Returning XJ owner: 1997 XJ questions

Hi all, I've been a member of this site for several years now and have owned a few XJ's in that time. I've owned a few XJ's over the years, starting with a 1990 XJ followed by a 1998 XJ sport.

The 1998 was an absolute dream vehicle for me to own, 25k miles of trouble free offroad abuse, road trips, daily driving and in the end it saved my life when I fell asleep at the wheel and drove off a 50ft embankment, rolling 5 times - I walked away completely unharmed thanks in great part to my XJ!

I'm looking at buying another XJ, 1997 and up. I'm looking at a 1997 XJ sport, 4.0/AW4 combo in great shape but I've read some issues about the head gasket going on the 1997 model year. Is there any other changes between the 97/98 year that I should be aware of?

Thanks in advance. BTW, I've been driving a Toyota 4Runner since writing off my last XJ and what a piece of junk this thing is! Horrible gas mileage, expensive parts, terrible to work on and horribly underpowered..I can't wait to get into another Cherokee!

Heres a picture of my 1998 after I wrote it off:

It actually looks pretty good

- never mind - the 2nd pic took a while to come through on my miserable internet connection.

Head and/or head gasket issues aren't a wide spread problem on XJ's pre-2000. It's like any vehicle mass produced really, you'll have a bad one out of the bunch here and there, but 99% of them are rock solid. Unless the Jeep has been severely overheated or repeatedly overheated, I wouldn't worry about it.

The 2000-2001 4.0's got a different cylinder head that is more prone to cracking. Not really a widespread problem either, but certainly more common than on any other given year.

97-99 there's virtually no major changes to anything. 97-98 sports have a sport sticker that's on the back of the front quarter panels where as the 99's got sport badges right next to the Cherokee badges on the front doors. Performance wise the 99+ has a bigger (and rounder) intake manifold than the earlier years. If this is something that interests you, it's a direct swap to any other year so you could always find one from a junker and throw it onto yours. Some claim to have noticed a slight performance/fuel economy increase from doing so.

I particularly like the street sign post hood ornament.

Hey, thanks for the quick replies guys. This site (and my 1990 XJ) are what tought me how to turn wrenches on my own vehicles. Imagine my dismay when I opened the hood on my 4Runner...the 3VZE V6 is definately NOT user friendly!

So basically this 1997 should be the same as my 1998 mechanically? That's great news!

egotripp said:

I particularly like the street sign post hood ornament.

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Funny story about the street sign; when I crashed I hit that street sign before rolling down the embankment; somehow it ended up skewering through the floor of my jeep and up into the roof, missing me by less than a foot (around 10 inches to be exact). The tow truck driver pulled it out of my truck to show me how lucky I was.

Should have bought some lottery tickets on that same day!

Why don't you go ahead and admit that you got overly involved listening to Carrie Underwood's "Jesus, Take The Wheel"?

Given his lack of experience operating a motor vehicle, I don't know why anyone would assume that Jesus could drive.

clunk said:

So basically this 1997 should be the same as my 1998 mechanically? That's great news!

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Yes...........................

Only a few differences 97 to 98... 97 can use 87-97 AW4s as donors (aside from spline count differences) while 98-up can only use 98-up ones. Some trim and whatnot but I don't really track that. Some 97s (check this if it interests you) have the 96-down style door hinges that are easier to make removable doors for, while some have the 97.5-up style pressed metal hinges that are more difficult.

I believe some 97s had the remote keyless entry module in a plastic housing between the visors like the 96-down ones (just without the IR window) but I'm not sure. I know it was in the dome light on most 97+ models.

Can't think of much else.

cool, doorless isn't a concern for me, this is mostly a DD that I use for exploring, camping and some light wheeling. My last setup with 235's took me where I wanted to go; this one will get a 2" left, some bumpstopping and a set of 31's I have kicking around...should be more than enough for me.

joe_peters said:

Should have bought some lottery tickets on that same day!
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I know, I was a little too shaken up to think about it though!
On an even stranger side note, my car demolished two memorials for seperate tragic accidents that had happened on the same corner. Imagine my surprise when I crawled out the window to find crosses and photographs scattered all around me.

clunk said:

Imagine my surprise when I crawled out the window to find crosses and photographs scattered all around me.

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Yikes! :scared: :scared: :scared:

Go for a 99, its the last year for the jeep where they could drive forever. Also you have the much improved air intake manifold that was introduced in 99. Be spontaneous and get one with an ax-15 too lol

Hell that will buff right out.