Question - Is It A Good Deal Or Not?

i ran across a 1988 Cherokee Pioneer 4WD Automatic with a 4.0. the price is $350. now here are things wrong with it as i know. front and rear bumpers and brackets, the back window on the driver's side is busted out, the 4WD shifter needs a clamp/bracket/bolt or something of that nature, the headliner is falling, the interior needs cleaning REALLY BAD. the motor will crank up but ticks some, it needs some minor work under the hood but maybe not too much?? i have no idea how well the transmission is but they say it runs and drives well. it has under 153,000 miles on it. tags and inspection are current, title is clear. good tires on it. oh, it needs a master cylinder and/or brakes. I have a 90 cherokee laredo that has everything i need to fix all of the body parts and such so those are not concerns. i am just wondering with the motor ticking or making whatever noise it is, if it is worth getting involved in? thanks for your opinion.

brian

well what are you going to use the jeep for? is it going to be your daily driver?
are you willing to spend time and money if the motor goes?
whats wrong with your 1990 xj?

well we pulled the motor out of the 90 and rebuilt it (myself and mom's boyfriend) well they broke up before i could finish getting parts so i still need a few parts and then i need the money to pay someone to put it back together. the 88 i am looking at buying has the motor in it and if something goes wrong i have an extra to have installed so for now it would be my daily driver.

if you bye the 88 xj why not just pull that motor and put it into your 90 xj?
Sounds like there's a lot of things busted on the 88xj. i don't know i would have to see the xj for myself.
$350 sounds like they want to get ride of it fast. if you do decide to by it see if they won't take less $275, $300.
did they give a reason as to why they are selling it?
Test drive it, test drive the fu ck out of it, don't just take there word for it.

well they were wanting $600 for it, but theres no way they could get that. as for driving it, it has no brakes until i can fix it. and if i had the money i would just put my motor back into my jeep so thats why i'm not doing that. i don't know, the only thing i can think of is see if they will let me put my master cylinder on it and bleed the brakes, etc, etc and drive it. either that or give me a week to make sure that everything will work out. something like that might work, i'll just have to draw up a reciept stating all of that.

$350 is pretty low. I would check it out very closely. If you can, pick up the carpet to check the floors to see if it is solid. Take it out and get warmed up good to see if the tranny slips, or the engine looses oil pressure. make sure the 4wd works, as this is an area that can get expensive fast. Sounds like it will be a project. Junk yards would probably give you $100 max if you were to scrap it, so see if they can do better on the price. Even if you don't get arround to fixing it, it may be a good parts vehicle. good luck

$350 sounds low, but beware. In November of 1999 I bought an '88 Comanche for $500. It was almost 2 years and over $3000 (yes, that's three THOUSAND dollars) before I was able to get it rhrough emissions and safety inspections. It's still not 100% but it runs and is reliable.

The 4.0L engine can get "ticky" with age and mileage. I wouldn't worry about that ... too much. However, YOU need to drive it. You know what they say about opinions -- they are like something else that everyone has one of. The seller's opinion of "runs and drives well" may be rather different from yours. I have responded to ads for used cars that "run and drive well" that I would be terrified to drive around the block.

Keep in mind that if the engine, tranny and transfer case aren't blown, you probably have at least $350 worth of parts there.