jeepMI

Lovin the responses.

My dad and his friend took it around today and my dads friend is a car guy. He rebuilt something or another.... Well when they got back my dad told me he had them replace what his friend told him to. The belts, oil change and i think something else. Not sure though.

Also im not sure if i posted this earlier, but original owner had an aftermarket sunroof installed, which i think is awesome. Except they had little to no knowledge of how to remove the headliner.

I should start a newb teen build thread. Lol. But my brothers and i started removing all the interior trim and pulled the headliner out. The quick disconnecting things for anything electrical were annoying. So i am starting to learn. Hopefully learn more as i go along.

So my dads friend said and reassured us we really dont need much of that list.

bakas

If the Jeep is starting and going well, this list is just a bs. Don't fix something that isn't broken! Or your Jeep adventure will be less fun, and much more expensive. Your jeep will act crazy sometimes, there will be weird noises, AC won't work, windows won't roll down etc.. It will tell you when it needs fixing. But you will love the fact that it does those things, and you'll understand the phrase "It's a Jeep thing.. You don't understand".

Take good care of your Jeep, learn to work on it. You'll love it when working on your XJ, it is pretty easy to work on. I was a total noob as a mechanic(Really, never held a wrench before) just 8 months ago when I got my XJ, now my friends call me to fix/paint their cars and stuff. I earned thousands already by just doing most things myself .

jeepMI

Bakas, i would love to dig into it and figure it out. But im pretty tied up with school and sports. Its jr. year for me and I'm in pretty much all college classes. If it were the beginning of summer, it might be a different story. It starts and runs fine but there definitely some things that need replacing.

rodie1200

I rebuilt the front end of my car once, new tie-rods, ball joints upper and lower a-frame bushings the whole nine yards. Nothing and I mean nothing was Not replaced.
Took the car to Firestone to align the front end. The manager tells me they can't align the front end because it's worn out but nothing they can't fix.
Well you can just about guess what I said or wanted to say to him.
I told him that was very strange since I just replaced EVERYTHING in the front end!
Told him to give me my keys and I would take it else where.
Can't say here what I did say to him (in front of other customers) but my mother would have washed my mouth out with soap!
Now i'm not saying Every Firestone shop is like this but there are some out there looking to make a quick buck so be careful. Find someone you trust to give the Jeep a look over and repair the things that need repaired in order to have a safe vehicle.

playbass

Doh! I must have ordered the last one last year. Sorry.

CherokeeJake1

So worth it. I did not know much mechanically when I bought my XJ but I'm slowly learning and expanding my knowledge as I've learned just about any problem you have its on this site with a write up. 66k miles too? So worth it.

jeepMI

I dont know much either. But i was talking more dropping 4g's like firestone suggested. Im gonna take it to a couple other places.

Turbo X_J

Given the fact it's a year 2000 & a stolen - recovery, I would make this the first project. You can even borrow the tools from Autozone as long as you have a spark plug socket & ratchet you are good to go:
then,

jakecarder

wow buddy i wish i lived near you. even if i was 3 hrs away id grab some friends of mine and take a road trip to you just to do all this for you. im no certified mechanic but just like everyone else here that whole list is easy. it could all be knocked out in an evening after work with 2 people. good luck buddy and dont come close to spending 1000 on that including parts and labor. i know how shops can be, expecially with me living east coast hour away from D.C. theres a hack job shop every mile in the cities.
i hope some one chimes in thats closethat would be cool enough to come turn some wrenchs for you and teach you a few things.

jakecarder

if that shop did a fluid change on your transmission you need to call them and make sure they used dex/merc and not ATF. if they used ATF in your automatic tranny then you will have huge costs down the road. also you need to get on top of your cooling system now. it needs to be 100% all the time. i have a 2000 also and we both have casting 0331 heads. they tend to crack and crack fairly easy. if you let it over heat just once chance is its gone. you need new thermostat, water pump and throw a new rad cap on it. using garden hose flush the heck out of the rad by itself so you dont push stuf into the motor then do the motor. you said it sat for quite some time im sure that rad inside is pretty nasty. id replace it if it were my jeep because i know all the horror storys about our heads ad just a peice of mind.

jeepMI

Thanks for the advice. I actually just got back from the O'reillys because they were the only ones open.
I picked up:
Wipers Spark plugs
Brake pad
Monroe shocks
I need to get replacement leaf springs to fix some sag.

If anyone is willing to help and is within a reasonable distance, let me know! I need to learn.
I believe i still need a coolant flush and ill check what transmission fluid they used, if it was changed.
On the declined work description, it says trans fluid exchange w/ versa trans.
Heres a pic of everything we declined. A family friend told us to only get oil, belts, and filter change.




This is what we declined but what they recommended





I got some paint to redo the fenders, trim, bumpers and to do the wheels. But now I'm fairly worried about everything else.
Ive read that i can replace the gasket with a newer version that wont crack as easily. Any idea on the cost of this?

Turbo X_J

The gasket itself usually won't fail, the problem is a crack will develop in the cylinder head itself if it gets too hot. Do the compression & cooling system tests first, you can also search 0331 which is the head casting number.

Radi

When you decide to do the leaf springs, start soaking the bolts with Kroil or PB Blaster a few days beforehand. The hardware, particularly the front mounting bolts can get stuck pretty good.
Same with the upper rear shock bolts. Don't be surprised if you snap one (not a difficult fix).

Don't let the head issue bother you. It isn't the gasket that fails, it's the head itself. But we're talking a few percent of all those on the road- most live a long, happy life with no head issues.
If you start losing coolant for no apparent reason, that'd be the time to worry about it. In the meantime keep the cooling system maintained, don't let it overheat and don't let it keep you up at night.
FWIW there is relatively little on these jeeps that can't be fixed with common tools and parts are not expensive.

Ditto on Dexron III being the correct trans fluid and ATF+4 being problematic.
Some folks report their trans slips after using it. It isn't a big crisis if they used it, just dump it out and replace it with Dexron.

jeepMI

Actually picked up pb blaster today. Along with a chilton repair manual. Someone recommended it in my 'build' thread.
Is versa-trans a good trans fluid? They didnt change it, but it probably should be changed. I have a picture of what we told them not to do in my post above

Radi

Versatrans is one of those universal fluids. On one hand it is specifically listed as acceptable in Dexron III applications, but on the other it's also spec'd for ATF+4 applications.
I've never used it, but if it is equivalent to ATF+4 I'd stay away as ATF+4 has had issues in the AW4 . You can find DexIII for the same or less money and it's known to work correctly.