1990 Jeep Wagoneer Limited - help?

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Asking for friend who is considering buying this 1990 Jeep Wagoneer Limited (4.0). Looked at it today. Pretty clean, though it needs some initial love, all easy stuff (brakes, AT service, plugs, etc.). Kicker is it has just 80K miles.

https://boise.craigslist.org/cto/4748339564.html

How is this transmission? (4 Lo, 2 Hi, 4 part time.) Guy would take $4700. NADA actually has it closer to $6k. (Which surprised me.)

Friend loves the style. Bottom line is he needs reliability. Buying for a teen daughter. Of the Jeeps I had, they had some issues, but were always pretty reliable. What needs fixed can be done, just parts, for about $200.

Worth the money, knowing you have to do some things right out of the gate? Mechanically, what's the worst he's looking at?
 
It's very clean, but as someone who has been around and worked on Jeep Cherokee's (that's what this is), they're asking too much. NADA is smoking crack. The Jeep 4.0L is a bulletproof motor, and the transmission being made by Aisin (Toyota) is a great transmission, but these Jeeps tend to need lots of tinkering with to get everything just right and it isn't going to be like a Camry where you can just do oil changes and forget about everything (if you wanted to) and it will have basically NO issues whatsoever. The paint is failing, and I personally would feel comfortable paying $3,000 for it MAX.
 
That is a nice one no doubt, maybe the market is different there but that seems high to me. It does have crazy low miles though.

With a Jeep, prior maintenance is key. If it's had tranny services, along with transfer case and differential services along the way it would be a much better buy than without. Ask the seller, if you get a funny look they don't even know what that stuff is... not good IMO. The tranny you can pull the stick at least and see what it looks like.

Some people will keep their vehicles clean enough to eat off of but won't change their oil. Not the kind of prior owner you want for a Jeep.

That is a nice one!
 
I forgot about the small Wagoneer. It is clean! Very nice shape. This is the last year for the Renix FI system, rear main is probably leaking...otherwise no major issues. It is 24 years old and will probably need a lot of attention to keep on the road, not really a good vehicle for a teenage girl.
 
Kill with fire. That thing has Renix [Renault-Bendix] injection as mentioned above and a sealed trouble prone Renault cooling system. The only good thing about it is the part time 4wd. In my opinion it is worth $2500, and then only as a curio, not fit for daily use. The good compact Cherokees were all made by Daimler-Chrysler, they fixed a lot of mistakes when they took over Jeep. It's quite possibly one of the last hold outs from the era when cars were only expected to last 100,000 miles, so with 80,000 it could be just about all used up. Wasn't the compact Wagoneer version uglier than the regular compact Cherokee, too? 1966ish Rambleresque grill slapped on the front and cheesy "wood" siding?

Save your money, a 1990 Wagoneer isn't deserving of it. The past may make memories golden, but frankly a lot of old cars were insufferable garbage, especially from those years.
 
You can buy a metal overflow tank to replace the troublesome plastic one. Or replace the radiator with one from a newer model with a cap on the rad. The computer parts and sensors are very reliable but good luck finding a shop that can read the codes as that system was only used on jeeps.
 
About all I know is if it has an Aisin A341E transmission (shared with tundras, tacomas, etc) it has a great trans.

I think $4900 is way high for an old jeep. Probably they are trying to snag a collector.

To me, old, 4x4, and Jeep does not equal reliable, especially for the intended driver. But Ill cop to being a toyota fanboi.
 
Originally Posted By: Cardenio327
It's quite possibly one of the last hold outs from the era when cars were only expected to last 100,000 miles, so with 80,000 it could be just about all used up.


Hahahahahaha that's a good one. A 1990 4.0 will go much further than 100k miles.
 
Have had my 87 XJ Laredo 28 years Nov 26th. AMC built them well. 100k mile cars? No friggin way. Try 500k with service per manual. They will we rust out before they wear out. Mine came from CA, and I'm in GA, so I'm good for another 28 years
smile.gif
 
Off topic, but every time I see a limited badge I can't help but think its a disclaimer printed right on the vehicle.
 
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