buying an XJ again

hello all, long time no see, not sure i am posting in the right spot.


am looking to buy an XJ again. have been shopping for a week or so and trying some out.

i stopped at 1 place yesterday and had quite a few of them on the back lot, i found an 85, it is in very good shape about 90,000 miles on it.

had an 87 at one time, and not very familiar with the 85's, it has a 2.5 liter I-4 are these a chevy 2.5 or a chrysler 2.5?

also saw it had selec trac i had an 85 GW once, it had selec trac, and would lock the front wheels when in 4-low. is this the same with the XJ as well? i looked underneath, it had a straight axle, but looked to have CV boots at the end, seems a good bit different than the 87 i had.

not exactly why i am leaning towards this 85, i really liked the I6, but will be doing a good bit of traveling, so a 4 cyl might be a viable option for me, just wondering if i am getting into a potential nightmare. most manufactures change things for a reason, maybe these years were hand grenades on wheels, i don't know.

The 6 cylinder will get as good as or better mileage than the 4 cylinder.

I don't know how much money you have, but I would certainly be looking for something "newer", more like an 87+ with the 4.0 I6.

The axle in those older ones are piles of junk. Unless you get that 85 for practically FREE, then keep on looking. The 4.0L does just fine mileage wise and you have more power.

alwayzAMC said:

had an 87 at one time, and not very familiar with the 85's, it has a 2.5 liter I-4 are these a chevy 2.5 or a chrysler 2.5?

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it is and amc/chrysler design and if it was maintained the are good for 200k+.party1:

yeah, the I6 was pretty nice, had 280K on mine when i rolled it in a bad way on the highway, even after that i still drove it on the trailer. and the last 10K miles i put on it was pretty rough.

was curious on this 2.5 I4, if it is a GM 2.5 i can get a GM 3.0 industrial engine in it, about 30 more HP before i do any mods to it.

and thanks for the heads up on the axles, don't think i will be doing any off roading, or driving it hard really, is mostly a transport vehicle.

have test drove a few later models, found a 98 with 80K miles on it, but has electrical dash, and starting to see electrical issues with it already. and maybe that is not a big deal, but have learned that chryslers with electrical problems = bad news.

I live up in maine, and finding anything with a decent underbody up in my area is no easy task.

x99j said:

it is and amc/chrysler design and if it was maintained the are good for 200k+.party1:

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sorry misread that, so it is a chrysler block then?

AMC designed engine along with the 4.0L. The '85 was a "feedback" carbureted model and never produced very good mileage, but when running properly, you could probably get "close" to the same mileage as a newer port injected 6 cylinder.

Never buy a four-cylinder Jeep. Underpowered fuel guzzler. Especially in Wranglers. But still true in Cherokees.

yep, not buying the 85 anymore, starting to look for a later model I6 now. have my eyes on a 2001 right ow, maybe i just wanted the 85 for nostalgic purposes, lol

"also saw it had selec trac i had an 85 GW once, it had selec trac, and would lock the front wheels when in 4-low. is this the same with the XJ as well? i looked underneath, it had a straight axle, but looked to have CV boots at the end, seems a good bit different than the 87 i had."

yes, the d30 in 85 had cv joints rather then ujoints connecting the outter axle shafts.

as for locking the front wheels in 4-low, yes and no, if its the 231 case. the transfercase locks the front driveshaft and rear shaft but the axle(s) have an open differential which gives power to the wheel with least traction, unless it has a limited slip in the rear. with the 231 transfercase, the difference between 4-hi and 4-lo is that there is gear reduction in 4-lo.

ive never owned an xj with anything other then the 4.0, but from what ive read, a 4.0 is the only stock/oem engine i would want if i had a choice. i actually prefer the renix(87-90) over the HO(91 and up)

I would aim for a 99 over a 2000 or 2001 due to the heat soak issues, 0331 head (known for cracking), and high vs low pinion axle. The latter won't be much of an issue for you though I guess.

well, might be an issue now as i went out and looked at my 94 with a 3 inch lift i bought off the scales at the scrap yard, worked the scalehouse that day and someone brought one in that i took home, has a bad moter knock, so it probably won't last long without me stealing the lift and putting it into something else, most likely the one i buy.

was the 2000 and 2001 heads the HO new casting heads? and does it crack from heat?

have an 98 with 80K i am kind of keen on as well, but when i jumped in the dash was kinda screwy, took a while for the tach and speedometer to actually work, have heard of electrical dash issues with these, is this an expensive fix?

If it's the screwy issue a lot of 97-up XJs have, not hard or expensive at all. If it's something else (not as likely) it might take some work.

Anything 91 and later is going to be an HO, but for 2000/2001 they switched to the 0331 head with the coil pack ignition, and the 0331 heads are known for cracking at around 75k miles... many do, many don't, luck of the draw. Avoiding the 0331 head or putting a later (up to 03 I think, not sure?) 0331 head with the TUPY stamp on can avoid the issue entirely.

Depending on how bad the knock is, it might last tens of thousands of miles... I say buy a spare motor and run it till it blows, then swap.

EDIT: many say the 95 and 99 model years are the best, for a variety of reasons. 94 and 98 are good too though. You really, really want to avoid 84-86, 96, and 00-01 though. 84-86 had the old motors and different engine bay designs that made it harder to put a 4.0L in if/when the old motor blows, 96 is a bastard year (combines a whole bunch of 95-down stuff and a whole bunch of 97-up stuff, electrical parts are often more expensive and specific to the 96 model year as a result), and 00-01 have the issues I already listed.

alwayzAMC said:

well, might be an issue now as i went out and looked at my 94 with a 3 inch lift i bought off the scales at the scrap yard, worked the scalehouse that day and someone brought one in that i took home, has a bad moter knock, so it probably won't last long without me stealing the lift and putting it into something else, most likely the one i buy.

was the 2000 and 2001 heads the HO new casting heads? and does it crack from heat?

have an 98 with 80K i am kind of keen on as well, but when i jumped in the dash was kinda screwy, took a while for the tach and speedometer to actually work, have heard of electrical dash issues with these, is this an expensive fix?

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Most of the IP (instrument panel) issues on the 97+ are the connector at the back of the cluster. There was a TSB with an improved connector. Pulling the IP and cleaning the contacts, treating with dielectric grease, and pulling on the harness to get a little strain relief for the connector seem to cure most of the problems.

I love my Renix and probably won't ever change, but as said the 00-01 have their known issues, the 99 is considered the "peak" of the XJ by some, the 95 is the last year of the OBDI and doesn't seem to have large issues.

thanks for the info guys, i knew you guys knew your stuff, may have another look at that 99 then. the 98 has too many electrical gadgets, and not 100% sure that the oil pressure dipping down to 15 at idle can be blamed on the dash either.
the 99 has no power anything really, and does not have the electrical dash. so may go that route, will look at it again.

am working on a 96 as well, and was kind of afraid it (along with every other car manufacturer) was as much of a bastard year as 1986 was.

that reminds me, there a good spot to get floor pans? i can toss a large cat through the drivers side floor on this one.