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.
Whoa, I had no idea that the XJ refresh was so extreme. I’ve been busy fretting about the disappearance of 15″ tires suitable for
olderclassic SUVs…things could be much worse. (Although there’s a definite lack of availability of OEM parts, but I guess that’s to be expected at this point.)I had a 1996 Cherokee XJ> It had a 1997 driveline and 97 Wrangler TJ wheels. Cherokee Classic was the trim.
I had a 2001 Peugeot 206, that didn’t seem to be a transitional year model so much as a mishmash of some pre-2001 parts, and some from the updated model. Fortunately they were similar enough that my Haynes manual covered both, and any parts I had to replace were common between both.
Man, just give the car stuff a break and enjoy your new marriage and the arrival of your child! You’ve earned the break, and they deserve your attention.
As you said, “recent father with obligations first and foremost to my wife and child”
Let it go, before you lose both.
Ugh, I’ve had issues like that with my 03 Focus ZX-5 and my 05 Magnum R/T. I think the biggest issue I’ve had are just dodgy parts. It doesn’t matter whether it’s online or a box store, the quality on these parts made in China are abysmal. On another note, does the Chinese market XJ use similar parts? You can always check with Tycho!
I guess “dodg”y parts would make sense on a…Dodge
I’ll see myself out…
(Dodge and Magnums are cool though)
Ahh yes, I once owned a “1999.5” VW Jetta. These cars had different shift tower/linkage systems among other differences from the rest of the mk4 cars.
I’ve just bought one of these. 2006 Volvo XC70. It’s supposed to have a 6-speed automatic. It has a 5-speed. It hasn’t been a problem yet, but I’m… confused. And slightly worried for when something inevitably goes wrong.
I have a 96 Viper. Everything of note is bespoke to that single model year. I love the car and I hate it all the same.
Please tell me it’s not the ketchup-and-mustard red/yellow color scheme.
You mean Hulkamania, brother?
It’s the Triple White and Blue, equally as rare as the McViper which I have a soft spot for.
I have three transistion year vehicles.
’67 VW squareback – First year for 12v standard, back up lights, added emergency light switch, and last year for carbs.
’92 F350 long bed dually crewcab – Brake booster, netural safety switch, for sure, and I have to remove the part first and compare pictures to be sure I buy what is in my truck.
’64 F100 coach-built crewcab – Body seems to be late ’64 someome said ’65, last year for the 292 V8, and add into that the modifications made to craft a crewcab per the original customers desires like – Buick Electa brake booster, Chevy carrier bearing for driveshaft, and a still to be determined gizmo that angles the brake booster away from the header, along with the custom rear doors and related interior stuff.
Anything ’95 Ford or Dodge is a nightmare for parts. Ford decided to do OBD1. 5 in their 95’s so the ECU is OBD1, but the connector is OBD2, 1 year only. Auto trans were also one year only with the OBD1.5 setup.
It’s known among those who own the Explorers that a 95 2nd gen is a nightmare.
Anything ’95 Ford? My ’95 F150 uses the Ford OBDI connector.
Brought up something I think you might find interesting. I inherited my dad’s supercharged 95 Riviera. Started working on it… it’s not OBD1 or OBD2. It’s a bizarre, one year only “OBD 1.5”. It has the PORT of OBD2, but it won’t communicate with most scanners, you need to buy an vintage scanner from the mid to late 90s…. it’s basically electrically OBD1, but with the port of OBD2, it’s so dumb. lol.
I wonder if my older Actron CP9145 OBDI/II scanner would work with those. I’ve connected to my ’95 F150 and previous ’85 Caprice with the correct adapters and it came with the basic OBDII.
I picked up an Actron 9150 that works on it, so yeah, that would likely work.
My late mom’s 94 Buick LeSabre must be one of those transition year specials. My brother is keeping it running and he hasn’t found an available scanner for it. He took it to the local Jr. College autoshop class and they had something old that told him the cam position sensor needed replacing. It was running, but there was a red check engine light on the dashboard that came and went. He reported that once he replaced that part, it runs better.
He needs an Actron 9145 or 9150
David, as you said, of course you should be buying this. Some advice from one broken car loving dad to another. Also go buy a Chrysler Pacifica. Get the PHEV version if you want. Then you have the perfect family car. Safe, the interior feels premium, versatile enough to handle anything you need to haul with it. Big enough if you decide to grow your family. The pentastar doesn’t get your juices going but it has more than enough power when you need it.
Now that you have that out of the way, you can continue to but whatever grail vehicle that comes your way, with zero guilt.
just ignore the inevitable hall-effect sensor INSIDE THE TRANSMISSION BELLHOUSING that will fail and require transmission replacement
I don’t reckon we need a minivan with one child, but if that changes, perhaps.
Fair enough ????. We survived with a Honda fit and my usually broken vehicles with one. It was the second child that prompted the minivan.
Worst I’ve had is the wrong set of windscreen wipers in Halfords for my 2011 VW Polo.
Just wait until that Polo is 25+ years old, then you’ll have more “fun” finding parts.
Fingers crossed I can drive it until it rusts horribly at 150k+ miles like my last car, which seems the limit for this damp part of Ireland.
I’m in a damp part of England, so understand that pain well!
My 1995 BMW 540i/6 has a bunch of these, but as a final-year model. It’s got body-colored side skirts and lower bumpers, a 1 year only steering wheel with an ugly airbag and unique clock spring, a one year only EWS (immobilizer system), a 95 540i-only keyless entry system that uses a special integrated fob key, a special rearview mirror, a one year only clutch/flywheel setup that is different from the 97-onward E39 540i/6, and a few more oddities.
You can fix it because you are the OBD-1 Kenobi of Jeeps!
My God. Shoo-in for COTD.
The 2006 Range Rover had a bunch of transition-year parts, being in an unholy transition between BMW and Ford/Jaguar electronics.
The 2006 Supercharged Range Rover has a nasty habit of killing its own transmission if you reset the transmission adaption values. Drive it in, push it out.
Even better is when the manufacturer does it but then basically doesn’t make any of those parts because the next year was a whole new model. There’s a bunch of stuff for the 1996 Corvette that’s basically NLA because of a combination of being the first and only year of OBD2 for the car and GM introducing a bunch of new stuff for the final year (like completely changing the adaptive dampeners from a Bilstein-designed system that they still actively manufacture because contemporary Ferraris also used them to a more advanced Delco one that was probably wasted on the C4 anyway and GM immediately stopped producing).
I recently discovered a similar issue with my brick nose ford, but its a two year oddity. 1990 and 91 use a unique setup for switching between tanks. Prior to that the switch actuates a mechanical valve body, after 91 its an electronic valve body, but that transition is a switch that trns on either one pump or the other withh no valving to manage them. The switch regularly wears out and you can’t get that one, you have to get the 92 and up one to fit the dash, and jerry rig the wiring because they’re different. I got so frustrated with mine that I just bought a generic three position switch and gave up on having a fuel gauge. 35 year old wiring is fun isn’t it.
At least these are mostly mechanical issues and you can swap in mostly aftermarket/other model parts.
On newer cars where everything is by wire god save you of you lose an integrated control chip.
Or the part needs to be programmed to the car, thus rendering it useless for parts swapping, short of sending it and a chunk of money to Xemodex.
And yes, there is a Volvo in the fleet…
Thankfully my transition cars are those where there is the early version that uses up stock from the previous model year and the second version uses the same stuff as the following year. But yeah it is weird that for example the window and door lock switches look identical and the plugs will interchange but they do not work the same.
The annoying instance is that on one of my other cars I went for the 03-05 version to avoid many of the unique to 02 parts and the one part I need for my car the 02 version is available in the aftermarket while the 03-05 is not and it is NLA from the mfg. I’m trying to decide between trying to make the 02 part work, making the 03-05 part for a platform mate work or a used unit.
96 gmt400’s have some interesting dash wiring. The ac control and blender panel is unique to 96 but looks identical to 97+. That has led to some head scratching.
Get used to it. Soon enough you’re going to be hearing a lot about terrible twos, adolescence and “how do I get this thirty year old out of my house”. Oddly all similar queries about Jeep ownership.
I had an early production Datsun 260Z, a car that was only sold in the US one year (longer overseas) and had completely different bumpers within that year (early were more like the 240, but with some impact dampers and rubber backing trim vs late that were bulky like the 280Z) and who knows what else. I had a voltage regulator go on it, so I had to take the train back and forth to school, then walk to the auto parts store, then over 4 miles to my house three times because it didn’t have one of the ones it was supposed to have in it for that year or model. (I forget which, but it was a Lucas unit! Much of the electrical system in that car was Lucas, not Hitachi. Why? Because f me, that’s why!) After the second one didn’t fit, I brought the old one with me and we located it in the catalog.
Sometimes those single-year parts are a good thing if you can find them. NA Miatas used a weird Panasonic stereo that’s almost, but not quite, DIN sized. That’s why aftermarket stereos rarely fit right in them. The situation is worse for ’94+ NA8 Miatas, as the center stack “tombstone” is different and none of the companies that make aftermarket double-DIN tombstones make them for NA8s. But, BUT, the “96 1/2” Miata actually had a different tombstone with a real double-DIN cutout that fits ’94-’96 cars. For ’97 they went back to the Panasonic stereo with the weird opening. I scored one from eBay shortly after I bought my car, so I was able to install a proper single-DIN stereo with a single-DIN storage cubby from an NB.