95 Sport, 226K miles / Practice some Zen?

Stock DD runs great. Pretty much babied it, and gets 17.5/19.5 mpg. The exhaust manifold just cracked, but it's still drivable. There's minor rust in the floor boards, and rocker panels. I've recently replaced the water pump, valve cover gasket, NSS, and brought a dead starter back to life with a good cleaning. Fixed the dreaded DW with a new steering damper - all thanks to Forum Users! Switched to Syntec at 200K. There's no dripping in the driveway. It doesn't look like I'm polluting any more than the next fossil fuel user, but I must be. It uses a quart of oil every 500 miles or so. It'll need new tires in the spring; the new girlfriend lives 150 miles away. (Btw, Bridgestone Duellers were a significant ride improvement over the noisy stock Wranglers. That was just over 70K miles ago. Tirerack.com gave me the lead.)

Anyway, I'm worried about what might go wrong next? I always thought that I'd drive it 'til the wheels fell off, but getting stranded on the highway far from home now would become a embarrassing way to practice abstinence.

Love the XJ, and I'd get another. In this Forum, I've read the many posts on engine reliability/high mileage, but getting to 226K seems like miracle to me already. Is there any way to judge how much more life is in one of these engines? Is it as simple as a compression test? The improvements to the 99 model year are appealing. If I keep the 95, I thought about switching to the 99 intake while I'm fixing the manifold. But, with so many miles on it that seems like crazy talk.

Should I keep the 95, and consider the girl next door? Get a 99, and keep the new girlfriend? Or just practice some Zen, and do nothing?

Thanks,
Rick

You can expect at least a dozen answers on this ranging from dont worry about it, to look for a new engine, to consider a stroker engine, to trade it in and everything else in between

To answer at least part of your question regarding engine testing, yes you can do a compression test, but that isn't the "end all" test to positively identify the health of your engine. In the aircraft world, leakdown testing is what is used on a regular basis to determine engine health. Do a Google search on "leakdown testing" and you will have more reading than you know what to do with. If you have a well stocked junkbox, you probably have all the parts you need right now to make one, but most people just buy ones premade.

Trouble is, the engine isn't the only part on an automobile that can give trouble and leave you stranded. Personally, I'd be more worried about the cheap sensors that are used like the crank position sensor going out. Those are the ones that are a date killer. You might want to keep a spare crank sensor with you and the tools to change it with you. As far as leaving you stranded, I dont think that the engine per say is going to be the thing that leaves you on the side of the road.

Doubt the motor will strand ya. My work van goes thru 1 - 1 1/2 qt of oil a day and still runs strong. But to test it do (as suggested) a leakdown and a compression test.

Sarge

rtk said:

Anyway, I'm worried about what might go wrong next? I always thought that I'd drive it 'til the wheels fell off, but getting stranded on the highway far from home now would become a embarrassing way to practice abstinence.

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Unfortunately you can expect just about anything to go wrong at any time on a 10-year-old vehicle with such a high mileage. The only thing I can suggest is to replace any fluids that haven't been replaced recently, and go over the whole vehicle with a fine toothcomb replacing any worn/broken parts that you find. Your engine isn't on its last legs yet but since it's using a quart of oil every ~500 miles, a rebuild is probably not very far away.
Murphy's Law will always apply but if you do some preventive maintenance, you'll reduce your chances of being Murphed.

If the oil isn't leaking out and it's being burnt, periodic checks of the plugs (just a couple of center plugs) for build up and deposits, might give you some warning when things are getting critical. When the junk starts building up on the plugs, your not too far away from a really crappy running motor.
When the compression gets down to around 105 or so, IMO your motor is about used up. Time for some serious maintenance.
I'd find a girlfriend closer to home, with a reliable Honda Civic. :laugh3: Who's father owns a garage, a tow truck and a junk yard.

8Mud said:

I'd find a girlfriend closer to home, with a reliable Honda Civic. :laugh3: Who's father owns a garage, a tow truck and a junk yard.

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I'd find a girlfriend who'll buy me a stroker for Christmas.

I imagine most of the upcoming troubles will be fairly routine stuff like u-joints, brakes, etc., but you might also be about due for some bigger front end problem such as ball joints, wkeel bearings, etc., so you should probably keep a close eye on things. Most problems will give you some warning. I'd drive it till the wheels fall off, keep the girlfriend and the Jeep, and maintain both well. I just recently got back from a ~2500 mile trip with my 95, which turned 253Kmiles yesterday. I just always make sure I have enough money on hand to rent a car if the Jeep blows up.

Not to stray far from the fold but some of this depends on you and what you're willing to put up with to maintain a relationship 150 miles away. I can only speak for myself personally but making long regular trips with that kind of mileage would keep me on edge all of the time,... particularly in winter when breaking down somewhere could mean a very long cold trip home. If you continue to do what you're doing I'd do like stated above in terms of maintenance but also keep tools, a cell phone, emergency kit, blankets and or whatever else you need should you get stuck on the side of the road. Several years ago I had a lower radiator hose burst and it took 4 F'n hours to get a tow truck. Thank god it was in the middle of summer. But being taken by surprise I had a cell phone that had an almost dead battery and couldn't start the engine to charge it. Talk about feeling screwed. Now I carry around an extra battery.