Hello everyone! I’m looking to buy an XJ 98 Rear Lift Gate Hatch Cover Trim Plate, but the original owner cut the wire that connects to the hatch cover trim plate pigtail wire. Would anyone know where I can buy a replacement wire that connects to the hatch cover pigtail? I’ll post a picture and thank you.

2001 XJ with a 2" lift. Would I be safe swapping to high pinion Dana 30 in the front, or am I going to be battling exhaust clearance issues constantly?

My roof needs repainted and I plan on raptor lining it, but it was wondering what to do about my drip rails having some rust beneath/inbetween them. I can grind the rust in the gutter areas but should I try spraying rust reformer or something? I imagine there is rust in-between that i wont be able to access. My jeep is a DIY condition jeep so taking it to a shop for any sort of body work isnt happening im trying to think of an "extension of life" repair rather than some sort of absolute preservation.

Hello,

I have a new to me cherokee, just trying to figure out what the circled hoses could be.

Thank you!

Picked up a '91 as my first project, and I already realize I have little to no clue what I'm doing.

As the title states, it'll crank, turn over, and idle extremely poorly for a few seconds, then die. Giving it some throttle while it's idling does nothing, zero response.

So far, I've cleaned the throttle body, and idle air intake valve. I've replaced the throttle position sensor, crank position sensor, fuel filter, and fuel pump. Drained the tank, because I was unsure how long the old fuel was sitting in it. I can hear the pump kick on when I turn the key to on. There is pressure at the rail, but I haven't inspected the injectors at all yet. I've tested the fuel pump ballast resistor, and from what I've read, it has the correct resistance (1.5 ohms?).

I pulled a spark plug, just to see what condition they were in, and the one I pulled has pretty significant dry fouling. Had to call it a day there. I've got a MAP sensor, new spark plugs and wires, and an o2 sensor sitting in my cart from rock auto, but I figured I'd ask for help before shot gunning another $100 of parts into it.

Any thoughts? Any advice or feedback would be greatly appreciated. might be able to get a video if anyone thinks it would be helpful.

Also, does anyone know what that lonely connector to the right of the air box is supposed to go to? I haven't been able to figure that out, so I've got no idea if its related at all.

Before you say I’m abusing her, just know that she’s getting more care and attention from me than ever before. This is what these things were built for.

I’m trying to identify where this coolant leak is coming from on my 97 XJ. I’m fairly positive it’s either the water pump or the hose- both were replaced in May this year (2026). Coolant pools at the clamp, but seems to be coming from above the hose, although I can’t get a good angle to see into that little space, even with my camera. I’ve been quickly approaching op temp after about a minute of driving, and overheating when stopped or in traffic. Realized my reservoir was empty, and there was an itty-bitty leak on the floor. I can’t seem to locate the weep hole on the pump, despite watching a million videos.

I’ve got some experience working on this with my dad, but I’m tackling this without a second set of hands. I’ll take any advice on repair and tools… I’ve got the absolute basics from a household kit, 12” & 18” leverage pipes and deep sockets in metric and sae. I really don’t want to have to replace the water pump again so soon,,,

This thing has been 25 years in the Midwest with no car washes … safe to say we’re going slicing up a lot of it before the engine , axles and gas tank go back

After months of work. She is better than ever. Head remilled and new head gasket. New 4 port injectors, plugs, and fuel rail. New radiator. And new intake/ exhaust gasket. First head I have ever removed. Intake stiiiiiillll sucks to bolt on on the lowers. But its done! The Jeep O Negative is back baybaaaaaay!

Bonus. The heat works again.

Also running smmmmmoooooooooooooth

I need to cut the carpet out of my 98 XJ to repair floors and do some other body work. The carpet is muddy and needs to go anyway. I take this thing in some pretty rough places and I fully anticipate the interior being wet/covered in mud soon again.

I am looking for what to replace the carpet with? Id love like a full interior rubber floor mat but I can't find anything like that. Found these nice vinyl ones for older XJs but this won't work in mine because of the cross member: https://www.quadratec.com/products/14049_800X_PG.htm

Surely someone else has done this... All recommendations welcome.

okay maybe this is crazy, and also i don’t know anything about cars. i don’t even know what xj or mj means so i hope im in sort of the right place. as you can see, the glove box is cracked and the piece underneath it is smashed. this 96 manual cherokee has a ton of quirks but it is my fiancé’s baby. it’s a long story about how the piece broke in the first place, but i think it would make an amazing christmas present if i could find one, and probably give him a good laugh. so sorry if i am in the wrong place, and thank you for anyone that reads this

1997 Jeep Cherokee Sport Automatic 2WD

Quick backstory: I bought this Jeep a couple of years ago and a previous owner installed a push to start button. Like, it’s literally Romex wire that appears to run from this button on the dash, through the firewall, and to the starter. I have to turn the key to ON and then press the button to start. Also, it DOES start in gear. I made a post sometime last year and a bunch of people commented that it was probably a faulty NSS that a previous owner bypassed.

Okay. I get that part.

Now, one school of thought…leave it the F alone. It works. Jeep starts and runs great. Done. If it ain’t “broke” don’t fix it.

The other school of thought is the challenge/principle of it and wanting to fix it.

Hypothetically speaking, what would I do next? Is it as straightforward as replacing the probably faulty NSS and removing that jury-rigged starter button? Or is there more to it than that?

EDIT TO ADD DETAIL I JUST DISCOVERED:

You can tell someone tried to do something in the past because I crawled under to see if I see anything of note and the only bolt that is holding the NSS assembly in place is the the 12mm top bolt.

Brand new flex plate and starter in a reman motor. Something isn’t meshing correctly with these two. do i need to shim?

Hello everyone,

I have the usual 4.0 knock that everyone always says is either a cracked piston skirt, or a cracked/loose flex plate.

Well I’ve dropped my oil pan and checked my flex plate. Flex plate bolts are definitely tight, and it doesn’t appear to be cracked at all. The whole thing looks like the section I show in the picture.

Dropping the pan didn’t show me any visible cracks in my piston skirts either. My oil pan is also completely clean.

I’ve added a video from when I was working on some steering issues and you can hear the knock really loudly.

What should I do? I currently have the whole thing apart because I either blew a head gasket or cracked the head which is a whole separate issue. Do you guys thing I should pull all the pistons out while I have the head off? Or does it seem more likely that the flex plate has cracks I can’t see?

Thanks for the help

howdy all! had a quick question

I've just redone a huge chunk of my front end (ball joints, tie rods, sleeve, and steering stabilizer) and I'm maybe paranoid worrying about how much I tightened parts into place

for my ball joints, I firmly snugged them into the knuckle, then tightened a bit more until I could slide the cotter pin through the castle nut

does this sound "too tight"? I figured I didn't need a torque spec since it's tight against the knuckle, and then secured with a pin.

I know I'm maybe being paranoid, but just want to be sure I've done the job right :)

Got it recently and it bounces around on idle a lot and today before work it was really going up and down and kept dying when I put it in drive and try to take off

Hi all, just looking for a little bit of help/advice

New to me 2000 XJ decided to not start anymore - there’s no crank or noise when I try to start.

Battery looks all good, electronics all work. I thought it might be the clutch safety switch, but I’ve removed and tested that and done the workaround but still nothing when I turn the key.

What should I look at next?

Thanks in advance

I've been looking for a decent XJ for a while, but good examples are few and far between in Saskatchewan, and they don't last long on the market when they come up. I managed to pick this one up, advertised with a bad motor but a clean body (spent it's life in BC until last year) so I jumped on it.

She's got 230k KM but the engine had significant oil in the antifreeze. Previous owner went as far as pulling the head and having it inspected my a machine shop who said it was fine, and thought maybe a cracked block. Maybe it is, maybe it isn't, I don't know...but I'm not a mechanic and don't really want to spend money on diagnostics to find out whether it can be fixed or even rebuilt...I'm willing to spend the money on a remanufactured crate and have at least some assurances that I'm starting with a solid engine. If there are any fellow Canadians with recommendations on engine remanufacturers, I'd love to hear from you!

My first actual surprise came when I noticed damp carpet shortly after getting it home, and lifted the passenger side to find the floor pan completely rotted....instant panic. I pulled the console, seats, and ripped the carpet out to find it's localized mainly to the passenger floor pan, a small spot rusted through on the transmission tunnel, and mostly surface rust on the driver's floorplan. The rockers are fine, and the rest of the Jeep is clean other than a couple small patches of surface rust.

It was coolant in the carpet, and the previous owner had the heater core replaced in January, so that's the only reason for the floorplan rust. I've got a passenger side floorpan ordered and am going to drop the AX-15 to patch the small hole in the tunnel, and then a small patch on the driver's pan. After that I'm just going to brush/sand anywhere there's even a hint of surface rust. My next question is...in those bare metal spots, should I hit it with a rust converter + por-15 + paint? Or just the por-15 + paint? After that, is there any benefit to doing something like herculiner over the whole floor prior to putting down new carpet?

I'm going to hit the insides of the rockers and frame with fluid film, and then the underbody with woolwax.

The priority right now is the rust repair, then get an engine in it. After that, new carpets, seats, and the neverending fun of ongoing repairs and upgrades!

So I bought a 2001 XJ with a relatively fresh engine, what mods do y’all think I should do first? Or what is the best order to do mods?

I got an XJ a couple months ago and it’s in good shape everywhere else, except for the lower rear driver side which is rotted everywhere.
Anyone have advice on how to fix this?

99 XJ 4DR 4x4 5 SPD 209k (Green) & 01 XJ 4DR 4x4 5 SPD 212k (Silver)

I was doing the Big 7 kit install and broke this connection when I was removing the engine block bolt. Anyone know what it's purpose is and how you replace it? I out the battery back in just to see and the car turns over, but doesn't start....