Greetings from AZ everyone. I am Jimmy and wanted to introduce myself.
I have always had a liking for the XJ Cherokees and I think I am finally about to get one. The Jeep in question is a 1988 Jeep Cherokee with 200k miles, runs like crap and is the most base model you can get. Its sitting at the shop I work at, and once we get it running right I am going to offer $750 dollars for it. Luckily for me I work at a shop called "Ultimate Offroad" and we specialize in Jeeps. We work mostly on the TJ and JKs but we do occasionally have XJs, WJs, and ZJs. Being a 1988 its been around longer than I have so there is some things to be addressed with it. The good thing is its an AZ jeep so there is hardly a spot of rust on it. The paint is OK, a couple of dents that could probably be popped out if I really wanted to. The interior is complete but it needs to be put together. It has the 4.0 with a 5 speed manual and a 231 T case. Like i said it does run rough but once thats fixed the Jeep could be an excellent blank canvas for a daily driver, and some light exploring out in the desert. I am just curious to what everyone thinks, if $750 for a 1988, all stock, base model jeep with over 200k is an okay investment. Thanks everyone, and have a good weekend.

 

I paid $500 for my 89 with 155k miles on it. interior was complete, but also an AZ rust free car, but the engine has been a constant source of headaches and an overall PITA...

 

Yeah, that's the only thing I am slightly worried about. Troubleshooting this one, the fuel pump gets power during cranking, but once the engine fires the fuel pump stops getting power. Thinking it might be the Ignition control module but there are a few other things that I want to check to determine if that's the problem. If that cures the running rough I want to go through and replace ALL the fluids, fix the crappy wiring under the hood, replace plugs, so on and so forth. As far as I can tell though, it does not leak which is good, I don't know what kind of repairs it has had in the past so I am kind of approaching it blind but that's half the fun I guess.

 

I know its at your work, but I would start low with my offers as in "i'll tow it away at no cost to you" kind of low. I'm many thousands of dollars into mine, and I still don't really trust it. but I'm not a mechanic, (thought I do a lot of the work myself) and I was trusting a shop (knuckle busters in mesa) that did ****ty half assed work that did more harm than good.

 

I believe that this jeep originated in the Phoenix Area too. That's a good idea to start low, I know my boss just wants to get rid of the thing. I hope it doesn't require too much to get it squared away but with any old vehicle somethings never too far from taking a dump on you.

 

Welcome to Cherokee Forum Jimmy

 

Nope, after dropping good money after bad, my wife limited me to only spending money I earn from my youtube channel on the jeep. so I have to work hard to earn the money for my jeep, it also means that I am smarter with how I spend my cash. if I were to do it over again, being that its a renix engine, I would look at cruisers tips, and then do a once over on the whole thing, figure out what I want to replace, save up the money and do it all at once.

 

Welcome Jimmy.

Where in Arizona are you?

For a ton of help on your era Cherokee, go to www.cruiser54.com and do Tips 1 through 5.

 

I'm in Yuma AZ, I'll check out that site right now.

 

@ cruiser, have you seen this yet? NickInTimeFilms (that's his youtube channel) made it:

 

Yes. we've been in contact. thanks.

 

I've got nothing bUT free time this weekend to tackle tips 1-5 and check out 29. In your experience have you come across low/no fuel pressure wheel the key is in the run position, but you have good pressure while cranking? I've been leaning towards the Ignition Control Module.

 

Only thing I did at this point was patch the hole in the front right tire so I can roll it around.



Interior before trash clean up and vacuuming.



Interior reinstalled. Trash emptied out and vacuumed. I want to strip it out again and shampoo everything.

 

Welcome to the group Jimmy! Glad to see another Arizona person on. Looks like you have some work but the she has good "bones" so to say. Look forward to seeing what you do with her.

 

I'm not seeing a correlation between fuel pressure and the ICM.