Hoping all the knowledgeable folks on here can give me a little advice.
Picked up a 96 XJ 4.0 a couple of weeks back. Just in the last couple of days, I've noticed that the engine idle is jumping a bit when I'm coasting down hill.

After reading a few threads on here, sounds like a good place to start would be the switching up the TPS, and that I should probably stick to a Mopar part with this one.

Called up the Jeep dealer this morning, and he said for the '96, there are two different ones available. One for the OBDII and one without. I'm not sure which version I need, so just wondering if there is an easy way to tell if my Jeep is set up with the OBDII? My first thought was just looking for port to plug in the diagnostic tool and seeing if it matched the one on my other newer vehicles, but then, I wasn't sure if that port changed between the OBDI and the OBDII.

The guy at the dealership said for my model, the VIN number wouldn't even help him narrow it down, and that I should just pull it off and bring it in to compare them. Only problem with that is that this is my DD for now, and I really would like to avoid having to dig out my little Honda do drive for one day.

The other thing was the price form the dealership. They sell it for $109, which seems quite a bit higher than I can find online for other "genuine Mopar" parts. So question two is, can I trust that I'm getting a real Mopar TPS from an online source... especially when I see them for quite a bit less money?

Since I'm relatively new to wrenching on cars, and even newer to wrenching on Jeeps, was just hoping someone could point me in the right direction.

 

THe 96 was a bit of a weird year, in regards to parts. Sort of a transitional phase to the update year (1997). Some 96's even have parts from 95 as well as 97 in them, to make things even more confusing.

As for the dealer versus aftermarket/online. Mopar should be good, and if you can find one, buy it. Yes , the dealer is most likely 'reliable' in what you pay for, but like you said, it is a few $$ more.

Can't answer the OBDI versus II question, but sure somebody who can, will chime in here. Likely quite simple.

 

Well, after some more research, I'm thinking this must be an OBDII XJ. The door sticker says it was produced in 3/96 and from what I can tell from google, as of 1/96 all manufacturers had to have things switched over. So some of the 96 model year XJ's that were made in late '95 might still be the original OBD but as of January of 96, they all had to be OBDII.

I did see a reference on the internet to a sticker on the firewall that would say OBD or OBDII, but haven't had time this afternoon to crawl up under there to look, but I'll double check on that sticker before I throw money out on the TPS, just to be sure.

 

As far as I know, all vehicles manufactured in the US from 1996 onwards, had to be OBDII compliant. With your '96 therefore, I'm leaning towards the same.

 

All 96 model years are OBDII. If your title says it's a 96 it has OBDII.

 

That's what I always thought too, until the parts guy at the Jeep dealership told me there were a few 96 xj's that were not OBDII. He said he hasn't run in to very many but with my luck, if I hadn't have checked, I would have had him order the wrong part.

OR...... he could be totally wrong and gave me some false info... but in my research, I did see some reference to '96 model year XJ's, produced in late 1995 that had not been switched over yet... so I don't think he was wrong.

 

Considering it's the law, he's wrong... All vehicles produced 1996 and later have to be OBDII. 1996s are a lot different in general... Not just obd-ii. I'm very doubtful that it's obd-i. Take a look at the port... Obdi and obdii are completely different port designs

 

So stopped by the dealership on the way home to look at the two different sensors that he said were available for the '96 xj. Found out he didn't actually have either in stock and he told me they would not be ordering any, since they were becoming hard to get and they just didn't get enough demand for them.

I've heard some Mopar parts for the XJ were getting harder to find, but I didn't expect him to just say that they weren't even going to try getting what I needed. So much for small town customer service.

SO searched online for Mopar parts and a few different web sites, and I guess he was right. I couldn't find any web sight, that sold mopar parts, that had a TPS for a 96. There were a couple on Ebay, but I really don't know if I should trust ebay... seems like there are a lot of horror stories of people getting knock off items that were billed as genuine.

Guess I'm going to have to settle for aftermarket, but really don't know which brands to trust. Every thread I've read says to go with the OEM from the dealer... but if I remember correctly, Echlin from NAPA was somewhat decent. Can anyone think of an aftermarket brand that might be better? Echlin seems to have a better warranty than the others I looked at, but was wondering if I'm missing something.

 

That might be worth a try, heard Napa being mentioned before. Not familiar with all the brands available in the US, and if you can't get your hands on an OEM one, you have no choice but aftermarket. One with the best warranty might be the best shot

 

OK, now I'm thoroughly confused.... I did some more looking this morning, and if I search for a Mopar TPS for a 96 xj, it always comes up as discontinued.

But then I noticed that there is a TPS with the part number 4761871AC and it says it "replaces" the previous part number that was for the 91-96 XJ. This one seems very available online, at a reasonable price, and looks like it should fit the plug on my Jeep. The problem, when I enter my vehicle info... year, make, trim, etc... the part sites tell me it is not a match for my vehicle, and then they take me to the "correct" TPS which says it is discontinued. Might also be why the young kid at the dealer told me why they couldn't get them anymore... Seems like they would have something in their computer system that should have alerted them to a replacement OEM part number, but who knows?

So, in all the gathered knowledge on this forum, is 4761871AC the correct OEM part number for my TPS? (96 XJ 4.0)

For the price difference between online vs. dealer, I would rather save the 40% and order it online, but want to make sure I'm telling them to send me the correct part.

 

PM sent

 

I think this is what you need 04874371AC . I beleive chrysler still has stock left, prob pricey though

 

Only have the 97-99 parts catalog so can't verify this for ye...

 

The parts department guys at my local dealership always ask for a VIN no matter the model year before they quote price and availability. Your parts guy is a bit of a knucklehead.

 

Agreed! I actually asked him if he wanted the VIN and he said it wouldn't help him. He was a really young guy, so I'm hoping next time I stop in, I get some crusty old parts veteran who knows what the heck they're talking about. LOL

Nothing against the young folks... hell, there are teenagers who know about wrenching on cars than I'll probably ever know.... but I don't think this kid was one of them.