Added an oldie but a goodie to the stable

**TTQ B4U** · 01-30-2019, 08:51 PM

So as I began hunting for a vehicle for my 15.5yr old "mini-me" I pretty much was ready to pull the trigger on a local vehicle who's owner I knew well......right up until this gem popped up on a forum I'm a part of. While I wasn't in the market for a Jeep, this one proved too good to be true. Add in the price was outstanding so I jumped on it. These things are selling for crazy prices with 135-200k on the ODO. This one has a mere 85k on her. Super low miles for the last year of the Jeep XJ, 2001.

Say hello to "Old Blue" as his former owner affectionately referred to him as. Great lady and one who truly took amazing care of her vehicle. This beauty will undergo a great detail but honestly, inside, the car is like brand new. If NEW is a 10 this one is a 7.5 to 8 as-is. Her main passenger was her elderly mom and she kept is as long as she did because her wheel chair fit in the back much easier than in the RDX she had eyed up and eventually bought. Even the underside is like new. She admitted to taking it in snow but not very often. She works from home and just plain didn't venture out much and when she did she drove her previous Acura, an AWD TL.

Overall plans are to keep her nearly stock. No real "Jeep" oriented mods. First updates will be:

Full in/out detail and ceramic coating of course!
Tires. These measure at 6/32nds and it needs some quality rubber before I put my son in it.
Tint. Easy enough to do and remove if needed. Looking at 35% on the rears and 50% on the sides. I know some will disagree but I want him to be able to see out of the back at night.
Stereo. I'll keep the stock one but a decent set of speakers and a blue tooth head unit with android auto, etc. will be on the list for sure. He's going to want to have some tunes and like it or not, I don't want him holding a phone and we all know at some point they are out of our control...
Mechanically she's very sound and has had all the major stuff done. I'm going to check out the steering box and see if an adjustment will shore it up and go from there.
Lastly, I need to get a spare key fob. It's old enough that I'm sure a generic one may work but I have to read up on what's needed here and perhaps how they are programed.

Stay tuned for more later but in the mean time she's going to enjoy the garage and warm up a bit before I can escape the day to day life of work and break out the buffer.

**Breese147** · 01-30-2019, 09:10 PM

Congrats that paint looks promising to bring a lot of gloss out! Also 35% would most likely be perfect all around and will help out a bit more with heat rejection vs. 50%.

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**PaulMys** · 01-31-2019, 06:40 PM

Does it have the inline 6?

**LSNAutoDetailing** · 01-31-2019, 08:32 PM

Sweet XJ!

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**TTQ B4U** · 02-01-2019, 07:43 AM

Originally Posted by PaulMys

Does it have the inline 6?

Yes. 4.0litre

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**SWETM** · 02-01-2019, 08:06 AM

Awesome Jeep! And congrats to you and your son for a great find! Nice color too.

/ Tony

**Paul A.** · 02-01-2019, 09:04 AM

Congrats on the find and new addition. Your son will be rockin' a brand new whip when you're done!

**oneheadlite** · 02-01-2019, 01:47 PM

Congrats on the new rig! Should be a good shooter for your guy. Nice for him to start off in a car that's not at spaceship level tech like so many kids will be learning on (all the driving aids etc). He'll get a solid foundation of actually being a DRIVER. Also nice to not start off with a bazillion horsepower like is so readily available in a lot of cars. Though you can still get into plenty of mischief with a Jeep...

While I readily confess my experience as a tech has all been on the German side of life, one thing to remember is that even though it's low miles, it's still 18-19 years old. I've had coworkers and friends with Jeeps (one with a sister truck to yours). Things I've observed: If you don't have record of one, put a Crankshaft Position Sensor in it for peace of mind sake (I've replaced one for a friend in my tenure, and my coworker with the sister truck's was giving him fits). I highly recommend a Genuine Jeep piece as I've had bad experiences (though this is the German side talking) with aftermarket sensors being junk. Definitely go Genuine if you have fuel pump/pressure regulator issues - my coworker got burned on that with his.

If you do end up doing Jeep-y stuff with it and lifting it, be sure to do your homework. (Again,) My coworker shot himself in the foot by doing a suspension lift but not correcting driveline angles and ended up chasing a nasty vibration. I wasn't involved in any of that fiasco, but I think he ended up lowering at least the transfer case to get angles back in check. I'm sure there's a TON of info on the interwebs about it.

If you ever need any help with anything on it, feel free to ping me - I know a guy with a ton of Jeep/Chrysler group experience. He's got a crazy articulating Grand Cherokee he plays with. Also, I think MattPersman here or Autopia is a Mopar Tech.

Looking forward to pics when you're done! You always just kill it when you do cars.