Went to look at TJ tonight and I'm looking for some insight

Z

ZariashRS

New Member
Joined
Mar 13, 2020
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2
Location
Victoria, Australia
Hi guys, earlier tonight I went to go look at a '2004 Wrangler 4L auto' with the intention of hopefully buying it. Have wanted a TJ for a couple years now but had never driven one up until tonight, as it wasn't really something I could justify. Anyway, things have changed and after having taken one for a spin I'm almost sold on the idea of it.

The guy who is selling it is a car dealer, but this was posted on Facebook and the car was located at his place as he's apparently been driving it a little bit for the past month he has had it. He wasn't around when I went there after work today but his wife was, who gave me the key to take it out. So right off the bat I don't think I'm going to find out much of the car's history from the seller.

The exterior of the car looks to be in really great condition. There's hardly any damage to the paint, the only concern was a slight cut in the back window of the soft top, though that could easily be patched. The interior was also really good, just about spotless all over from what I could make out.

Spent about 20 minutes driving it on roads near his place, only ever getting up to a maximum of 80km/h. On the way back to returning the car, I pulled over and had a look through the service log. Here are the services which have been listed in the official service log:
13,323km @ 1/11/04
24,851km @ 30/11/05
36,450km @ 13/2/07
(then nothing until...)
106,307km @ 18/4/13
136,439km @ 4/9/15

It is currently sitting on about 146,xxx kilometres. So that means that it has only been driven 10,000km's in the past 4 and a half years, but without any service which has been logged. Is this something to be concerned about? There's no records of what has been done in any of these services. My gut is telling me there is something off about this. The car seemed fine when I was driving it, though I'm coming from driving a Subaru Impreza for the entire 3+ years of my driving life which is a completely different experience.

Also, I'm located in Victoria, Australia. I was wondering if there were many people on here from Australia who could shed some light on what it's like to own one of these cars when it comes to repair costs, parts availability, etc.

I'll include some photos I took of the car for you all to look at.
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Thanks for having a read and for any help/advice I recieve :)
 
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@Daz7 is from Australia, as are many others. In fact, you may want to post a separate thread in the Australia regional sub-forum.

That TJ looks pretty reasonable to me. There is no major frame rust that I can see, which is the biggest thing to look for on these vehicles. Sure, there's a bit of surface rust (mostly dirt), but that is not a hard thing to fix.

Why would your gut tell you there is something off about it? It looks good to me. Maybe a bit dirty underneath, but that's easy to take care of.
 
I wouldnt worry about the gap in history. Some people maintain logs to the T, others dont even bother.

It looks clean from what I can see.
 
Hello! couple of things.

We don't have frame rust issues in Australia, so don't worry about that. To me it looks ok but keep in mind its 16 years old so will need some restoration. That said the vehicles when looked after are really reliable, mines a daily just because I enjoy driving it and it never lets me down. No-one will are able to tell you this is ok without seeing it however it does look quite clean.

Most issues I see are from owners being cheap on repairs and a lot of that is buying no name parts on eBay. They are easy to repair and my advice is to buy a good socket set and learn to spin some spanners. There are a heap of how to instructions online (this forum will help muchly).

For parts, forget buying local, purchase from Rockauto.com out of the USA. You'll have the parts in a week and they'll be much cheaper than anything you can purchase locally.
 
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Hey guys, thanks for all of the responses. I did end up buying the Jeep just a couple of days ago and I couldn't be happier!
Also thanks @Daz7 for linking me to Rockauto, will certainly use that site in the future for parts.

One of the first things I want to do is to get rid of the bull bar that it currently has. I've been looking at changing it back to a stock bumper, this one in particular by Crown Automotive. If I went with that bumper, am I right in assuming that these bumper ends should fit with it?

Another thing that needs replacing soon are the window skins. These ones by Bestop seem like the best option. There are also no name brand ones on eBay for $100 or so less but I figured the ones on Amazon may be a bit better. Has anyone used these or can comment on the quality?
 
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Yes, those end caps will fit this bumper. I'm not from Australia but equally far from USA and I also get my parts from rockauto, good prices and fast shipping but they mostly carry oem parts, for aftermarket and big items I found that summitracing have the best shipping rates and sometimes ebay with the global shipping program. Enjoy your new Jeep ;)
 
Nice looking Jeep.... Congratulations on the purchase.
I recently purchased an 01 Jeep TJ 4.0L and the Jeep came with a black tubular bull bar; not fond of the bumper, but replacing the bumper can wait. More important things on my list....
 
First , two words - The Little River Band .

Secondly , it aren't a car. We will let you slide because we liked Paul Hogan and Steve Irwin.

Third, nobody smoked more people on all displacements of KTM dirt bikes like your man, Shane Watts. Geeze . To watch him ride a 125 is terrifying.

Now, back to your new vehicle -congratulations, expect to sew up a few small issues , service it , check all the bushings (especially sway bar links ) and for goodness sakes , watch for eastern brown snakes when you crawl under that thing .

Thanks for posting, we are glad it worked out .
 
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