Bonjour Community,
I am new to the forum and I might be next newbie owner of a 2008 Jeep Wrangler, Sahara Unlimited.

I do have some technical questions someone thinking on buying a used ca might have.

First and foremost, are these cars prone to breaking, I mean, is a Jeep owner knows every garage owner of his region because of frequent vist ?

Next, how many kilometers (miles) one should expect of these cars? The Jeep I'm interested in is already 219 000 kilometers (~136 000 miles) of mainly highways or long road trip across Canada and United-States.

I do have other questions but I'll use first anwers to go on with the others as those two are my main concern right now.

Thanks for you time and support.

 

I'm going to go out on a limb and say, flat out, these jeeps need tlc. They need maintenance and attention to parts and mechanical components.

I would also say a solid percentage, let's call it 50 percent, do most of the repairs on our rigs. You will need to check fluids and moving parts that require grease often, every 3-5k Miles.

Personally, 120k miles on a used rig is A LOT.
Every one says they were easy miles on a rig they are trying to get too much money for. 2008, that mileage I wouldn't pay 10g's for it.

The clutch and tob, or even if it's an auto is near out the door. How many sets of brakes and how many complete fluid swaps have been done?
Trans, t-case, diffs, radiator, hydraulic system?
Better be all of em at least once.

Have the pcv, egr, or any other sensors (cpm, o2, etc.) gone out or any dtc's been thrown?

Muffler is probably trashed and has a hole rotted through it. Mine did at 75k.

Water pump, starter, any pulleys, belt change, air filter, checked headers for the infamous crack?

You get where this is going? Nearly all of these things listed have gone bad on my rig, which is the only reason I know.

But I'm a bit crazy, I replace BEFORE failure occurs. Just start throwing money at it and it will be a blessing. You CAN'T just drive it and hope everything will be just fine. I have a granny car for my commute to do that.

Whatcha think?

 

The 3.8L engine that came in the pre 2012s are not known for reliability. Some make it quite a ways, but there are not a lot of 3.8s with that kind of mileage. Very common to see them die before 100k. Most burn nearly as much oil as they do gas, haha.

Point being, you may get lucky, but don't be surprised if it needs a new engine sooner than later.

 

I have a 2009 and the wife has a 2010. Her's has 110,000 miles on it and it burns 1 1/2 quarts every 6,000 miles. My 09 has 73,xxx and I burn 1 1/2 quarts every 6,000 miles. I changed from the 5w-20 to 10w-30 and have noticed a reduction in oil consumtion. They aren't hot rods, out here in BFE Montana the speed limit is 70mph, I normally do 65. They don't get red-lined (at least when I'm driving can't say about when the old lady is driving) and we keep up with the preventitive maint. I for see them lasting a while, but others have had extremely bad luck when it comes to the 3.8, hoping to get many, many miles out of these guys. Also the type of wheeling we do is forest service roads and snow wheeling, nothing extreme by any means.

 

That's funny.. We have 3 JK/JKU 07, 08, and 09, all run 5:30 oil and burn less then a quart every 10,000klm (6000miles). My JKU has 215,000klm the 2 JKs are in around 125,000 klm. No issues with any of them. They are on 33, 35, and 37" tires ...
Of all the JKS in our area the 3.6s are the ones causing issues...

 

That's been my experience as well. From my understanding it was the early 3.6L which had the head cracking related issues.

I have a 2009 with the 3.8L and 102K miles on it. I have changed the oil every 3K miles and have not noticed any oil burning or engine related issues between those intervals. I'm currently doing my 1st major repair and that's replacing rotors, calipers and pads all the way around, where up to 100K it was just pad replacements every 30-40K miles. While doing this repair I decided to go with the Mopar Big Brake upgrade kit on the fronts and Centric rooters, re-man calipers and Green pads on the back. However, I am running stock tires with no lift. While working on the brakes, I noticed my front and rear differentials seem to be leaking, so that will be my next repair.

Other than those items, that has been my only necessary maintenance's required.

 

my 3.8 has been pretty reliable so far besides changing the oil pan gasket. it runs good it just sucks gas and burns oil I got 83,000 and still running stong. however some aren't as lucky. I think a quart every 3000. cheers

 

I have a 2008/3.8L and have only had to replace the water pump. Burns about a quart of oil every 3k - 4k miles. I do regular synth oil changes every 6k. Oh.. new gas cap when we relo'd to Colorado to pass smog.