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.
1988 Fieros have a one year only suspension and braking systems. Same story with those cars. Parts are getting harder and harder to find.
^ Truth.
Help me understand something – how is it economical to make a part for only one model year?
It’s not.
Which is why you cannot find replacement parts.
So – I would recommend finding something else to rescue which has far better factory support.
How about an ancient Mercedes instead?
At least David would have some cachet cruising up Wilshire in an old Stroke 8 coupe…
…and he could wear his vintage Mercedes-Benz jumpsuit while changing the oil.
From 66-67 when the safety laws went in effect that required the collapsible steering column and the dual reservoir master cylinder just those requirements caused alot of changes in cars that basically looked similar.
I bought a truck for my company I bought in 2013. It was a diesel Chevy 1500 in a postal van. The USPS required different vin numbers and part number for a vehicle everything was the same. No one ever cross referenced it. You put the USPS Vin in and it has no idea what the vehicle is. Tell a modern parts idiot just put in the regular vehicle make and model you get a look like you get from DT when you tell him that vehicle is a bit rusty we don’t want it.
I was wondering where I can go to read Else’s, not her real name, posts about her Transition year David? BTW I am also a David, a significantly older model with far more padding.
I remember a few years ago my Dad was helping me replace the heater core in my second 89 Grand Marquis, finally got the dash pulled apart and low and behold the heater core from Oreily’s was wrong! Took it back and compared it to another for an 89, still wrong! Turns out it was a very early production 89 model and it still had the heater core setup from an 88 model, thankfully they had that one too so wasn’t quite the pain it could have been.
Had a 1987 Wrangler with aftermarket a/c. belt replacement was fun. Was eyeing maybe a 91/92 Wrangler for its fuel injection, but maybe its better to just forget about the whole thing.
David, how many broken “grails” do you have at this point?
My 1989 XJ Sport 2-door was a transitional nightmare. Different fuel pump and relay (that took some years and misadventures to finally trace). Last batch of the glass-like Peugeot 5-speeds (swapped in a low-mile AX15 & NP231 from wrecked TJ when it went). Starters, alternators, fans, all sorts of weird little things in 1989.
Ay, I’ve got a transition year car! My pickup, a 1995 Chevy K2500, has the new updated interior, with all of the old powertrains and computers. So lots of electrical connectors are different, and other weird stuff. In ’96 they went to OBD-II, with the redesigned Vortec engines.
And the first thing that comes to my mind when talking about Unobtainium parts is the power steering reservoir for the last three model years of the Buick Lucerne; they changed the V6 because the idiot bean counters finally got their way and killed the 3800 so they shoved the 3.9L High Value V6 into the Lucerne until it finally died in 2011 for the Chevrolet Volt. That reservoir was a bespoke part that was used on the Lucerne ONLY. You can’t get it new from GM, nor has the aftermarket parts industry made a replacement. You’re basically stuck either trying to repair your original or hope and pray that there’s one at the junkyard that isn’t broken either.
I had a 2012 Acadia. There was a mid model drivetrain update and complete electrical systems change (gm global A).
Yeah, service data and parts lookups were interesting. They made some small tweaks to the 2013, so you couldn’t always just cheat the year when looking.
Since he’s an AMC guy, I’m surprised that David didn’t mention the parts nightmare that was AMC in the later years. A friend’s dad had a early ’80s Wagoneer. Every time we’d go to the parts store, we’d get the wrong part.
I found out later than AMC would buy parts from whoever would give them credit, so they’d have a Delco alternator for a few months, then a Motorcraft, then a Bosch, etc (maybe even Lucas). Every year was a transition year – or a transition quarter or month.
We quickly learned to always take the old part in to compare and only go to places where the parts person was experienced enough to be able to cross reference.
That’s AMC in ALL years. My ’77 Cherokee is a beautiful amalgamation of random shit from other carmakers.
My 76 Jeep has a Motorcraft alternator and brakes, GM Prestolite ignition. I switched it over to a Motorcraft based one.
I’m fairly certain my 77 has Motorcraft ignition… GM power steering/steering column, motorcraft carburetor, Dana brakes.
Probably did – the Prestolite was their first electronic ignition, which is why I switched to the much more available Motorcraft one, plus I also had a 78 F-150 at the time (I still have the Jeep) so many of the parts were the same, this is what lead me to independently figure out the big cap switch on the Jeep Motorcraft distributor before I ever heard about the ‘Team Rush’ ignition upgrade.
I also put Motorcraft style front brakes on my front axle – again same pads as the F-150 (different calipers). I also had GM steering and a Motorcraft carb. I put a GM tilt column out of a later Grand Wagoneer in it, and a 4bbl Edlebrock carb.
76 and 77 are very much transition years for CJs, with many parts for those years only. They have different wiring, drum brakes, different ignition, different heater boxes with different length cables required, different gas tanks with different fillers, to highlight a few.
Still beats anything International. My god finding stuff for those guys at the parts counter was a nightmare.
^can confirm
I have seen this done for other reasons. Rather than change all the crap at once, Nissan keeps the chassis and body for the transition year, but puts the next-gen motor into it. If there are no problems with the driveline in the old body, it gets the new one. Off the top of my head, the Maxima (maybe Pathfinder?) transition from VG33DE to VQ35DE and the more recent Frontier transition from VQ40DE to VHR37? I think that was the code….
I bought an XJ tank for my Eagle, as it is *almost* the same (rear fill not withstanding, which I resolved with welding, soldering… And some JB weld). I was suffering hesitations and power issues, so I turned to the fuel pump. Turns out… I had bought a 96. The benefit was that I had the only in-tank pressure regulator which was accessible without dropping the tank, and without having to equip an aftermarket pressure regulator inline. Downside was the lack of pump availability as discussed here.
Luckily, there was just a wire rubbing, but I do have a later pump that I will rig up inside the tank. The connection is the same, so even if I have to make a custom mount on the sender, I’ll figure it out.
Still… XJ is awesome.
I dealt with this a lot on my old ’98 Passat (first year). Stubby passenger side mirror for lower wind resistance, killed after just a year. 282mm brake rotors, replaced by 288mm after just one year — that’s a lot of fun to discover in the middle of a brake job when the discs just suddenly barely don’t fit.
And now I have a 2001.5 model, which is also a ton of fun because most parts stores don’t even list it, so I have to default to 2002, but that also doesn’t have 100% matching parts with 2001.5
But as long as you know what you look for, it was never all that bad.
Also, this is where you start to memorize the VIN range on your car because they’re going to ask.
I feel you. Many moons ago, I had a 2000 Dodge Neon. (1st year of the 2nd gen.)
The first gen used a cable clutch system. So, did the 2000 model, but not the same one. 2001+ all went with hydraulic.
My clutch cable broke one day, and no local parts store had one. Tons had the cables for the 95-99 Gen1s. A few even had master/slave cylinders for the 2001+ models in stock!
I ended up having to order one special, and it took something like 2 weeks before I could drive my car again. (Note: I could of got one from the local Dodge dealer, but they wanted $400 for it, and everywhere else could order me one for like $125.)
I recently learned that Ford started putting 3.9L Essex V6s in late 2004 Mustangs. Same power ratings as the 3.8, but it was just ahead of the new S197 and they presumably ran out of the 3.8s. The brochure doesn’t even list a displacement, just “OHV V6.” The only other use of the 3.9L displacement was the Freestar.
I didn’t know I own “the grail”. Not sure if that’s a good thing or not, but if the fuel pump ever goes out, might just have to convert it to EV.
Jeep has nothing on VW. VW seems to make transitions because it is Tuesday, or the cat barfed, or perhaps the gods know why. 3-5 changes during a calendar year are not unusual. For a lot of parts, finding the right one is a shot in the dark.
Interesting. I though this was more of a trait of Subaru. At least back in the day.
The 1969.5 Karmann Ghia Cabriolet waves hello.
Yep, this is a lesson I learned from when I used to manage a parts distributor’s ecommerce sales. Don’t assume two parts with the same base part number are the same either, the very last letter in the suffix being different could mean a totally different part.
I have seen that already. Especially true if there are 2 characters after the base part number.
Dealing with this right now, trying to re-pin a broken spark plug connector on my Mk7. Had to go to the dealer after failing to buy the correct one three times…
Well, I mean I’m sure the cat(s) barfed (among other things) in DT’s “cat” Jeep…ha ha (which we’re all looking forward to seeing him turn into an overlanding Jeep; when he has more time of course)
*Sigh* We thought he had matured by leaps and bounds, alas, years of continuous rust injections pay a toll.
Saab took single year parts to an art-form, but the 1993 9000 was next level. Half the parts diagram is labeled “1993-1993.” Mine is the rarer four door (trunklid, no hatch) body style in the high end CDE trim, and pretty sure there are parts on the car that are 1 of 1.
You need to set a rule that you can only buy one car AFTER selling two current ones.
My wife tried that and she can’t even hold me to the buy one sell one.
Elise (not her real name) needs to take away your checkbook 🙂
Don’t worry, Delmar (not his real name) will quickly reduce discretionary funds for a few years or decades.
David needs to start a 529 account now.