Welcome to the little problem child known as the "Jeep". I've had mine for about 6 months now, did a lot of maint. that the PO didn't do.. trying to get her to a reasonably reliable state.. but every time I fix something.... she's good for a few weeks, then throws a tantrum again. Just hoping there is a plateau somewhere in the very near future. lol. .... so what I'm saying and what most on here would back me up... is that while they can be real PITAs sometimes, there's just something about them that makes us not want to get rid of 'em.

 

oh and I believe that it was either 96 or 97 that was a change-over year for the XJ, so that's probably why you're running into that one.

 

Take 1/4" polyester rope(Walmart) and place it in the molding around the door to give it more form and rigidity.

 

thats what i did with the 3 old seals i patched up with good parts from the seal that came out of the drivers side which is replaced with a new one. the 1/4 rope is quite nice tho some corners it does want to pop out overtime one dab of silicone holds it in place in those corners and the cabin noises are noticable less. the new seal makes it harder to close the door but i think that will form overtime and gets it shape.

marc

edit: until i have another 75$ to spend on 3 more seals this really helped out, the patches are quite nice and hardly noticable, its too bad the rear hatch is almost the same but just different angle and dont match up with the door seals i would of been able to fix that too but now its for later that rear hatch seal is another 35$

 

I replaced my 91 driver side last month. Door shuts noticeably tighter, but closes all the way. One thought - did you get them really tight in the corners? I had to use a round wood block to tap in the the corners.