What brand name to use for parts?

Being new to Jeeps, and never having had a vehicle with a distributor cap, I'm not familiar with changing wires, cap, rotor, etc. on a tune up.

Anything I should stay away from on these parts? The XJ is a '96 Sport 4.0 L.


Just looking around online a bit, and I've seen distributor caps run from $6.xx to $46.99. A local parts store quoted me $36.40, not sure of the brand. The rest of the parts from the local shop were Champion plugs - $1.87/piece, $31.38 for wires, and either $12.00 or $14.00 for the rotor, depending on which one I need...not sure which one I do need...so, from the local shop, total is around $100. Looking online, not knowing the name/brand/quality of the parts, a Niehoff cap, distributor, Borg Warner wires, and Champion OE plugs comes to $30.99. Are those crap parts or what?http://www.partsamerica.com/ProductDetail.aspx?MfrCode=NIE&MfrPartNumber=FF53CS&PartType=193&PTSet=A

mopar

Boatwrench said:

mopar

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Does Mopar make all the parts I need for a tune up? If so, where do I go to get them?

The brands you listed, Neihoff, Borg Warner, Champion are all good names and will probably be good to use in anything short of a full time racer.
If you continue to own any Jeep product you will either become a part/time mechanic or be broke from paying someone who is a mechanic.


JEEP = Just Empty Every Pocket.

Just stay away from FRAM, at least for oil filters. Air and gas filters are different, but their oil filters are less-than-sufficient for the job.

Jim www.yuccaman.com

mikeforte said:

The brands you listed, Neihoff, Borg Warner, Champion are all good names and will probably be good to use in anything short of a full time racer.
If you continue to own any Jeep product you will either become a part/time mechanic or be broke from paying someone who is a mechanic.


JEEP = Just Empty Every Pocket.

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I was just surprised at how low the price was compared to most of the other stuff around that you're saying they're quality parts. I supposed at those prices, I could buy two sets and keep a spare set under the rear seat.

I've done quite a bit of my one work on two BMWs and another car during college. I'm capable of reading a service/repair manual for most things.

For a thread asking for an opinion, I'm surprised I've only been given three.

Any more suggestions, or is this thread to newbie to spend time posting on it?

Just doing the tune up tonight. Anyways I went with a brass terminaled cap and rotor.Champion plugs and good lifetime wires from Napa. Don't do what I did and not put any PB blaster on the cap screws and snap them off in the distributor:hang: . Good luck.

Drill and tap time

Or drill, and longer bolt with nut time I usually follow that approach if I can....

Mopar and most of the brands offered at Autozone and napa are usually pretty good. I generally like to stick to OEM for major ignition parts (Coil, module) I steer clear of anything ValueCraft (AutoZone's welfare brand) for any car. Particularly there brake pads. They smell like urine once you've heated them up a bit. But I digress.. Duralast is Decent. Niehoff caps/dist. rotors are fine.

$46.99 for a distributor cap is retarded in my opinion.

Edit: Oh, I can't speak for Bosch plugs, But I've had several sets of there brand new wires seperate from the boot. I was not impressed at all.

Duralast - "Built to last until the warranty expired."

Although I haven't had any problems. Still funny

I have had problems with their cheap cheap radiators though with the plastic tanks. That's not Duralast though.

I've used a mix/match of parts from Napa, Advanced Auto, and different places from the Internet. I've had the best luck with service and parts from my local Napa, they are family owned and have always been very helpful. But, on the other hand I just ordered a radiator from www.radiatorbarn.com and a condenser from www.teamcherokee.com , it really varies. Some people really like mom and pop places, and I would suspect you'd get great service from there too.

Regardless of what you're doing/buying search around these forums until you're blue in the face, you won't go unrewarded, there is a wealth of information here. There are other Jeep sites out there too that aren't that hard to find.

As far as plugs go, I just read a thread that said to use the OE Champion, or the Champion plugs for trucks, you don't need anything else.

I ordered the champion OE plugs from the local shop, but the rest I'll pick up online. I'm not going to pay 100 bucks for stuff that can be had for $30 online. The point of doing the work myself is to get what I want, not overpay on parts prices, and not pay for labor.

I'm a member of another forum that was specific to a BMW I had that had a ton of sticky/FAQ articles on "how-to's" and what not for frequently done work.

Is there a section on this forum somewhere I'm missing with how to's or something similar?

No, there isn't a consolidated "how to" on ...there are many posts throughout that detail the how-to items, and there are numerous personal websites (mine included) that cover a lot of the basics. 's "FAQ" seems to deal more with the non-illustrated descriptions of things.

Jim www.yuccaman.com

I recently did a Cap, rotor, wire and plug change using mopar stuff. The only thing that didn't last was the Champion spark plugs. It was fine at first but after a day the jeep developed a miss. So after talking to a friend that is very knowledgable, he told me to go with some Bosh plugs and everything has been fine since. When I pulled the champions the electrode on the one in Cyl#1 was almost touching, like it melted over or something.

99XJLove said:

I recently did a Cap, rotor, wire and plug change using mopar stuff. The only thing that didn't last was the Champion spark plugs. It was fine at first but after a day the jeep developed a miss. So after talking to a friend that is very knowledgable, he told me to go with some Bosh plugs and everything has been fine since. When I pulled the champions the electrode on the one in Cyl#1 was almost touching, like it melted over or something.

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Interesting. I wonder if you just had a bad plug. Bosch makes good plugs. They're the only one's I've ever used in my BMWs. I would think that the majority of the time the Champion plugs will work fine since they made OE spec plugs for Jeep. That's what a parts store guy told me yesterday anyway...

Napa Parts have always done me right, make sure your plugs are champion

An observation about buying parts from one of my previous posts;

"I bought a new harmonic balancer from NAPA ($4 and was showing it off to a friend before the tear down and noticed that the outer lip of the inside belt flange was BROKEN OFF on opposite sides. The part was still in the original, undamaged box and packing. It was made in CHINA and distributed by DORMAN (same as sold at Pep Boys, Auto-Zone, the local independent parts store and??). From my metallurgical training the break looked like a bad alloy used for the casting.

Next I went to the local "Stealership" to look at the genuine factory part, very well made and quite different looking, made in Canada. Last price is $76.50, stealership wants list PLUS 20%! ($91.80) and offered to come down to $85 after I mentioned the list price, no thanks. Finally ordered it from Jack Miller Jeep (http://www.allchryslerparts.com) for list MINUS 20% ($52.80)."

There is a lot of information to be found here and also plenty of personal "opinions".

Welcome to the "club".
Mike

i get reasonalble prices at the dealership i go to when i need a part for my 89. i find that if your friendly and talk like you know what the hell your doing, you get better prices. most of the time the guy behind the counter dosnt know much about an 89 cherokee and im giving him a lesson half the time.

PhotographerMike said:

An observation about buying parts from one of my previous posts;

"I bought a new harmonic balancer from NAPA ($4 and was showing it off to a friend before the tear down and noticed that the outer lip of the inside belt flange was BROKEN OFF on opposite sides. The part was still in the original, undamaged box and packing. It was made in CHINA and distributed by DORMAN (same as sold at Pep Boys, Auto-Zone, the local independent parts store and??). From my metallurgical training the break looked like a bad alloy used for the casting.

Next I went to the local "Stealership" to look at the genuine factory part, very well made and quite different looking, made in Canada. Last price is $76.50, stealership wants list PLUS 20%! ($91.80) and offered to come down to $85 after I mentioned the list price, no thanks. Finally ordered it from Jack Miller Jeep (http://www.allchryslerparts.com) for list MINUS 20% ($52.80)."

There is a lot of information to be found here and also plenty of personal "opinions".

Welcome to the "club".
Mike

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I hate buying parts from the dealership for anything. I have picked up fuel filters for the BMWs there, but not much else. I'm just glad to be back to a normal key, $1.87 at Walmart versus $40+ and the wait to order one for the BMW.

I know how to do basic mechanical stuff with my cars, but brand names and who makes quality parts, that stuff I don't know much about other than in the BMW world. That's all I've driven for the last few years.

So, now that I have an American car, first one actually, the parts world is quite a bit different. I had never heard of Champion plugs until yesterday...

Without taking the distributor cap/rotor apart, is there any way to tell which part number I need for my jeep? All the parts websites seem to have two different versions available and both use a different rotor button.

I guess what I'm looking for in this thread is what parts/companies to stay away from. Most of the questions I've asked have been answered with "that company is ok" or "that part is fine."

Maybe some of this information could be sticky-ed or made into an FAQ. The BMW forum I used had information listing specific parts/companies that were a problem, for example, the Bosch Platinum 4 was not a good spark plug for the inline 4 cylinder from 89 forward...stuff like that was made available.