to go to the salon and get groceries. It looks like it teleported from 1996 to now, it even had the original tires! I'm headed to a local pick a part this week to sure up a couple small screws and such to make this thing complete. I plan to use this for some light trail blazing and camping with my Mrs and our six year old daughter and have no expectations to make this the next skyhunter but I will be adding some basic modifications such as new audio. I'm currently 90% done with rebuilding a 1955 F100 Panel truck and I'm set on finishing that before I start doing anything big to the Jeep.
In the meantime though, is there anything you guys know of that I should look out for? Any common failure points that I can avoid before they happen? Any quirks maintenance wise? I've already put new oil and tires on and will be doing breaks and battery this weekend. So far I've put about 200 miles on it and there's no issues except a light "rubbing" sound from the rear end when I'm making a sharp turn at <15MPH. I figure I should change out all the fluids for everything and start from there. Anything I'm missing?
You made a huge mistake buying that those are terrible in just about every way. I'll be doing you a favor by taking it off your hands for half of what you paid.
Year: 1998 Classic (I'll get it running soon....) and 02 Grand
Model: Cherokee (XJ)
Engine: 4.0
Originally Posted by Alcapwne
In the meantime though, is there anything you guys know of that I should look out for? Any common failure points that I can avoid before they happen?
Well, like the tires, the rest of the rubber is pretty old. Can't hurt to check for vacuum leaks. Also, just general clean-up of the IAC and throttle body probably wouldn't hurt. Clean up your grounds.
Might want to do a cooling system refresh, too. New hoses, flush the system.
One thing to be very clear about - these things are very picky about sensors, especially the CPS and the CPS. That's the Crankshaft Positioning Sensor and the Camshaft Positioning Sensor. (Some folks write them as CkPS and CmPS.) OEM only. That means Mopar, or NTK/NGK, the people who make them for Mopar. You might get away with aftermarket on some of the other sensors, but never on those two. There are a bazillion horror stories on every Jeep forum about those two sensors. Bad out of the box, to bad in 15 minutes, or a few weeks, or months. OR, occasionally, good for years. It's a crap shoot.
Found a Time Machine
Welcome.
