I was raised a Ford guy, and had a couple of Chevys that did nothing to change that. Wrenching on a friend's Subaru was a revelation - unlike any American car I'd worked on, everything seemed really thoughtfully engineered, like the designer actually had some thought for the poor schmuck who'd have to work on it. Within a few years, I'd bought a $700 beater '94 Legacy FWD wagon that I proceeded to lay 4 years and 52K miles of abuse on. Good times.

But the wagon was getting long in the tooth and required more work than I cared to put in it. I managed to find a nice '01 Cherokee Sport for short money due to it having 194K, non-working A/C, and a couple of miscellaneous noises. I can put up with that sort of thing because I'm fairly young and fairly broke.

My hopes for the Cherokee are that it will be a solid and reliable commuter and dog-hauler, that it will do okay in the snow during the winter, get me out of muddy fields during camping and festivals, and generally be easy and cheap to work on in the event that it needs service (as there's damned few things I can justify paying a mechanic for).

I've yet to get the Cherokee up in the air to lubricate the chassis, change the oil, jiggle the U joints, or lovingly stroke the transfer case, but here's my preliminary issues:

- Low pitched "whrrrrrr" rolling noise from the back. Wheel bearings?
- High pitched "squeak squeak squeak" rolling noise from the front when the wheel is turned anything but straight. Front wheel U joints?
- A/C blows hot. Good pressure on the low side and the compressor cycles.
- Back wiper doesn't work.
- Front speakers (stock sound system) don't work.
- Engine runs very well, but has some slight roughness at idle. This is minor to the point that I should probably forget about it, but I'm hoping I can make it run perfectly.

I'll start individual threads to tackle these issues, but I thought I'd say "hi". I'm amazed at the number of forums dedicated to the XJs, but this one seems big and friendly. Hiya!

 

 

Welcome to the forum. Glad to see your gonna take care of it. Good luck with solving your issues.

 

Welcome to the site.

 

Id say start with the usual tune up..new plugs ans wires..heck..if you can find a curb pull front wheels on it and change your oil there..I can change mine with my xj on flat ground...clean your tb and iac..may help the idle