Howdy, fellow XJ owners!

About me: Not only am I new to the XJ world, I've never owned a Jeep! But I do spend a lot of time in my garage and I've got several other builds (hot rod stuff) under my belt. I look forward to learning all there is to know about these cool little rigs here on cherokee forum.com!

About my XJ: It's a 2001 2wd Sport model. 4.0/Auto. Dark green with a tan/black interior. Runs great when it's not overheating.

How I ended up here: I originally bought the XJ (below) 6 months ago. It was supposed to be my daughter's first car. It ended up needing A LOT more work than I bargained for (thanks to a crooked seller) so I parked it and bought her a 2000 XJ Limited.

Initially, I was so disgusted at myself for being fooled into buying the '01 that it just sat. I didn't even look at it for months. But after driving my daughter's '00 Limited a few times and then looking at modified XJs on sites like this, I got bit by the XJ bug!

My Plan: Figure out the overheating issue, get it running great, mild lift, wheels/tires, upgrade the sound system, and make it a daily driver.

 

Looks juicy as it is.
Do a search for overheating, it's all been done here I'm sure.
Blown head gasket perhaps? The heads of 2001's have a tendency to crack, I hear.

 

Welcome to the forum

 

That's what I'm thinking, but I haven't torn into it, yet. Today was the first time I've looked at it in months. The oil looks coolant free and I didn't get any bubbling while cranking it with the radiator cap off. The next step is a compression test, which I hope to do this week.

 

I'm one of the strange guys who love stock looking vehicles. Consider that if you think you may want to sell it in the future. Don't hesitate to tell me to mind my own business though.

 

Thanks. I noticed you're from PA. Y'all sure do love your XJs up there! Every time I logged into eBay while conducting my original XJ search there seemed to be more than a few clean, low- mileage XJs in the state of PA.

 

Thanks for joining. You can also start it up, take the oil cap off of the valve cover and shine a flashlight in there, to see if there's any antifreeze up top.

it sounds like you're probably okay though. How can you tell I've been down this road before

Tony