1st Gen CRV, viable Cherokee replacement?

I know they aren't really equivalent, but we're talking about for SWMBO, who drives maybe 8 miles a day, 6 days a week. The Jeep gets awful gas mileage being driven like that, but it doesn't matter, because a tank still goes 3 weeks.

BUT, i'm finding it harder and harder to keep the Jeep in wonderful shape, and i'd really like to not only have her in something that is in mechanically great condition, but also looks nice.

She managed to destroy the driver's door the other day when the limiter arm seized up and ate E36 M3. I rebuilt the hinges, couldn't get the limiter arm to work properly again, so i left it off. In re-hanging the door, i can't figure out how the hell to get the door to align properly, so i settled with "it latches and doesn't leak, good enough." It bothers me.

Today, it's fighting to run correctly and is throwing a CEL. Hopefully the CEL stays on long enough for her to run it by Autozone after work and get the codes pulled. Worth mentioning it's really humid here and we got a hell of a rainstorm yesterday.

Other things "wrong" with the Jeep.
1) Cracked exhaust manifold (I think... there's an exhaust leak somewhere, this is common)
2) Various common oil leaks
3) Ball joints could use some replacing
4) Small rust bubbles on roof caused by un-detected hail damage a year or so ago. (Plan was to grind it all down then bedline the roof) Additional minor rust at the bottom of a door or two. Easy fix, just time.
5) Fog lights don't work. This pisses me off because A) i replaced both of them with brand new units, they worked for 10 miles then didn't work ever again. It's a problem in the circuit before the lights themselves and B) less than a year later, there's already a bunch of water in the lights.
6) It's loud. Crackheads stole the cat out of it a year or so ago, i replaced it with the "quietest" Magnaflow setup from PerformanceCurve.com. It's loud. I hate it.
7) Oil pressure isn't where i think it should be. There's 5w-30 in it right now, and sometimes after running for extended periods of time (highway during summer), it'll gradually drop pressure to the point that it's only making about 35psi at cruise @ 2300rpms, and will drop to 10psi at idle. This truck has the infamous "0331" head which the internet tells me should have cracked a decade ago. It doesn't seem to use any coolant, but oil pressure isn't great. Could also be a worn out pump. Probably original at 200k miles.
8) A/C and heat STILL don't work, after countless threads and diagnostics. I know why the A/C doesn't work at this point, Bobzilla and i found a leak in one of the fittings, i still have no berkeleying clue why heat doesn't work, and i really don't feel like doing a heater core replacement as a "diagnostic measure."

Other than that... it's been a great truck. We've had it for almost 4 years now, it doesn't really owe us anything, and i think i could probably get $3-4k out of it.

I've been idly shopping for another SUV for a few months, now. Was looking for another Cherokee or an FJ80 Land Cruiser for myself. If another Cherokee, she'd take the nicer of the two. If Land Cruiser, she keeps the Cherokee. The other alternative was getting something a little less truck-y, and i'd take the current Cherokee.

Problem: With everything else on my plate this very minute, if we get a CRV, it'd have to be funded by the sale of the Cherokee, and i'm back to square 1 anyways.

I've heard all kinds of anecdotes about 1st gen CRVs going 300k with nothing but gas, oil, brakes, and tires. Are they really as reliable as this? I'm seeing the better 99-01 EXs in the $4k and under realm, which is about where i'd be shopping anyways.

The "Grit it Out" Option:
I'm reasonably sure i could fix every last thing wrong with the Jeep for under $1000 even if the head is trashed, under $2000 if i say berkeley it, go scorched earth, and put a full rebuilt longblock in it. I could do everything with a hard two weekends worth of work. The truck as a whole is very solid, with not one speck of rust underneath, and i did just re-do the entire suspension and steering (except for ball joints, har har) this past summer, only 5,000 miles ago. Also: New tires.

What do? I like having the Jeep around for its utility when i need it, and she likes sitting high and knowing that even if she stuffs it in a ditch in winter, she can get herself out. I DON'T like fighting for time to actually do everything the truck could use.

I'm lost. I'm starting to feel like i should probably just reboot the entire fleet, but NOTHING makes sense to get rid of at the moment.

That's plenty of oil pressure for a 4.0 on 5w30, switch it to 10w40 or 15w40 if it bothers you. Grit it out and keep the jeep, Honda's are more maintenance intensive than "change various fluids when you feel like it".

Kenny_McCormic wrote: That's plenty of oil pressure for a 4.0 on 5w30, switch it to 10w40 or 15w40 if it bothers you.

10psi is the point where the gauge ends up just giving up and falling to 0psi, triggering the "Check Gauges" light.

I'm not hearing any bad noises or seeing anything sparkly in the oil, so it's probably fine, it just bugs the E36 M3 out of me. Especially since it didn't do this when we bought it 4 years and 25k miles ago.

So you're in the camp of "Head is probably fine, just replace the cracked manifold and fix the other issues, but don't have to worry about replacing a head or a motor?"

If that's the case I'd throw a sender at it and go from there. Is it a 0331 head or a 0331 TUPY(look through oil fill hole)? From what I remember finding one for my mom, the TUPY head is good.

"So you're in the camp of "Head is probably fine, just replace the cracked manifold and fix the other issues, but don't have to worry about replacing a head or a motor?""

That's the camp I'm in. Then I get all blame-y sounding and ask questions like "why are you running such thin oil in this thing, with that mileage and stuff?" or "can't you figure out a decent swap path to get F2T power in there already?"

I'll be honest, I don't think these things are that great to drive, so I'd sell it for that reason. If you like driving it, that's fine, I'd just fix the stuff that matters like that manifold and refresh the suspension.

This is the 3rd sender i've had in it since purchased. That said, i'm putting cheapass parts store replacements in there and who knows how good those are compared to the cheapass failure-prone Chryco OEM senders.

This is the stupid grey area bullE36 M3 i hate on cars. Just once i almost wish one of our vehicles would just fail spectacularly. Like... throw a damn rod through the side of the block or something. Make the path forward REAL easy to map out.

When I got married, my wife had a 1998 CR-V LX? AWD Auto. The problem with that car was the fact that my wife drove it for 5 years before I got ahold of it. When I first took it for a drive, it was clanking so bad, I really thought the front end was going to fall off. When I asked my wife how long it made the horrible front end noise, she said, "What noise?". I went through the front end and replaced all 4 control arms (cheap on rockauoto), new struts, new end links, new sway bushings. Moved on and did the brakes, new tires all around, new timing belt, water pump, belts, etc. Did a lot of work on that car to get it up to snuff for less than $1500. We got the car for free from her Dad, so I didn't mind putting in the work to make it reliable. The exhaust broke off mid road trip from PA to NC, so I had a muffler shop make a cheap press bent setup for next to nothing.

Car had 170k and rising when I sold it. I would have taken it anywhere. Put it on Craigslist for $3800 and sold it the next day for $3400. I was happy.

My opinions: Great driving car, horribly underpowered in the AWD form. The auto felt like it couldn't get much work done, so towing is out of the question. MPG's where 18/24 which I assume is from the AWD system. I'd buy another. They have a lot of space, easy to work for DIYers like us. Ours spent most of its life in central PA and the rust on the body showed. Rear rockers were pretty much crusted/gone.

Fly into Charlotte, NC and drive one home. Last time I checked they're is a ton of rust free ones there.

pres589 wrote: "So you're in the camp of "Head is probably fine, just replace the cracked manifold and fix the other issues, but don't have to worry about replacing a head or a motor?"" That's the camp I'm in. Then I get all blame-y sounding and ask questions like "why are you running such thin oil in this thing, with that mileage and stuff?" or "can't you figure out a decent swap path to get F2T power in there already?" I'll be honest, I don't think these things are that great to drive, so I'd sell it for that reason. If you like driving it, that's fine, I'd just fix the stuff that matters like that manifold and refresh the suspension.

I was running that oil in it at the CherokeeForums direction, but the more i hang out there, the more i realize that most of those people don't know their ass from a whole in the ground.

I normally run 10w-40 in it, and really the only time i guess i've had really worrisome pressure showing with that was the last times the sender bit the dust.

Oil change was on the radar for trying to sneak in this weekend anyways.

As for F2T... if i'm doing a motor swap in this thing, it's getting an LSx or a 2jz.

pres589 wrote: I'll be honest, I don't think these things are that great to drive, so I'd sell it for that reason. If you like driving it, that's fine, I'd just fix the stuff that matters like that manifold and refresh the suspension.

That's the same thing I told him doing the FIRST radiator replacement.

Bobzilla wrote:

pres589 wrote: I'll be honest, I don't think these things are that great to drive, so I'd sell it for that reason. If you like driving it, that's fine, I'd just fix the stuff that matters like that manifold and refresh the suspension.

That's the same thing I told him doing the FIRST radiator replacement.

Lol... but we like driving it and it's been a great truck. Really what i'm wrestling with here is finding the time to bring it back to 100%. It's not a money thing, just time.

And i would really hate to ditch this thing over time alone, and somehow end up with something no better, or heaven forbid, worse.

And that's the rub/question about this. It's really less about "Are CRVs good" than it is about "What in the berkeley do i do now?"

Sell EVERYTHING. buy her an appliance. You buy a new Frisbee and a motorcycle. Done.

It sounds like your best path is to change the oil back to something like 10-40 or, even better, 15w40 Rotella stuff. Then take the sender out and replace it with a bolt or plug with the proper threads so that thing never leaks. Finally, electrically rig the cable assembly at the sender so it shows enough pressure to turn off the light.

Boom done go fix the suspension and forget about this other stuff. It's an AMC 4.0; stop acting like oil pressure is important.

p.s. Swank Force Industries should use this as a prototyping project in their line of Mazda F swap kit parts.

Bobzilla wrote: Sell EVERYTHING. buy her an appliance. You buy a new Frisbee and a motorcycle. Done.

So tempting, you have no idea.

8 miles? I hate to say it, but a hybrid would make more sense for her needs. Get a used Insight, etc. and enjoy saving money since you won't take the depreciation hit from buying new.

I also have to wonder why you're looking at SUV's given the miles she drives.

We've had a '97 AWD CR-V as our family vehicle since Spring '12. It has 210k on it now, and we just replaced it with an '03. Probably will be getting rid of the '97 soon to a friend, but it's a great ride. It's showing it's age, but it's economical, very roomy, and pretty capable on rough roads (and it's a beast in the snow!). Apart from a noise and oil leak that I can't pinpoint, it's been great. Skip a 97-98 (they have about 20 hp less), and if you want to do an OBD1 swap and tune it, make sure you get a manual.

pres589 wrote: It sounds like your best path is to change the oil back to something like 10-40 or, even better, 15w40 Rotella stuff. Then take the sender out and replace it with a bolt or plug with the proper threads so that thing never leaks. Finally, electrically rig the cable assembly at the sender so it shows enough pressure to turn off the light. Boom done go fix the suspension and forget about this other stuff. It's an AMC 4.0; stop acting like oil pressure is important. p.s. Swank Force Industries should use this as a prototyping project in their line of Mazda F swap kit parts.

Suspension is all good save for balljoints. Rancho lift with adjustable shocks, all new steering including Rubicon Express adjustable track bar and blah blah blah.

I think an F2T Cherokee wouldn't be hateful, and would probably get decent gas mileage. Stop putting terrible ideas in my head.

Oh, and I get 22-24 mpg in mixed driving. Never seen less than 20, and I've gotten 28 on the hwy. Even with AWD and auto and severely underpowered.

turboswede wrote: 8 miles? I hate to say it, but a hybrid would make more sense for her needs. Get a used Insight, etc. and enjoy saving money since you won't take the depreciation hit from buying new. I also have to wonder why you're looking at SUV's given the miles she drives.

That ship sailed long ago. She likes sitting high, she likes not having to shift in winter, she likes the knowledge that she has a 4wd Jeep in winter for E36 M3ty weather, etc etc etc.

A hybrid would probably take about 30 years to pay for itself with how few miles she drives. We usually put 5-8k miles on this thing a year. Gas mileage is really not a concern.

Now, i've considered an Insight for myself, but even i don't really drive enough for it to make sense. It's rare that i break 15k miles.

I kind of doubt you will be able to get a CRV with less issues for the amount you'll be able to get out of the Cherokee as-is.

Sounds like a lot of what is bothering you about cherokee is not knowing things. If everything was fully diagnosed, you would probably feel better about it even if nothing was actually fixed just because the uncertainty would not be there about it.

Swank Force One wrote:

Bobzilla wrote: Sell EVERYTHING. buy her an appliance. You buy a new Frisbee and a motorcycle. Done.

So tempting, you have no idea.

I've been promoting this same philosophy for some time now.... there's a reason. It makes sense.

Think about it: you hate working on cars now. This solves that. You don't have to worry about her because she's got something nice and reliable. You get a fun to drive, non-boring car with aftermarket support out the ying-yang.

It solves ALL your problems in one fell swoop.

Vigo wrote: I kind of doubt you will be able to get a CRV with less issues for the amount you'll be able to get out of the Cherokee as-is. Sounds like a lot of what is bothering you about cherokee is not knowing things. If everything was fully diagnosed, you would probably feel better about it even if nothing was actually fixed just because the uncertainty would not be there about it.

I think if i just fix the CEL and throw a charge at the A/C, i could easily sell it for enough to get a decent CRV.

http://indianapolis.craigslist.org/ctd/4455801105.html

Cars like that are all over the place. It's the good year, a good color, EX, has less miles than the Jeep, and asking price is about exactly what i'd list the Jeep as.

And yes... the uncertainty is what's really eating away at me. I was already planning on doing a compression test, changing oil pressure sender, and putting some better oil in it this weekend anyways. I just have no way of gauging if i'm talking a day and $200 to fix everything, or a month and $2000, and that's what's killing me.

The MX6 has always been easy: Oh, my turbo just berkeleying exploded, i guess i'll throw a new one on. Oh, i'm leaving everything from everywhere in large quantities, time for a full gasket set. Oh, slave cylinder just got destroyed, i'm stranded, guess i'll walk down to the store and put on a new one by the side of the road.

I struggle with things that are kinda sorta maybe not really "wrong."

http://www.4wheelparts.com/Performance-Parts/Cat4Ward-Header.aspx?t_c=74&t_s=49&t_pt=3240&t_pn=jba1526s&utm_source=google&utm_medium=froogle&utm_campaign=product&emlprox=out&ppcfon=1&gclid=CjgKEAjwwPabBRCXo46OtM_RhGMSJACgCeqANY0fRScQk4PWbddArpMmZe0R-RicBGrbe24_VNe22fD_BwE

Just sayin'.

pres589 wrote: http://www.4wheelparts.com/Performance-Parts/Cat4Ward-Header.aspx?t_c=74&t_s=49&t_pt=3240&t_pn=jba1526s&utm_source=google&utm_medium=froogle&utm_campaign=product&emlprox=out&ppcfon=1&gclid=CjgKEAjwwPabBRCXo46OtM_RhGMSJACgCeqANY0fRScQk4PWbddArpMmZe0R-RicBGrbe24_VNe22fD_BwE Just sayin'.

Maybe you'll know....

Everything i've found shows the 00-01 Cherokees to take different headers than every other Cherokee because of extra cats and such or something.

If i put on an aftermarket header for a 99 and older, am i going to be fighting more CELs for cat failure?

You know, a 2WD Cherokee with an F2T boosted to the 9's and an automatic trans might make for a really nice drag car. You should add that to your pile of weird projects.

Edit: No idea on your question with the cats and such. If you can't find a header that is model year specific, I would just get another factory manifold. Might go that route anyway.

Swank Force One wrote:

turboswede wrote: 8 miles? I hate to say it, but a hybrid would make more sense for her needs. Get a used Insight, etc. and enjoy saving money since you won't take the depreciation hit from buying new. I also have to wonder why you're looking at SUV's given the miles she drives.

That ship sailed long ago. She likes sitting high, she likes not having to shift in winter, she likes the knowledge that she has a 4wd Jeep in winter for E36 M3ty weather, etc etc etc. A hybrid would probably take about 30 years to pay for itself with how few miles she drives. We usually put 5-8k miles on this thing a year. Gas mileage is really not a concern. Now, i've considered an Insight for myself, but even i don't really drive enough for it to make sense. It's rare that i break 15k miles.

Sigh, I feel your pain. Wife is similar, except she doesn't drive in the snow (I do), but doesn't like not being able to see over the dash (who does?) and her commute is about 40 miles a day. If I hadn't lost my job, we'd have probably replaced one of the cars with a Volt.

Makes me wonder if one could take a DelSol and an Insight to make a nice 2-seat convertible cruiser that can get great mileage for commuters?