New Sport in Family

Hey guy's i just picked up a 2000 Sport 4.0, auto, select trac from my brother in law who lives in utah. it has 50k and was garaged it's whole life.
He was a pilot for Delta and drove it to and from the airport and that's about it. Is there anything i should know about this one compared to my 89 Laredo 4.0, auto, select trac?

Know as in.....? only real downside to that year is that you have a LP D30 up front, and most likely you have 4 O2 sensors and 2 precats on your headpipe....Banks is the only company that makes headers for that model.

If you lift it anything over about 2", you'll want to do an SYE, that particular year of TC and the Chry 8.25 rear axle "hates" to be lifted.

Well, you already know that the interior is a whole lot smaller than your 89. Well, it will feel that way at any rate. They added "Knee Bolsters" in 96'. the theory being that if you aren't wearing a seatbelt, your knees will get caught under the dash and keep you from flying through the windshield. I am unsure as to wether or not it works in reality though.

But, because of the new style dash, you will have less screws to mess with while taking apart your dash :yelclap:. But, be careful. The dash is now held together with clips and sometimes the clips don't come off with the right poece of plastic .

Uh, what else.. oh yeah. your 89' has a Renix computer right? Well, the 2000 has the OBD2, so computer codes are easier to obtain (Maybe?) but you have to pony up the dough for a reader if you don't want to drive all over getting a shop to read your codes.

Uh, I think the 89' has a closed system, the 2000 has an open system. Or is it vice-versa? Hmm...

Otherwise, I can't think of any other big differences. Same size and wheeled brick aerodynamics. 2000 has a better intake manifold... Oh! I believe the late models (96' and after) have 6 ignition coils, but don't quote me. I haven't played with the ignition on my 2000, just my 91'.

I seem to recall there being some talk about one particular cast of the intake (?) manifold being prone to cracking. I think the cast numbers were 0031 or something.

At any rate, that should be enough teasers to get you better search results at any rate. isn't going away anytime soon, so keep asking and keep searching

Nice find BTW.

Actually the 00 and 01 heads are prone to cracking, they are cast 0331. just keep a watch on it.

The only thing that is technically "wrong" with the 2000s is that cylinder head crack mentioned above.

Yeah 89 would have a closed cooling system and the 2000 will have an open cooling system.

He's probably got ignition coils on the 2000, but the change didn't come in the '97 redesign. At least not on my '97 which still has a distributor.

Let's see...

Should have 29 spline 8.25 rear in 2000. I don't know what came on an 89 Laredo. Turdy five? Definite upgrade there. 23 spline output AW4 as opposed to the 21 (?) on the La Redo.


Something about the '99+ intake being better? I'm just spitballing here, not sure.

Slightly better aerodynamics on 97+ which chryco claimed brought better mileage.

Oh! No more in-line fuel filter, which sucks when it comes time to replace...

Pump and filter are all one (supposedly) unserviceable unit and you've got to drop the tank to get to them.

There's more I know, I just can't think of them. I'm sure you'll find plenty things out about it though.

If you lift it anything over about 2", you'll want to do an SYE, that particular year of TC and the Chry 8.25 rear axle "hates" to be lifted.

Click to expand...

Can someone give a little more clarification on this? "SYE"?

I was thinking about a 3" lift on my 2000 Limited.

Oh ya, forgot the major difference...someone mentioned above...the distributorless ignition....no spark plug wires....

Slip Yoke Eliminator....on I believe 97+ NP 231 Transfer cases, the output shaft is longer and a different design than on older XJs. Combine that with the Low Pinion Chry 8.25, and you end up with some bad driveline angles pretty much as soon as you start lifting anything over stock. For 3" you might be able to get away with doing a 1" transfer case drop, or maybe shimming the rear axle...but, I would highly suggest getting a slip yoke eliminator kit.....

You can do the whole SYE + new rear driveshaft for less than $300 as long as you have the AW4 and 8.25 rear axle....

Before you go and drop the bucks on a SYE that you may not need, lift it first and see what happens. No two Jeep's are the same....each reacts differently to lifts. On my 99 with the AW4/NP242 Selec-trac/8.25 set up, I got some lovely little vibes and some noises I never thought a driveshaft u-joint could make after lifting it 3 inches. A simple 1" tcase drop has eliminated the u-joint noise, and just about completely eliminated the vibes. The 97+ XJ's are quite picky about lifts. Some people lift em 6-7" with no SYE and no tcase drop and have zero problems. Others, like myself, run into issues with simple 2-3" budget boosts. However, if you decide to go the SYE route, search on here as there is a fairly cheap and reliable method that can be done for the NP242. It involves the RE hack and tap, with a $50 Napa adaptor, that would allow you to use a front driveshaft from an XJ as the rear drive shaft. Search for "SYE" or "Slip Yoke Eliminator" and you'll see all the information you could ever want to see right before your eyes

As for major differences, and to kinda clarify what others have mentioned:

99+ 4.0's got a bigger intake, which supposedly boosts performance just a tad. Personally, I havent really noticed a difference....but that might just be me.

2000+ 4.0's went to a coil ignition system, vs. the old distributor type ignition. Again, personally, I prefer the distributor type....just about anybody can work on it....all it takes is a little common sense.

2000 will have the Low Pinion Dana 30 front axle...but this is really only an issue if you're planning on running a MUCH bigger size lift/tire combo. At 3", I would assume you're planning 31's? If so, you should be just fine.

Definitely watch the cylinder head cracking. The heads were changed in 2000, and as mentioned, you'll want to look for the head casting 0331. This can be found on the drivers side, top of the head....right below the valve cover. While some have had theirs go well past 200K with zero issues, many have had problems with their's in the 60-70K range. The more I read about it, the more i'm inclined to think that it was more or less a "bad batch" of them, and not all are bad. They are however, much more prone to cracking than the heads used on the other years of the XJ.

99XJSPORT06 said:

Before you go and drop the bucks on a SYE that you may not need, lift it first and see what happens.

Click to expand...

I'm with you on the "lift first, ask driveline questions later" mentality, and he may well find that he doesn't need an SYE.

I do recall hearing something about the last couple of years coming from the factory with the t-case already dropped an inch because the tailcone was slightly different and didn't support the output shaft/bearing or something crazy like that. Doesn't make sense to me now and didn't when I first heard it but I know somebody will clarify here. Corporations do some dumb things...


A 1" drop solved all my problems at 3.75" on my '97, but if I didn't have the option of lowering my t-case I would have needed an SYE.

Like the man said- lift it and see. Factor in that you may have to do something to address your driveline up to and including an SYE and there should be no room for disappointment- only the chance that you'll get a nice surprise if you lift and it stays vibeless.

Oh, let's see. You have the 4.0 in there, you have OBDII system which will love to gives you codes about random crap you dont care about
You produce 190hp and 225ft/lb

Since it's an Auto, you run 3.55 gears in a D30 up front and a Chry 8.25 in the rear.

You have 2 cats, one in the downpipe and your normal cat.

Banks is not the only company that makes a header for it. Tons of companies do. I think for the most part all 91-01 headers for the 4.0L will work.

You have the first year they decided to do the distributorless ignition on the XJ's....
Im not sure if the intake is changed again, but I think it's the same as the 99.


I run a 99 with 4.5". No problems with driveline vibes. I have no SYE, no t-case drop(well i have one, it's in the garage).

Lift first then see about driveline problems.