BrawnyDog

Can confirm. My interior makes all kinds of noise

MOOSE 843

Sorry guys, been down with my back for the last couple of days. Anyway, Mine is a 99 XJ, 2wd. I just remember I heard somewhere (another site maybe) that the best XJ's were the 97-99, but I don't remember why. I just wanted to make sure that I didn't get one that had a bunch of problems or something that I would be continually working on.

JPXJMOAB

I've heard the 97 was a wiring nightmare ..

Orlo

I've had my 98 for 6 years. It requires $300 in repairs annually to keep it functioning perfectly. Not bad for 16 years old. Other than an O2 sensor, the emissions systems have been trouble free. No problems with annual inspections and the rig drives nicely. It seems to follow the experiences that most report for the 97-99 year Cherokees. Very reliable with modern safety and convenience systems. Hard to go wrong with one from those 3 years.

Boosted

I asked myself this same question and after hours of research and reading, I decided to get my 98. I was hoping to find a 99 only because it is technically a year newer but basically the same.

BrawnyDog

Uh, you might want to get another vehicle

forcefed44

Mine is a '95 4.0 4 Door base with auto 1 owner with 122K. My friend has a 98 and has nothing but problems.. Mine is just a bit "hot" running atm..

1994

Mine's a 94 SE with the 2.5L amc engine. 4x4, ax5 transmission. 303k miles never used a tire unevenly or had brake shimmy. Never any serious issues other than a starter, alternator, radiator, water pump. I'm just now replacing worn suspension components.

Still gets me 400 miles to a tank of gas and doesn't use up any kinds of fluids.

I decided to inspect the pushrods at 300k - suspecting they may have been warped from all the wear. I took two out ... one from the front and the one second from the back. They were as straight as the day they were originally installed.

Biggest problem? The drivers door(2 door). The factory weld broke loose from the upper mount and no one .. I mean no one has ever been able to get it back right. The last guy to try gooped it up with mig pretty bad and wound up burning through the door.

She's beautiful though.

JamromXJ

They're out there, few and far between. I ran into one at the JY. Thought it was a 2000 until I looked at the door plate. Production was 99, NY reg was 1999 and it had a 0331 head... as per the forge number on the head.

Not sure why, but they used that head in that year.

Read it a a few times on this forum as well... and it's also on the list in that video from Bleepin' Jeep. '99 - cracked head.

Again... it's not the primary head for '99. Like I said, the best policy is to have a LOOK at what you're buying... which means open the hood, scrape the crud and read the numbers.

JR.

BrawnyDog

The confusion might be in that production numbers don't always reflect model year. For example mine is a 99 but the production date was in late 98.

JamromXJ

I agree. I knew what I was after when I bought my XJ but I still checked. I pissed off the previous owner because I took so long and really ripped it apart looking and checking data plates.

I'm just passing along the point that the year should not be the only reason to buy a model.

Best to always look at things. You never know what you really have until you own it.

JR

MOOSE 843

Not what I meant. So far I have changed the oil, repaired a broken rear shock mount,(the other has already been repaired) I have a noise that I'm not sure if its the ac compressor or the electric fan, I need to change the front shocks, install the new tires and rims, and do a brake job. All of that is normal wear & tear routine maintenance. What I mean is that I don't want to be replacing lifters, rods, springs, piston rings, heads, etc, because there was some dysfunction in them for that year model. I love working on maintaining or modifying the vehicles, I just don't want to keep replacing the same parts because of a problem. Like my Ford truck that is on its 3rd water pump in 2 years.

Fred/N0AZZ

Any of the searches will tell you they changed to it in mid 99, I have posted that many times here before.


The 97-99's were the best year's IMHO, with the early 99's being the best of both worlds before they went downhill. In the 00-01's with the head and the LPD30 instead of the HP's plus all the extra sensor's for emissions and no dist. There were other things changed that made them less desirable IMO and why I searched for almost 7 mo. before I found a 99 that I liked for the price I wanted to pay.


But it ends up with what you can find and what kind of work you can do or parts that need to be changed like on the 00/01 models. After all these are old SUV's and will require some work and $$$$ heavy on the $$$$ part