Last month I posted a thread in regards to a 94' XJ I bought with 142K in decent shape for $2200.

Its difficult almost to "catch" everything in an initial inspection. I think this guy ripped me off. There are problems now that he claimed he's never heard of before or it could be one hell of a strong coincidence of the matter that all these things are occurring now at once.

At this point I just want to get rid of it.

But it needs the following easily:

New tires.
New brakes, all around, including rotors or maybe more.
The linkage underneath the jeep that engages the 4wd is broke, so I can only use 2wd now.
It needs a tune up bad, everything-plugs, wires, fluids, etc.
It has started making this clicking noise only in drive-I have no idea.
The check engine light is on.
The rust is apparent where the floorboards are, and I knew that, however upon further inspection there is almost a football sized hole in the middle of the underbody and the carpet is exposed.

At this point, I wanna choke the guy I bought it from. Some of the stuff like brakes, tires and the rust I knew when I bought it but the rest has suddenly appeared.

I'm not sure if I should just cut my losses and sell it for $1500 and learn a lesson, or keep it and fix everything which will cost at least $1000 and thats counting on if I do the repairs myself.

The worst part is, its a basic model with basic wheels and basic interior. It looks like a service vehicle, which it was..

Thanks for hearing me whine.

 

The only thing that sounds too bad is the rust.

4x4 not working could be as simple as a vacuum line. the check engine could be lots of things....check the code it is running right?

Most of these things can be expected on ANY used vehicle. just my .02

 

First off don't get too down, we have all gotton not so good deals. We learn from these and move on. Thing you have to ask yourself is do you want to fix it, or sell it and tell them what's wrong, not doing the same. A good person will tell you everything, and the rest will lie, or just not know everything. In some ways I think there's more bad people than good, but hopefully I'm wrong lol. The rust may not have been known by the PO, the oil and fluids should ALWAYS been changed, period so that's some of the not so bad things.

 

id say keep it bud, it sucks that all of this happened after you bought it but thats life though. This way, if you keep it and do it yourself then you know its all done right and I always love working on my jeep which im sure you will learn to love being a new jeep owner. for the linkage go to a jy, get some sheet metal to replace the rusted section in the floorboards and weld the new in. and its easy stuff considering plugs and fluids. heck everytime i buy another jeep and replace all of that crap anyways bad or not just so I know its good for sure to prevent future problems. But don't get discouraged but and stick with it. It will be rewarding in the future!

 

Don;t be discouraged...I think you can get alot of this work done by your self and for cheaper than you think. Brakes, tune up and tires are gonna need to be done at some point reguardless. Linkage can be fixed easily or maybe just adjusted. The noise and check engine light can be a number of things but can be worked out if you do some research. And as for rust on the floor...welcome to the world of xj's.

 

Even if you do have to put $1000 into it, you will still have less invested than I do in my 91. I paid $900 for it and have sank over $4000 in it so far. During first month I had it the repair list included, head gasket, water pump, thermostat, radiator hoses, tires, 1 front hub assembly, complete brake system replacement (except master cylinder), fuel pump, fuel filter, rear leaf springs, and shocks. That does not include the second lift to go up to 6.5 inches, the second set of tires and rims, and all the other misc. parts I have bought to build a better offroad capable vehicle.

 

Don't feel bad at all, I paid 3grand for a 95 and where do I begin. The transfer case EXPLODES on I65 $200 tow bill, and the ,,,,, reloacted the trac bar using a piece of fender he trimmed off, in turn the bolt backed out and you talking about a wobble running on I65 again it was snow and ice off the imbankment I went just waitng for it to roll. Called the guy and ask him if he was trying to kill someone and his reply was it was fine when I drove it home.

 

Well, the miles are good--less than 10,000 per year.

It is a 4X4.

It didn't get liquid glass poured into its engine until it seized, then hauled off to the crusher.

Most of what you mention is everyday wearout/maintenance items you can expect to repair/relace on any used vehicle. The PO, knowing he/she was going to sell it soon, stopped putting money into it. This is common.

Cut back to soild metal and have a patch panel welded in. Seal it well. It will last a long time. You shouldn't have worried too much about the rust you did see--woory about the rust you didn't see on initial inspection.

You didn't pay full new price for the vehicle. Expect to take some of that savings and put back into it to make it safe, comfortable and reliable. You will still be ahead in money. And its a 4X4.

Take care of the safety items first.

You've got "buyer's remorse". Recognize it, accept it, pull yourself together, and start working on your project. You will be happier as things are fixed one by one. You will be adding value and usefullnes to your purchase.

Never, ever, ever, give up.

 

my jeep needed exactly everything yours does,granted i only spent $1500 on buying it,I said F it and fixed everything. The passenger front floor was rusted big time,i just layed a fiberglass mat over it and fiberglassed it then rhino lined it. Its solid as hell. Every vehicle is gonna need fixing up,fix it and you'll love it more so after everything is fixed. But hey its up to you.

 

Personally I don't think you got ripped off. Unless you never drove it or saw it before the purchase. Most of those issues would have been evident in a good test drive.

 

If you are in Ohio I'll buy it for $800 any time.

 

If you lived near me I would say yes, sell it, to me, for $250(lol) and move on.(lol) But since you don't, go ahead and put the money into it, I'm sure we all can guarentee you will like it a lot once it is running up to par and will never want to part with it.

 

Sounds like the same thing that happened to me. When i bought mine i looked at everything twice and still i had a lot of things that i misses. But i got the PO to drop the price 600. Next time take it to a trusted repair shop. Start taking my rig to one trusted shop with the fixes you can't do at home. Get to know the people there and if it works out like mine they start charging less and for simple fixes there free. Then i went to buy another jeep and took it there for an inspection and they said don't buy. Pointed out some major flaws that i missed and i returned the jeep to the dealer. Saved me a lot of money. Just an idea for next time. And if the person selling the jeep doesn't want you to take it to have it inspected then you most likely should look elsewhere.

 

"You've got "buyer's remorse". Recognize it, accept it, pull yourself together, and start working on your project. You will be happier as things are fixed one by one. You will be adding value and usefullnes to your purchase.

Never, ever, ever, give up. "


gotta love that statement! hubby had buyers remorse for only a moment, then he decided get the more important stuff done to his xj and we just got back yesterday from susanville visiting a friend and the "red beast" did wonderfully and never overheated once or have any unusual sounds...he was a happy camper so was i...esp. when i got to drive it a bit because he got sleepy from eating some food, heehee!

 

mate look at it this way.
you can now build it how you want it,
after you have fixed all the bits and bobs you know its a good truck, and you will learn about it on the way.
ive seen many people pay big money for cars that given a short space of time will need all that work anyway.
so the only way is up.
be positive