I’m on the verge of potentially buying a 1996 Jeep Cherokee XJ, and while this model-year features a lot of things people like — like OBDII, a 29-spline Chrysler 8.25 axle, an airbag, and Chrysler fuel injection — it is also a bit of a nightmare when it comes to sourcing certain parts, as 1996 was a dreaded “transition model-year.” My 1991 Jeep Wrangler YJ, too, was a “transition model-year,” not to OBD2 like the XJ, but rather from carbureted fuel delivery to fuel injection. As such, my YJ has special “one-year-only” parts that are also a nightmare to source. This concept of “transition model-years” is the bane of many car-lovers’ existence, and I’m here to commiserate.
We don’t really need to get into whether or not I — a recent father with obligations first and foremost to my wife and child — should be buying a two-door 1996 Jeep Cherokee 4×4 five-speed, because the answer is: Of course I should be — it’s the grail. Instead, I’d like to focus this blog on the dreaded single-model-year-only part.
In the case of the 1996 Jeep Cherokee XJ, basically what happened was that lots of American cars saw significant technical changes beginning in the 1996 model-year, when OBDII was instituted. I know lots of folks like OBDII for diagnostic reasons, but I personally find it to be a pain in the buttocks over OBDI, specifically because of the extra “catalytic converter efficiency” O2 sensor. In any case, with this change to OBDII came a new electrical architecture, a new accessory drive, a unique ECU, and a bunch of stuff specific to only the 1996 Jeep.
In 1997, the XJ received a full refresh, but OBDII had been mandated for 1996, so Jeep had to make the transition a year before it was ready to release the updated, rounder XJ. That’s this one:
Though 1996 was the most popular year for the XJ — with over 280,000 sold — that’s only 10% of the XJ’s overall volume, and as such, parts availability isn’t great, since many of the other model-years shared parts with one another. What’s more, many parts actually changed during the 1996 model-year, as user Tim_MN points out in their comment on Jeep XJ forum NAXJA:
A large number of planned upgrades were implemented throughout the 1996 model year manufacturing. Older revisions were installed until the parts ran out, and the production line implemented the new revision parts in their place. Everything got used up, nothing got thrown out. Early 1996 were more like OBD-I until the parts ran out, and later 1996 were OBD-II. Lots of 1996 parts are unicorn parts that were only used for the 1996 model year,
“More like OBD-I,” doesn’t mean OBDI, to be clear. All 1996s had to be OBDII, but I think Tim_MN is saying that on some 1996 XJs some of the connectors/electrical bits are shared with the older OBDI cars.
Anyway, one of the biggest issues is the fuel pump, with Art Triggs writing on NAXJA:
Having been through a fuel tank replacement and fun with a 96 pump/regulator/sender, the complete pump/regulator/sender assembly is made of unobtanium, NO ONE near me had one, I salvaged a functional sender for parts from a wreck I bought.
Beware of the 1996 model year and your fuel pump. NO other year will fit and it isn’t produced by anyone. If it fails, it’s either have it rebuilt for $$, pray for a junked car that still has the fuel tank/pump (that works), or install and electric aftermarket pump.
I ended up putting a 97 fuel tank and sender unit in my 96 because I couldn’t find a good used fuel level sender (mine was horribly rusted) and it works fine after some wire and hose splicing, the fuel gauge is inaccurate though.
Yesterday I swapped in a 97+ plastic tank since the baffle/tray in my 96’s tank was loose(also wanted to lose weight). I had already upgraded the pump to a 255lph Walbro, so that along with the sender is available if someone is looking for a working used 96 setup.
I had a 1974.5 MGB, which is the model “year” now in use for designating the cars made during the transition from chrome bumpers to rubber bumpers; their official model year is 1974, the same as the last of the chrome-bumper cars. The ‘74.5 cars all have rubber bumpers but otherwise are mostly the same as the earlier chrome-bumper cars, which is to say not the same as the ’75 and later rubber-bumper cars. The key word here is “mostly.” Most (non-bumper-related) parts are the same as the chrome-bumper ’74, some are the same as the rubber-bumper ’75, and a very small number are unique to the ‘74.5. British Leyland being British Leyland, there’s often no reliable way to determine what’s what without getting the wrong part first. And sometimes second. And sometimes, somehow, third.
I also had one of these. I ended up replacing many parts of the car with parts from earlier cars, partially due to availability but usually to revert undesirable changes that became (mostly) worse from this model on.
More fun: mid-model year changes.
I’ve one motorcycle where the stator could be one of three different part numbers depending on when it may have been assembled that year. But because they didn’t keep records, or provide markings, the only way I know which one I have is to disassemble it and measure it.
Owned a 1/2 year car. My 2004 f150 was an early one, my sister’s 2004 f150 was a late model. Had lots of differences. 2005 changed again.
VW used to do this a lot between model years on their air-cooled cars. Just use up whatever was left from the previous year until it runs out. So my early manufacture (10/6/71 per the “birth certificate” I ordered) 1972 Super Beetle has the old style “lobster claw” seat belts, and no seat belt warning light. Even though the owners manual shows more typical seatbelts and a warning light for them. I know there’s been another thing or two I’ve noticed my car has in common with 1971 models but not 1972s. But not as big of a deal with air-cooled VWs, unless you’ve got something rare parts are still plentiful and relatively inexpensive.
On VWs and BMWs I’ve found you need the month and year when getting parts, not just the year.
My sister had a 96 Cherokee in the early 00 that was always getting almost stolen. I must have had to rewire and fix the locks and ignition cylinder and column and replace windows 6 or 7 times. I vaguely remember the fuel pump going out on it and it being a night mare of sorts even then I think we ended up rebuilding it with something close or even something sourced for summit or eBay. It was happy when she replaced it with a 04 4.0 grand Cherokee I don’t think anyone tired to steal that.
My VW T2 (1972) is a changeover year, So has rear brakes unique to that year as well as the large rear lights but low front indicators, I swapped the front brakes for later ones to make life easier.
Mostly, I wonder if every Tesla is a ‘model transition year’ given the fact they change stuff on the regular during the production process.
Anyway, look at what you’re writing and think deeply on the implications of this. You’ve had at least three Holy Grails in your possession and keep selling them, so maybe Holy Grails aren’t your thing. (Yes, I hear “Mind your own business’ in an outrageous French accent)
Did you fix the truck yet? (And no, I don’t mean the steering column)
Dave has child, thinks “sensible car” thoughts, throws caution to the wind, buys transition year 2-door Jeep that is totally horrible for toting said child in, and impossible to source parts for.
Yep, that tracks.
I had a guy come in within the past month or so with a ’96 Cherokee looking for an intermediate shaft. It’s only for the 1995/1996 model years, was discontinued, no dealership has it, and no one in the aftermarket sells it. And I even checked places like 4WP, Quadratec, etc.
It must really suck to live with a transition-year vehicle.
My 1968 Olds 4-4-2 clone has a weird one – hood hinges. Only 1968, only a Cutlass. For some reason, when they changed body styles from ’67 to ’68, Olds ended up using a one-year-only hood hinge. Not only does it make them hard to find when they fail, but the hood hinge they went with doesn’t open the hood up high enough. Be prepared for a lot of bruises on the back of your head if you have a 1968 Olds.
Let the car drama begin. Is this the daddy version of postpartum depression decisions??
There’s a very real phenomenon where you suddenly realize you’re the lowest-ranking person in your household, when odds are that just a few days ago you were the highest-ranking, or at least co-CEO.
IIRC, it took me about 6 months to get over that strange feeling. It’s not full post-partum, but some of it tracks along those lines. It start to change once the kid really warms up to you, but it’s really hard at first.
Also, sleep deprivation seems like the perfect thing to add to David’s personality 🙂
I dunno, the first two years of my daughter’s life taught me how little sleep I actually needed to function. Not well, but function.
[inappropriate comment]
In high school I had a transition year 1995 Chevy S10. This vehicle still used OBD1 style codes, but had an OBD2 port to read them from. Tuning? Forget it. Nobodys software worked with the 1 year combo.
Don’t I know this struggle… Let’s vent about first generation Toyota Tacomas (and to a small degree, 4runners) for a minute.
Fun fact: Every Year first gen Tacoma has a different ECU (and harness, pinout, etc.) for each year, engine, and transmission/transfercase. Also, the 03 and 04 has a different transmission with an electronic kickdown that is not easy to find locally. Only the first 3 years of single cab had EGR on the V6, the other V6’s didn’t have it.
Production cars are weird.
I know the feeling well. The engine in The Homer, my 24 Hours of Lemons race car, is a BMW M50B25 with *without* VANOS (variable cam timing). These were only sold in the US in the first 1.5 years of the E36 3-series generation before later adopting VANOS, and pretty much every BMW 6-cylinder after that has had VANOS.
It shares the same general architecture as the more common later BMW M52/S52, but the electronics, cylinder head, intake manifold, and other major components are unique to the non-VANOS version, and now 33 years later some of the proprietary parts are getting hard to find. I only have this engine because it was already installed in another wrecked race car that I bought and plucked the engine out of.
The engine blew during our last race and I very seriously considered swapping to something more modern, but ultimately my time and money were limited so I was thankful to find a complete replacement engine for $800.
I have a first year E39 and so many parts are completely different depending on the manufacture date code. Even things like the early ones take 2.5 cans of freon and the late ones take 1 can.
I do feel your pain, David, and grumbled about it at some length in my Members Rides piece. (Thanks, Brandon!)
The tl;dr is that 1981 was the first year for the Kawasaki GPz550. There were numerous changes from 1980 to 1981 and more from 1981 to 1982, so a LOT of parts for the ’81 fit only the ’81.
The rear brake master cylinder was used only on this one model, so I’m always on the lookout for
my precioousssssparts.I’ve had a couple of 70s motorcycles, and it’s not surprising the constant changes carried over to the early 80s.
I get it – we’re talking about a decade where bikes transformed to a much more reliable and liveable daily driver. But still a pain.
My CB350 was a ’72 I think. Every part on the bike was a guess as to whether it was common with a 70 and 71. Or maybe just a 73. Or maybe all of those years. Or maybe unique to ’72.
My ’79 Yamaha DT100 was more of a typical transition year bike where half the parts were new and half weren’t.
The CB had a much bigger following and much better resources for finding the right parts. So even though there were a ton of unique ’72 parts, it was easier to figure out than the DT in many cases.
Partzilla was generally pretty helpful for that, but it looks like they no longer have the “this part fits all these bikes” list. 🙁
About the [Yamaha] DT… Several years ago I was at an event, volunteering in the Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Club swap meet tent (outreach, signing up new members, etc.). I spent about 20 minutes chatting with a guy who was restoring a DT100 – not sure what year. He was about to search the entire multi-acre swap meet for the correct right-side mirror, so I wished him luck and he went on his way. Apparently he needed a specific part number and had been finding items that were close but not correct.
The next day I was at the same VJMC location and the guy came back. He didn’t say a word, but with a huge grin he held up the mirror he had found. 🙂
Meanwhile, a certain broken Chevy pickup is crying “don’t just leave me in this parking lot with that old ZJ…”
I had a 1993 E30 which needed a new door. No problem, found a used one in good shape from a later model year, when to install it . . . and the wiring had completely changed from 1993. Used the new door but transplanted the wiring from the old one. One of the biggest PIAs I’ve been through in my limited wrenching experience.
You must live outside the US if you found an E30 newer than 1993. 1993 was the last year for the E30 (convertible only) in the US after the 3-series coupe and sedan had moved to the E36 chassis in 1991.
Typing too fast. 1993 E36. F#$k!
Doh. In that case I can definitely sympathize, see my post above.
Unubtanium is an essential element when forging a Holy Grail.
In early 2006 when my wife was merely my girlfriend, her 1999 Saturn SC2 dropped a valve. I took it to a garage and got it fixed for her, but everything above the cylinder head deck was unique to the ’99. At the time it was only 7 years old so there were sources, but mostly not my usual ones and as one-year-only parts they were a lot more expensive than everything that came before or after. I haven’t looked into availability of this stuff since then so I’m curious to hear from any Saturn folk how it is today.
I don’t know Saturns well enough to know if that year was a transition from anything to anything, it just seemed like it was fun for them to do just to mess with me.
I immediately thought of the S-Series. The coupe body carried over a year (and that was changed mid-99 with the 3-door coupe!) but otherwise 2000 was a redesign, so very similar case as the 96->97 XJ. I couldn’t remember exactly what changes there were, just that on the Saturn forums the ’99s were considered distinct. The Wikipedia entry details a lot of changes for/during the year, doesn’t have the sources cited but I bet it was written out with the forum as a guide.
Must be a 96 thing, because the 96 mark viii also has a bunch of eccentricities! And 10 years earlier, the 86 comanche.
Considering ’96 was the first year of OBD-II, you’re actually correct. Lots of weird things happened because of it, including the deaths of some models where it wasn’t deemed worth it to try to comply at that point in their life cycles.
Yep, GM did lots of 1996 only weirdness.
95 got weirdness too
The Dustbuster vans dumping the 3100 & 3800 for just the 3400 in their final year, ahead of the new vans, comes to mind.
Come to think of it the A-body Century/Ciera would have gotten OBD-II in their last year too. I could imagine GM would have kept producing them longer but for safety regulations changing – 1997 would have been new side-impact safety standards, and then dual airbags a year or two after that. A passenger airbag would have been an extensive update for that old 80s dash.
I feel like I am reading about an alcoholic who talks about needing rehab, knows his liver is failing, his drinking is a problem for work and home life, yet keeps a bottle of whisky in his glove box . . . . Just in case.
David, I say this with kind intentions, but you might need car rehab. We have enjoyed your car misadventure, and your wins, but you are killing me here. Go get a minivan, not a transition year jeep. Unless this is a joke, it almost puts me off reading this stuff. You are treading a fine line between sympathy and ridicule with your decision-making.
Reading this article makes me feel like an enabler.
Hardigree: “David, you better buy that next Jeep!”
DT: “But boss, I’m so tired.”
“Hardigree: “The metrics show the people love it when you suffer, you get back in that rust pit NOW.”
I’ve had toxic bosses before – the kind that would do things just like this. I’m pretty sure you meant that to be funny, but wow, was that a bit triggering.
I hope Hardigree is a better man than that.
I guess I’m not giving off enough boss vibes. lol though he was my boss at the old site! (And a great one).
I know your a founder, but sometimes that doesn’t get reflected in the org chart. I know you’re EIC, but I don’t know exactly where that places you on the totem pole.
You’ve got the bosses mixed up, which it’s probably contributing to this situation lol
Org structure aside, what makes this a holy grail vs the same truck (2dr, 5spd) post-refresh? Did they drop some of the features you mention?
I think a post-97 is just as cool. This is just a white-hot deal on a rare manual 2-door Jeep, is all.
You make it very difficult for Matt to be your assistant.
Never let the truth get in the way of a good joke!
Luckily there’s a screamin deal on today’s Shitbox Showdown that will bring David back to his (rusty) roots 🙂
Hm, let’s see. Alleged automotive enthusiasts read an article on an automotive enthusiast site, wherein they criticize one of the founders for doing…*checks notes*…automotive enthusiast things.
Um, what? Insert Jackie Chan WTF meme here, I suppose.
Cool your heels, folks. David’s wife has a perfectly cromulent baby-hauler in the Lexus. Fatherhood and automotive enthusiasm are not necessarily mutually exclusive. If you’re judging his worthiness as a father based upon the topical material that we followed him from Jalopnik for, I think you’re making an incomplete assessment, as well as being unfair. We are not entitled to pass judgment on someone else, at least we shouldn’t be, because their decisions don’t jive with what we think they should be.
And I quote, “The Autopian exists to serve the car enthusiast community by creating content that informs and entertains, while celebrating the unifying quality of automobiles.”
Is David informing us? Yes. Entertaining us? I’d argue so. Celebrating the unifying quality of automobiles? I mean, I guess we’re all here, allegedly, for the same reason, so sure. It’s not cool to yuck someone else’s yum under the guise of a stigmata of social obligation. If Elise and Delmar (not their real names) are cool with David being David, which presumably they are, lay off.
DT has several many cars. At least 2 of which are broken down in the Galpin lot and have been there since he moved from Detroit. It’s not my life and not my business, but I understand where people are coming from when they advise a person that they (parasocially) feel like they know and care about that maybe this is unwise as a new spouse and father.
David, I do think you should get another car, but I think it should be a minivan. They are basically the perfect automobile. I’m 100% serious when I say that. Minivans are great and they absolutely do not deserve the stigma they have been associated with. Get an old wheelchair converted van with the ramp in the back and a middle row of seats. You’ll have easy roll on storage for strollers, coolers, (engines, small motorcycles), and you’ll still be able to ferry around a family of 4.
I get the sentiment, and I would normally laugh my ass off. But the whole schtick about DT being “no longer feral” puts a different twist on this situation.
I would hate to see a shift from entertainment to Schadenfreude when I read The Autopian – unless DT is independently wealthy, and these decisions have no real consequences. In that case, buy two of those jeeps, and keep us updated on what products are best for cleaning semi-digested baby contents from inside unicorn vehicles.
Now, back to the internet to search for the cheapest vehicles in my area . . .
I very briefly had a late 95 early 1996 Volvo 850 wagon. It drove like a dream when it drove, but something was wrong and we couldn’t figure out what. I thought the car was OBD-1–you could do the fiddle read an led cryptic shit—AND you could still plug an OBD-2 reader into it—yet you couldn’t do anything from the OBD-2 port. You couldn’t clear the codes from there; you could only read the real time functions with the car. The mechanic was basically like “junk this motherfucker.” It would have been impossible to smog- the main reason I prefer post-97 cars in CA. My ‘89 E30 is such a PITA.
STOP IT DAVID! DO NOT BUY THIS CAR!!!!
You can’t complain of having A: too many cars, and B: none of them being conducive to a family, and then immediately buy yet another one that isn’t conducive to a family. Especially since I know for a fact you prefer 4-door XJs!!!
Knock it off David!
As a ’99 XJ owner that loves the old body style, The best possible fix here seems simple – get a 23 gallon ZJ tank that’s a known bolt in swap for the 97+ XJ, and treat it like you’re swapping a 97+ tank into a ’96- XJ. Cut an access panel out of the floor of the XJ so you can service it just by removing the cargo area carpet, then go to the junkyard and cut out a larger panel from a donor. Trim it up nicely, Install some rivnuts into the trunk floor, drill some holes in that new panel, seal up the edge with some foam tape, and you’ve got an easily serviced high capacity tank with no worries about parts availability. Add the ZJ gas tank skid to finish it all off.
I’m not saying there aren’t issues with limited parts supply, and it’s harder than ever to get quality replacement parts, but a lot of the issue here is the mindset. If you’re going to keep an almost 30 year old example of a cheap car on the road, you’re going to have to use repair procedures that may not be in the factory service manual, and you shouldn’t expect every part to be on the shelf at the nearest brick and mortar store.
I have had parts fail in short order or be nothing like the original, even when I buy them from the original Tier 1 OEM supplier. It’s not just 1 year only cars, anyone with an older car is going to have to get more creative to keep these older beasts moving.
In 1982 (only), the Volvo 240 series used Bosch LH-Jetronic 1.0, but only for some cars sold in California. Parts started going NLA before the decade was over. They’re absolutely impossible to find now.