Troubleshooting a cheap jeep. experianced opinions needed

the email I just received, I will post more when it comes, its on an 88 cherokee. What kind of price range would I be looking at for repairs? and with this much into it would it be better to just look for a slightly more expensive truck with less damage, the list price on this one is 500.

I'd like to know what a few of you think, it its something I can grab at a pick-n-pull than i dont mind doing the work myself. but if its major I dont have that kind of mechanical experiance.

"Well, I guess there were so many things wrong with it that we stopped after
puttiing a few hundred dollars in it and it still has problems.
I didn't get an official write up because my wife was so disgusted with the
problem. And she has been taking me to work and I without a car, she has
been dealing with the garage. And yes of course they hit on her too.
I will get them to write something up today.
The main things are the brakes, they were looking for a part in Phoenix.
differential needs replacing, some leaks.
The main thing is that when the air cleaning hosing blew up, it might have
affected some things.
I noticed the brakes were really stiff after the back fire and it was really
hard to stop the Jeep.
I did put in all new spark plugs and distributer cap though.
If you want to work on it, it is a sound truck, good wheels and tires, just
the engine needs some attention.
I can lower the price if you are still interested."

I'm led to beleive that the power booster got fragged when the "big bang" happened.

The booster gets vacuum from the manifold and if the back fire was severe enough it could have sent a pressure shock wave into the booster....

Could have just knocked the vacuum hose to the brake booster loose when it pressurized the intake manifold (backfired). I would be worried about possible engine damage if it blew up :scared: the air filter box assy? That took some pressure and force to do that!

Rearend is a big question too from the sound of it? Differential replacing or is it just a gasket leak? Big difference.

Sorely lacking on data here, what engine, what tranny, miles, rust...?


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outlander said:

I'm led to beleive that the power booster got fragged when the "big bang" happened.

The booster gets vacuum from the manifold and if the back fire was severe enough it could have sent a pressure shock wave into the booster....

Click to expand...

I would avoid it if it has ABS, although that ca be ripped out and replaced with a 96 brake booster/master. Like-wise, I'd probably pass unless it had the 4.0l and the AW4 auto. The manual that year would be the failure prone Puegot.

What's wrong with the differential? If you planning on owning an older Jeep, having a pull-it-yourself type of salvage yard nearby is a god-send. You can swap out the entire axle for $50.

Of course some mechanical skills are necessary. It'll quickly turn into a money pit if you can't handle at least some basic stuff like doing brakes.