'96 or '97?

'96 XJ Up Country

I bought it new in December of '96. That was the year they updated the XJ and didn't debut the '97 model until after Christmas.

Apparently, mine was one of the last '96 models built. The body and interior are clearly 1996. I keep having to buy '97 parts for it, though. In the past, I've replaced the IAT, TPS, and MAP sensors. The '96 model parts wouldn't fit, but trips back to the parts store with the old parts showed them to be '97 parts. I thought this was simply the engine, but the fan switch went bad last week, and it ended up being a '97 part, too.

Has anyone heard of this, and does anyone know what parts should be '96 model, and which ones should be '97?

Whats the build date? The 97+ body style was on the lots by July of 96.

My build date is June of '96. DC used a combination of 96 and 97 parts on my XJ. A trip to the parts store means carrying the old parts and do line up comparison.
I think the build apprentis at DC would first check '96 parts bin. If the part is not there then he will then go to the '97 parts bin. There is no rime or reason to the combination of parts used on my XJ.

BonesBrosChris said:

Whats the build date? The 97+ body style was on the lots by July of 96.

Click to expand...

I used to know this, how do I determine the build date?

Also, every dealer I spoke to here in Oklahoma when I was negotiating for my Jeep, and on Jeep.com and Edmunds.com, where I did the research on my XJ before buying it, I was told the '97 model was delayed because of the updates, and they'd continued to produce '96 models much later in the year than normal to compensate. I wanted to order a '97 model in November of '96, and was told they wouldn't be available till February or March of '97, so I hunted around till I found a '96 that had everything I wanted (except the power mirrors, dang it).

My son's 96 has the 97 style wiring harness, later style PCU, and the later MAP sensor placement on the throttle body. I don't know whether this is universal to the 96, but his is certainly this way. All the connectors are visibly different from the earlier type, with a different shape and a different locking method.

I'm not sure about some other parts, but both the times he's ordered front axle u-joints, he's gotten the wrong ones.

I wonder if part of the problem here is just that the parts people are getting it wrong, or their references are wrong. In your case, though, I think you can assume that engine sensors and any part that includes a connector with the engine wiring harness will differ from the 91-95 type, and match the 97.

Oh, I forgot to mention one other bit: I'm pretty sure that the 96 design includes the change in rear driveshaft slip yoke design. Peek under it and look for a rubber boot on the tail end of the transfer case. If it's there, your rear drive shaft is also the later type.

Matthew Currie said:

My son's 96 has the 97 style wiring harness, later style PCU, and the later MAP sensor placement on the throttle body. I don't know whether this is universal to the 96, but his is certainly this way. All the connectors are visibly different from the earlier type, with a different shape and a different locking method.

I'm not sure about some other parts, but both the times he's ordered front axle u-joints, he's gotten the wrong ones.

I wonder if part of the problem here is just that the parts people are getting it wrong, or their references are wrong. In your case, though, I think you can assume that engine sensors and any part that includes a connector with the engine wiring harness will differ from the 91-95 type, and match the 97.

Oh, I forgot to mention one other bit: I'm pretty sure that the 96 design includes the change in rear driveshaft slip yoke design. Peek under it and look for a rubber boot on the tail end of the transfer case. If it's there, your rear drive shaft is also the later type.

Click to expand...

I asked a parts guy at a Jeep dealership about this a long time ago. He said the delay in the '97 model's release was unexpected, and the decision was made to keep producing '96 models to keep XJ's in the dealership till the new ones came out, but that the engine production line had already switched over to the '97 model, so they put those engines in the '96's. I can't remember how to check it, but I did in the past, and I'm pretty sure my '96 was built in August, September or October of '96. I remember being surprised that it had been built so late in the year.

What the parts guy told me about the engine made sense, but I was puzzled about the fan switch, since '97 had a completely different dash. I guess more than the engine line had switched over to '97 parts by the time mine was built.

And it's not just the engine's electronics. I replaced the head in 2004. One of the parts I got from the dealership (I think it was the pushrods) was different, too. I had to go back and swap them for '97 models. Maybe it was the head gasket? I can't remember now.

I was just looking at this thread, as I was searching about the different slip yoke on the '96, the one with the rubber boot. How do I go about removing the driveshaft? Do I simply undo the rear joint and then slide it out? BTW, stuff under the hood of the 'new' '96 Classic looks different than my '96 Country, especially the fuel injectors. What else would be different, as I am looking at most likely doing u-joints, etc. It was manufactured in Sept. of 1996, certainly a 'hang-over' vehicle! Thanks

Years ago, I had John Muir's Complete Idiots Guide to Aircooled Volkswagens.

They described the 1966 bug as "half old, half new, all bad".

The 'all bad' does not apply to the 96; but it is a 'transition year'. It's a hodge-podge of old and new.
Dare I say it's a 'good' year: It has the updated electronics but the old interior (which I like) and the old HVAC system, which doesn't have the crappy evaporators (97-?).