Mine has never left me stranded. Sometimes it might need a little work but it has always pulled through. I wish I could say the same about my "new" cars.

WildCJ5
http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=286143&a=2127776

 

I'm sure that mine could easy. If you're talking about street driving. It's gonna get alittle fuzzy after that. One guy's rippin up the rubicon and the next guy's big off-road adventure is a mud puddle beside the curb.
Any way.......mine pulls double duty and it's pretty reliable. And when it does break at least I can fix it. The only problem with your question is, Who can go that long without doing something to their Jeep even if it needs nothing.(NOBODY/wwwthreads_images/icons/smile.gif)

/wwwthreads_images/icons/smile.gif

http://home1.gte.net/rythem/davescj7.htm

 

Reliable? Yeah, I can always count on my Jeep having problems...very reliable in that way!

Seriously though, I have run my jeep for five years in which it was used every day and it never had touble. Then last year, I swapped the tranny and it sat for a few months and hasn't been the same since. In fact lately, I drive the BMW everyday because the 304 is about dead.

New engine and it'll be the same again.

Fritz

Jeep...need I say more?

 

Mine has always been reliable, and has never left me stranded. If I didnt take it to hammers all the time and beat the crap out of it, it could go long periods without anything but general maintenance. Of course its getting a new engine and drive train now, so it will have to go through a de-bugging period

Jeff
89 YJ
There is no "TRY", Just "DO" or "DONT DO"

 

I had a GEO that was really reliable till my kid totaled it out.Never had a problem with it in four years and that is with teaching my daughter to drive a stick....BUT...Do ya really want to drive a geo ?
My Jeep has only left me STRANDED once and it was my fault I knocked a coil wire loose when changing the distributer cap If it wasn't dark when I tried to start it I could have fixed it then and there.But it is 20 years old and was illmaintained so I have many potential problems.I also have a back up P.O.S.
just in case.

Ray
Learn to let go of what does not serve you ,but forces you to serve it
why does everyone ask if I am gonna paint it ?

 

I've had the same CJ-7 for 16 years, always totally dependable. In the past couple years everything is new or totally rebuilt, so I'm figuring on at least another 16 years of total reliability. I think the key is never letting little problems go for too long, they just seem to snowball. Also, driving in a sane manner helps. One other thing, I periodically scope out the whole vehicle, get underneath on the creeper and just look at stuff for awhile, maybe tug and pull on a few things. Then the engine compartment, same drill. Being VERY familiar with the vehicle is important.

Brad
ORC Land Use Section Editor
http://www.off-road.com/land
Vice-Pres. Rock Garden 4 Wheelers, Farmington, NM
http://rockgarden.rockcrawler.com

 

Well, with 4 years, with Scout D44 with me seting up the gears, and 1 year with a built 401. I have yet to have one problem with reliability. My biggest concern is the rear D44, even though I have not broke it yet, I feal it is the weak link in my combo. In 4 years, not one problem with starting and driving, just to the point of too much power.

Ray

 

My 1998 Tj has 107,xxx miles on it. This rig runs the Hammers virtually every month as well as road trips to Rubicon, Cortez, Moab, etc... hence all of the miles. Definitely not a trailer queen. It has never left me stranded. Sure I have had to do some welding here or there, but that is to be expected if you use it.

Axlesupagain[http://home1.gte.net/lrgreen2]
98 TJ 6.25" lift, 35" BFG's D44/D30 detroits,
96 XJ 4.5" lift, 31"BFG's 8.25/D30,lockright
http://home1.gte.net/lrgreen2/index.htm

 

A Jeep will be reliable only if it's well maintained, and if you drive it within it's limits. I've had my YJ for almost 4 years now and I've logged many miles both on-road and off-road in the hostile Egyptian Sahara and it never failed me. I never even had to fix anything on the trail. But that is only because I maintain it like crazy. I always inspect it before and after each off road trip and I religiously follow the service manual instruction when it comes to changing fluids or parts. Also all my modifications are well researched and properly installed by myself and periodically inspected.
I must sound like a guy with an obsessive compulsion Jeep behavior problem but in the backcountry my life depends on my jeep and it never failed me.

A.B.

If you didn't get stuck, you didn't wheel hard enough.../wwwthreads_images/icons/cool.gif

 

My CJ, not on my life! It's been a 5 year struggle. Almost 2 years ago after lots and lots of work pulled out of the driveway to make a 300 mile trip to Iowa to see CJDave and JeepChick. I got to the edge of town and smelled lots of gas.... well the rest has been a nighmare of work. So, no it's not reliable yet, it's about $300 and two weeks worth of work away from reliable. Then the trick will be to keep it that way.

But what do you expect when you buy a body that's go "Goatherder" written in German all over it.... I should have suspected something...somtimes I can be just so darned stupid.

Safe Jeepin'

LEVE

 

Reliable? Never heard of that word, everytime I get a glimpse of reliability, I hide in the closet cause I know it's not right... and money is about to drain from my credit card... which is currently maxed out /wwwthreads_images/icons/crazy.gif... a jeep enthusiast and genious to say the least/wwwthreads_images/icons/cool.gif, I mean the guy had liver transplant or something a couple of weeks ago, is converting it to manual, cause, well I'm just to new to all of this to do it myself, and I can only buy so much tools at a time... he offered keeping my old axles (which are locked/wwwthreads_images/icons/frown.gif) to pay for the job, I mean, I'm gonna have to worship the guy after this is done, have a prayer on his front lawn every morning... He even offered to convert the front d44 to disk brakes/wwwthreads_images/icons/shocked.gif... I bought a 2001 cavalier, since I trashed my hyundai hitting a deer, I would never rely on my jeep, I feel I couldn't go offroad with my primary vehicle without knowing how I'm gonna go to work the next day if I broke something...

A Jeep is a Jeep..

 

Reliability is a long term test of how the Jeep performs...it is much easier to determine that one is reliable if you have owned, maintained and driven it for a number of years. On the opposite side of the coin, it is more difficult to determine if a used one is reliable if you are evaluating it for a possible purchase, like many people here do....I really don't think that a lot of Jeepers buying used ones are too worried if the Jeep they are going to buy for a project is reliable because they know how to make it so. Sometimes, getting to the reliable "plateau" takes a number of years and patience, as LEVE suggests.

My 15 year old XJ Cherokee is reliable; I think it is much easier for me, or anybody for that matter, to keep the Jeep up if you start with one off the show room floor./wwwthreads_images/icons/smile.gif

 

Yeah i does seem like to most reliable jeeps out there are the ones have had only one owner. This seems exspecially true with the older jeeps. The reason mostly likely has something to do with the fact that these owners have planned on owning their jeeps for a long time and have taken great care of them. Now if i could only find a single owner CJ with about 50,000 on the spedo...

Sold the CJ... Cant wait for the next time around!

 

Mine is always broken - might be the way I drive it. Strictly a toy - I drive it like my first car - a 65 4sp 289 4bbl Mustang. If I had it as a primary car I am sure it would do better. My foot is pure lead. Does this make me a bad guy ?

 

Tim-

Reliability has everything to do with keeping your vehicle maintained. Everything will eventually fall apart! But if you take care of your ride as you should, it will be as reliable as any other vehicle. Even a BMW will break if you don't give it oil. If you push any machine beyond it's limits, it is going to fail at some point. I know you are trying to build a case with your folks for another jeep, but I don't think that they are going to believe a bunch of jeepheads you talk to on the internet. Sorry.

Kriss

 

kriss- Yeah no way they would believe a bunch of jeep heads. Honestly this one was mostly for me. I am trying to figure out if its possible for me to own a jeep to play with without another car which would be a little to expensive and not real practicle at college. Im only a junior right now but by the time i get the money and tools ill be a 2 sem. senior heading down to a college most likely 12+ hours away. (hopefully embry riddle in daytona if its not too expensive.)

MHO- Being in the heart of the rust belt i am lucky to see 1 or 2 CJs a week. And honestly the place i am most likely to see them in a service sation. I would say 65% of the CJs i see are parked in a repair shop. Now i know for a fact many of them are not broken they are simply owned by the mechanics. But that doesn't help me much either. If you have to be a mechanic to own one what good is that?? I do like working on them a lot. However i dont like being stranded. If i was a better mechanic i probally wouldn't get stranded but that is a whole other story

In a side note- I have been working at firestone for two weeks now and totally loving it. I am learing how to do all kinds of stuff. (getting paid to do tires and oil but helping everyone with the other stuff!) I get one he!l of a discount and can use the air tools (whos your daddy?) and lifts when i am off duty!

Sold the CJ... Cant wait for the next time around!

 

thats kind of a subjective question? do you mean reliable compared to cars today? or reliable compared to other cars that were built in 1985 (or whatever year your jeeps are from).

compared to other 85's i think it does pretty well...i've run it with almost no oil....also once ran it with no coolant (blew up a hose on trail...no backup).....and it kept running.....i doubt most other cars would so do that..

its all a matter of maintainance...if you take care of it...it will take care of you.....(unlike my sister and her car which she neglected to change the oil in 40,000 MILES!!!! i scolded her)

anyways..i havent been left stranded

Jeep'n Greg

 

My jeep has been reliable but I work on it a lot too. The only time I can think of that it left me stranded was when I broke an axle. It was jeepchick's first real trail ride and she said, "Fix it so we don't break down". I said, "well...OKAY"! Swapped in motor, tranny, t-case, axles, driveshafts, ect, yup, I'm getting there!



Experience always comes right after you need it.

 

My '88 YJ has about 19X,XXX miles on it and purrs. I would describe the YJ as very tough, albeit unreliable. Hit something, and you'll drive away. 200,000 miles on your engine? Middle aged. Have I been on the side of the highway? More times than I'd like to admit

If anything, due to its nature I'm forced to know all about my vehicle. Yes, I'm way ahead of you... If you never break down, you would never need to know anything. Its a double-edged sword.

The fun w/ mine has been making it reliable.

An ironic follow up...I'm still looking for a part number for a low-cost Ignition Control Module. The OEM YJ one is $75 bucks, but know there's a cheap harness and Ford(?) ICM out there that will do just as good.

Sam88Jeep

'88 YJ, 4.2L, 32/36 Weber, Jacobs Ign.

 

My Scrambler is very reliable, it has patiently set in the garage (except fot the occasional jaunt around the acreage)while I added this or fixed that and none of the stuff has broke on me yet.

82 Scrambler, 360, T5, D300, 4" lift, AMC20 (rear disc brakes) and Dana30 with 3:73's and lockers.
Smithville, Texas
Member TX4X4 Cyber Club

 

The only problem I have really had with my Jeep was when I first bought it. The carb was brand new, right out of the box and onto the jeep. Never got adjusted, so the jeep would shut off without notice. I adjusted the carb and now I don't even have to use the choke to start her on these 20 degree mornings. She has her quarks, but all vehicles do, I'd say my Jeep is reliable. Especially for a stock '79 CJ 5 v-8 that, from what I can tell, has never had a rebuild.

Donovan

I'm buying a stairway to Heaven, a stepladder to reach my Jeep!

 

I'll let ya know how relible mine is...when I get it back from the shop /wwwthreads_images/icons/crazy.gif

Seriously though, it has never left me stranded. Of course I've had to learn to remove the rear driveshaft, shift without using the clutch, and roll-start the thing...but it always got me home!

At least I'd trailered it to the mud-hole that last time, or it would have gotten me home in first gear for the whole 40 mile drive! What would you expect from a BA-10 though?

Reliability is definately in the eye of the beholder

'Gator Chaser

 

/wwwthreads_images/icons/smile.gif The only "black box" that I was suspicious of on our '79 CJ 304.....and the only Black Box that it has.....was the ignition module. HOWEVER...since the TeamRush Ignition Laboratories designed and built us a totally redundant DUAL ignition system, we now have an effective backup system for the only thing that could not be fixed alongside the road, and therefore the only thing that could keep us from getting home. Now our '97 ZJ is a different story. It has NEVER failed in 114K miles, but it is loaded with "black boxes" and we could never get it going if it DID happen to quit. When the UN and the feds are after us a few years from now, it will be the CJ and not the ZJ that will enable us to stay "Free, Shootin' Back, and On the Run". /wwwthreads_images/icons/crazy.gif Hey....am I subversive or what?/wwwthreads_images/icons/laugh.gif

CJDave
Quadra-Tracs modified While-U-Wait by the crack moonguy/wwwthreads_images/icons/wink.gif Quadra-Trac Team./wwwthreads_images/icons/tongue.gif/wwwthreads_images/icons/smile.gif