TomS Words of Wisdom

I went and looked at a 1993 Cherokee Sport this afternoon. It has the main items I'm looking for and is in fairly good condition (for it's age) and has less miles on it then mine did when I bought it eight years ago. It does have a few items (seat, right rear passenger window, thermostat, shifter knob) that will need to get fixed sooner rather then later. But it is not only a year newer then the Geek Jeep, it is also one model up the product line (Sport vs. STD). Which means that it already has things like the nicer instrument cluster, the rear defroster and rear wiper without having the extras the will tend to break over the long haul, (power windows, power door locks, etc.). The only thing it doesn't have that I had wanted was a hitch. So I will just end up adding one like I did to the Geek Jeep in 1999.

I gave the current owner, James, enough of a deposit that he won't sell it to someone else over the weekend. The plan is that he will bring it out to my mechanic in Fall City on Monday Afternoon.

My '92 Cherokee with 359k miles had the #2 cylinder die and I need to find a replacement.

Things I'm looking for include:

* 6 cylinder engine (~4.0 liter)
* manual transmission
* working AC
* hitch / towing package (2" receiver preferred)
* about 200k or less miles (maybe a little more if all else is good)
* no major work urgently need
* no minor work needed to get too and from work

Willing to pay about $1400, depending on condition and features. (Maybe a little more for the perfect replacement.)

Ad selling my '92 Cherokee coming soon!

I'm saddened to report that my venerable white '92 Jeep Cherokee, once upon a time known as "The Geek Jeep", is on it's last few miles. Late last week it began running a little rough. It did better over the weekend after having the fluids (including oil) topped off on Friday. But by Monday morning it was missing consistently on at least one cylinder. My initial thought was that this was likely due to the fact that it was over due for a tune up (new plugs, cap, rotor, etc.). I got it home Monday evening on the remaining five cylinder, and preformed the tune-up. However the number 2 spark plug was covered in oil and it was still missing when I got everything back together. So based on recommendations from a few friends I took it in to the Model Garage in Fall City, where they did a compression test, etc. and diagnosed the problem as the piston, piston rings or both, with an estimated repair cost starting at about $1500. For that price I could just about replace it.

It now has about 359k miles, 183k of which I've put on it in the eight years I have owned it. It started out it's life in California with an unknown owner. My friend Alan Duda acquired it in New Mexico around '97 when he moved with it to the Virginia suburbs of Washington DC. I bought it from him for $1400 in June 1999, had a new transmission put in, and drove it from DC through Chicago, Seattle, Oakland, San Jose, Las Vagas, Los Angles, Dallas, Venice (FL), Atlanta and back to DC before the end of that year. In early 2000 it made trip down to Venice FL pulling a large U-Haul trailer to and from Atlanta. In late 2000 when I moved from Maryland, the Jeep pulled my little cargo trailer to L.A., then in early 2001 north to the Seattle area. Since then it's been down to California several times. In 2003 I drove it to the Vaulting National Championships in Denver, where it developed a crack in the radiator, which I replaced before heading home. This year it got new rear breaks, new tires, a new windshield and just last week, new floor mats.



So I'm in the market for a new (used) vehicle. Either another early '90s Cherokee or a six cylinder small or mid-size pick-up. If you know someone who might have such a vehicle (in the Seattle area) and might be willing to part with it for under $2k, please do let me know. For more specifics see this post on my blog.