03 wrangler sport how many miles is too many?

[rjn78cj7]

I have found an immaculate 2003 wrangler sport for sale. Jeep was bought new by a middle-aged woman. Now i'm considering buying this jeep. It has brand new bfg all terrain tires, hard top and full hard doors, 4speed auto tranny, and does not have a scratch on it! It looks almost brand new. except for the miles. 126,000. Engine is the 4.0l 6cyl. Now the lady has all service and oil change records in hand. She was apparently very good about changing the oil, even had Transmission and rad flushed @ 75k miles. What i want to know, me never having owned anything beyond the cj years, is how good are these motors? what can i expect out of the engine if i buy this jeep? I know 1 of my cjs had well over 200,000 miles on the AMC 258 i6 / 4.2l i6 before it puked on itself. Can i expect the same out of this 4.0l? Gimmie some advice guys. I know some of y'all own a TJ! She wants $8,000 for the jeep. Knowing i'm gonna try to haggle her down to 7k. Let me know what y'all think.

 

[Busted Knuckles]

Ive not heard of anything bad of the newer 4.0L....126k with records doesn't scare me off, Ive got 436k on my work van, its never had any work done on it (except for a water pump and belt). My 4.0L in my cherokee has 200k on it, it still runs like a sewing machine, with no blow by...Ive also got a 4.0L YJ with 200K+ it runs like a top.

With fuel injection on the exact same motor, they typically with go twice as far, and even farther if they where maintained. So what Im saying is the worn out at a 100k, is now worn out with 200k.. "so to speak". That does not apply to engines that of course have inherit engineering problems and are a turd at any mileage.

If everything else checks out to your satisfaction, and you can get the price you want, buy it.

One other note, you might want a car-fax on it, to see if its been wrecked hard enough that an insurance company wrote a check to repair it.

 

[Rescue Diver]

Most of the Cherokees I've seen at pick-n-pull had well over 200k on them so I'd say they last pretty long if the owner keeps the oil changed. Mid 99 to 2002 4.0 engines had issues with the #0331 head casting cracking between the number 3 and 4 combution chambers, but most of them in those years don't crack, just enough to get noticed. We just bought a 2001 Cherokee with only 77k on it. I hope it doesn't end up being one of those!

The Wrangler you're looking at is a 2003, so it'll have the beefed up #0331 head that shouldn't crack. With the miles you listed, if it's been taken care of, it's barely broken in.

On a side note, my 96 Tahoe has 383k and runs perfect. It's all about how well it's maintained.