Newbie with Question

[prismfisher]

New to site but have been monitoring for a while. I have an opportunity to purchase a 2002 wrangler (automatic) with 135000 miles.

While I have an 82 scrambler that I use mainly for fun, this rig might become a daily driver.

My question is how many miles on a I6 can you safely count on before you get nervous? I know that maintenance and oil changes are of most importance and I have been told that changes were routine. What other things should I look at as far as reliability? Crawled under rig and all looks relatively clean with no obvious leaks or damage. Don't know if transmission or pumpkins were serviced but I plan on doing that myself.

Any info would be much appreciated as I will be sharing this rig with my daughter as well so owners of high mile Jeeps please chime in.

 

[Mikey4x4]

Look in your owners manual and it will tell you all routine maintenance that needs to be done at each mile stone. Ask the owner if he's done that, things like timing belt should already be replaced.

 

[superj]

There is a timing belt on the i6? I thought they were chains.

We sold our previous wrangler with 195k and it ran fine. We have sold all our jeeps with almost 200k and many had pver 200k and the still run today

 

[jfrabat]

If taken care of, Jeep engines last well in the 200's. The question is, has it been taken care of. I agree with the timing chain (they tend to stretch after a few hundred thousand miles), and maybe the thermostat has gone south, but the rest, if the maintenance schedule was kept, should not be an issue.

 

[prismfisher]

Thanks for the responses. I will consider the suggestions. Is the timing belt/chain a change that a shade tree can do? I know that with my jetta tdi, it is a big deal.