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Jeep Comanche 2WD, 4.0 Liter, six-cylinder

  • Price: Ask a price!
  • Location: Laguna Beach, California, United States
  • Condition: Used
  • Make: Jeep
  • Model: Comanche
  • Type: Standard Cab Pickup
  • Year: 1988
  • Mileage: 300,000
  • VIN: 1JTMW6411JT090571
  • Color: Black
  • Engine size: 4.0 Liter, six cylinder fuel injected
  • Number of cylinders: 6
  • Fuel: Gasoline
  • Transmission: Manual
  • Drive type: RWD
  • Interior color: Gray
  • Options: CD Player
  • Vehicle Title: Clear

1988 Jeep Comanche Description

This truck is a 2WD Comanche with a 4.0 liter, six cylinder fuel injected engine. It has a five-speed manual transmission. First off, the truck runs great. The original engine is still strong, it starts right up even in cold weather, there's no problem with the clutch and the tires have a lot of tread left. That said, there are a lot of little, mostly cosmetic issues. I'll list every little thing here, so people know exactly what they are getting. My story is, I love this truck, have been driving it for 26 years and am very emotionally attached to it, but I'm leaving the country for six months so I thought I'd see what I could get for it and maybe buy something else when I get home. If it doesn't sell, I'll just store it and keep driving it when I get back, which wouldn't be such a bad outcome for me. Ok, so here are all of the issues:
Emissions: I recently took it in to have a smog check here in Southern California. It passed on the emissions, but it failed overall because it needs a new vacuum hose. The guy at the smog place told me that it also needs some sort of harness, and that all up it was going to cost $500+ to get it taken care of. If someone in California wants it, this will have to be done before the title is transferred.
Speedometer: The truck has larger tires than it came with and the speedometer was never adjusted for that, so it is off by about 10 percent, on the low side. When it says you are going 60, you're really going about 66. Same goes for the odometer. It says the truck has 275K miles, but in reality it's more like 300K.
Seat: As you can see from the pics, there is a tear in the seat upholstery. I just put a towel over it, which works all right for me.
Brakes and shocks: They work all right but they are old. On a bumpy road, you bounce around a bit. If I was going to keep it, this is probably the first thing I'd replace though it's perfectly fine to drive it the way it is. Recently I heard a bit of noise coming from the front right brakes, though I checked the pads and they have half their life left. Subsequently, the scraping noise went away and now I'm not hearing anything anymore. No vibrations either. I think it was something on the rotor that must have worn off.
Emergency brake: The cable is snapped so it doesn't currently work. I think a new cable is a little over $20 but I'm not sure how much it would cost to install.
Rear View Mirror: There some staining in the glass in the center of the mirror. I don't notice because I'm used to it, but for someone driving it for the first time it could be annoying.
Leaks: A bit of oil leaks out around the valve cover when the engine is running, mostly when on long drives. Around town, hardly anything comes out at all but after a long drive there is usually a spot on the pavement about the diameter of a drink coaster the next morning. Also, after I stored it last time I was away, there was some leaking coming from the power steering fluid, but I put in some stop leak and it seems all right now.
Driver's door handle: It's a little loose and sometimes pops off. You just have to push it back on. Same goes for the shift nob. I just don't pull up on it and don't have any problems, though it does seem to annoy my dad when he drives it.
Front end: Last year I clipped a phone pole when pulling out of a parking space. It cracked my front left turn signal (see pic) and pulled the trim around the front grill away from the vehicle by about an inch. The connections on one side of the trim were busted off, so I have the whole thing wired on to make sure it doesn't fall off. Kind of shady, I know. There's also an indentation on the passenger side door from where someone opened their door into mine in a parking lot.
Headliner: Originally it had a gray felt headliner (ceiling), but the felt started coming off so I had to tear it out. Now there's no headliner, just some foam that's a little torn up. Also, the grommet that holds the passenger sun shade in place is broken, so the shade hangs down a bit.
Front License plate: The license plate holder is actually glued to the front bumper with epoxy, so to get it off you'd have to whack it with a hammer and then chisel or sand off the excess epoxy somehow.
Heater: The heater doesn't work most of the time. Occasionally I get a weak flow of warm air after a while but don't count on it, though. There is no AC and never was.
Antenna: I was wobbling around a little bit, so I tucked it into the rain gutter to keep it stable...
Door lock: Somebody once tried to jimmy the driver's side door lock and now it works most of the time, but maybe once a month it won't open and I have to open the passenger door and reach across to unlock the driver's door. After that, it works fine again.
I think that's it. Like I said, the truck drives well and it also has a stereo with Radio, CD and a USB port, though it's not very loud. Fine around town, but on the freeway it's a little hard to hear it sometimes. Overall, this could be a good project for someone who wants to refurbish an old Comanche that can be driven while you work on it.
On the positive side, the radiator works great, no problems there. All of the lights and blinkers work, except for the interior dome light and the reverse lights which don't. No problem with the wipers, though the pump on the window washing fluid is out.
If anyone is interested, feel free to ask any questions. I'm not going to pay for shipping, though if someone from outside Southern California wants to have it shipped I'd be glad to help arrange it.