JeepNoob
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Pueblo, Colorado
Hey guys, I'm sorry if this seems a little rash or too upfront, but here's the deal- I've been looking around for a new daily driver, preferably some sort of small SUV with 4x4 and a manual transmission. I don't need anything crazy, just something to get me to school and back and maybe out into the boonies on the weekends. Being that I'm a full-time college student, money is almost always tight, and I prefer to buy vehicles outright. My search recently led me to a 1996 XJ 4-door 4x4 with the 4.0 and the 5-speed and WOW. Does it need some TLC... Now I know how to work on vehicles and such, but this thing set off a lot of alarm bells for me, unfortunately as my user nsme suggests, I'm a little new to the whole Jeep world and their issues, so I was hoping to get your guys' opinion on this stuff-
296,000-something miles: This is what the odometer read, and for me is the biggest issue. Now I know these 4.0's are pretty durable, but that's still a lot of miles. Weird thing is, the engine didn't seem like it had THAT MANY miles. Once we were able to start it (dead battery) it ran fine, no disturbing noises, no puffs of smoke out of the dipstick tube, oil pressure was 40 PSI at idle, 60 going down the road (according to the in-dash gauge anyhow, gauge also seemed like it didn't want to go all the way down to zero when the engine was shut off), a bit of smoke and water droplets out of the tailpipe, but I chalked that up to it being cold and the truck having sat for awhile, no CEL illimunated. To make matters worse, I've no idea if the engine, transmission, T-case, etc had been rebuilt or replaced at some point, or if the gauge cluster had been replaced.
Clutch and transmission- Now I know how to drive stick, and I've driven quite a few stick-shift vehicles (everything from a 4-banger Stratus to a Dodge Dakota 4x4 with a 4.7 V8), but I've NEVER felt a clutch like this before. Took a bunch of effort to engage it, didn't seem to have a lot of travel, and when I came re-engaged the clutch driving down the road, it would bang the whole truck. Did they all shift like this or is this something I'll have to look into? I also noticed that to keep the tranny in reverse, I had to apply light pressure to the shifter and even then, I noticed a whine, but apparently this is normal with the AX-15's due to their use of a straight-cut reverse gear?
There's also a whole bunch of other issues with the truck (bald tires, worn rotors, missing parts, dirty oil, sloppy steering, rough ride, etc, etc) that I'll have to look into and fix, but luckily I can do all that work myself. For what it's worth, the asking price right now is dead-on KBB price for the thing with 296,000 miles in fair condition, but with that being said, I don't want to buy it and have something major blow up after driving it for 2 months, especially if I just dumped a bunch of money into it to get it driveable in the first place.
296,000-something miles: This is what the odometer read, and for me is the biggest issue. Now I know these 4.0's are pretty durable, but that's still a lot of miles. Weird thing is, the engine didn't seem like it had THAT MANY miles. Once we were able to start it (dead battery) it ran fine, no disturbing noises, no puffs of smoke out of the dipstick tube, oil pressure was 40 PSI at idle, 60 going down the road (according to the in-dash gauge anyhow, gauge also seemed like it didn't want to go all the way down to zero when the engine was shut off), a bit of smoke and water droplets out of the tailpipe, but I chalked that up to it being cold and the truck having sat for awhile, no CEL illimunated. To make matters worse, I've no idea if the engine, transmission, T-case, etc had been rebuilt or replaced at some point, or if the gauge cluster had been replaced.
Clutch and transmission- Now I know how to drive stick, and I've driven quite a few stick-shift vehicles (everything from a 4-banger Stratus to a Dodge Dakota 4x4 with a 4.7 V8), but I've NEVER felt a clutch like this before. Took a bunch of effort to engage it, didn't seem to have a lot of travel, and when I came re-engaged the clutch driving down the road, it would bang the whole truck. Did they all shift like this or is this something I'll have to look into? I also noticed that to keep the tranny in reverse, I had to apply light pressure to the shifter and even then, I noticed a whine, but apparently this is normal with the AX-15's due to their use of a straight-cut reverse gear?
There's also a whole bunch of other issues with the truck (bald tires, worn rotors, missing parts, dirty oil, sloppy steering, rough ride, etc, etc) that I'll have to look into and fix, but luckily I can do all that work myself. For what it's worth, the asking price right now is dead-on KBB price for the thing with 296,000 miles in fair condition, but with that being said, I don't want to buy it and have something major blow up after driving it for 2 months, especially if I just dumped a bunch of money into it to get it driveable in the first place.