Jeep Cherokee XJ

Any xj guys here. Any suggestions on what to look out for on my pre purchase inspection.

might do some trading and this would be my first Jeep. It's a 98 with about 175,xxx miles. I'm going to do a mild expedition type build on it.

Floor pans and box frame rust. Cooling system and head gasket. 

Rear main oil leaks that' one thing that gose wrong with this era was of XJ's other than that just rust and assclowns berkeleying E36 M3 up.

This might be a different expedition than what you are looking for...  

I'm guessing you are thinking more this type of expedition...  

All I can tell you about them is that I had an '01 from brand new as a company car.  2WD in Limited trim, inline 6cyl, auto.  I spent 94,000 miles trying my hardest to kill it, and it just wouldn't die.

My wife and I both had 98s. We loved them but needs changed.

My uncle bought it from the original owner, whom he goes to church with. The original owner apparently just had the motor rebuilt, but but afterwards it developt an intermediate stop running/no start issues. He got fusturated and sold it to my uncle. My uncle replaced the camshaft sensor, crankshaft sensor, the distributor and everything inside it, the computer, etc. 

I was over there one day and asked what it was doing, he said it was loosing spark.. I told him I thought it was a wiring issue, so I had him crank it while I wiggle on stuff... Boom, fired right up.. traced it to there the distributor plugs into the main harness. I could hold the plug in together and it would be fine, let go and it would die. I told him to the junk yard and find a new plug in to wire in (it's on the engine harness side.)

It was just going to replace that whole portion of wiring harness because he didn't want anymore issues, but he can't find one locally and is tires of messing with it....

I will find a new connector and fix it that way. I think soldering it and covering it with heat shrink and wire look will be perfectly fine.

From what I seem so far this think is straight and rust free, I'll check it out more before striking up a deal.

Rust, like others have said, in the floor pans and rockers especially. Make sure the heat blows good and hot, bad heater cores are not uncommon and are allegedly a real bitch to get at. Get it up to speed and see how it tracks down the road, looking for any shimmys, death wobble, or excessive play in the steering. Check which rear end it has under it (either a Dana 35 or Chrysler 8.25, the latter being the more desireable of the two.) Make sure the doors hang straight and close easily, especially if it's a 2 door, as the welds on the hinges can fail and detach from the body.

There really aren't any major achilles heals that I can think of. Mine has constantly needed something fixed in the two plus years that I've had it now, though it has never left me stranded. They're really easy and hilariously cheap to work on and the aftermarket is absolutely massive, so should be a fun project!

The heater core and A/C evaporator are a booger to get to.