1989 Jeep Wagoneer

Sport Utility

5.9L 360Cu. In. V8 GAS OHV Naturally Aspirated

Automatic

1J4GS5873KP104168

Clear

GAS

1989 Jeep Grand Wagoneer It’s hard for me to put into words how difficult this has been to list this vehicle for sale. It’s been a part of my life for so long. The only thing I’ve owned longer than this Jeep is a Swiss Army Knife my Dad gave me when I was 11. I’m really hoping I can find a home for this vehicle where it will be appreciated as much as I’ve enjoyed my time with it. Backstory My first vehicle was a brown 1984 Jeep Grand Wagoneer. I was 15 and I’d saved all of my chore and summer job money for two years. All I knew is that I wanted a Jeep, but soon found they were a bit outside of my price range. When my mom said she knew someone through work that had a Jeep in my price range, I was overjoyed. When I saw it, I’m not sure what happened, but I fell in love. Needed tons of work, had no A/C (Louisiana is a hot muggy place), but I had so many adventures over a handful of years with this vehicle, learning to fix things, even rebuilding the engine. This car most certainly contributed to my future profession in mechanical engineering. My sister lost control of her car in the driveway and t-boned the 1984. I was pretty bummed. I had no money to fix it, nor did my sister. I drove it around for a bit, saving for repairs, when I found the 1989 sitting on a corner. I drove it around the block and fell in love all over again. It even had the original invoice in the glove box - $31,857.16 in 1989, sold to a lady in Texas. I decided to pass the 84 along to my brother who was just starting to look for a vehicle (he then had the learning experience of repairs!) and I went to a bank for my first loan – a new journey had started, one I thought would never end. It went from Louisiana to St. Louis and I moved for college. After college it was out to California. Lots of great memories, from long drives, to first dates, to stranded moments, to mountain passes in the snow, to surfboards on top with one of the coolest surf mobiles you could imagine. One time it took me 18 hours to drive from St. Louis to north Louisiana because of a freak blizzard across the Midwest. I even pulled someone out of a snowdrift using that high torque 360 and the crawling 4x4 could pull a foundation off a house. Another time I had my wife and brother with me for a birthday trip to mountains and the power steering high pressure line blew. We limped to a NAPA and sleep in the car overnight until it opened. It was 13 degrees out. But I know the car so well and it was a quick repair and back on the road. This car has been such a big part of my life, my freedom, my education, my character – I’ve always said I’d take it to the grave. After I graduated college I moved back to Louisiana for 45 days before moving to California. I spent 30 of those days fully rebuilding, repairing, repainting, and upgrading the Wagoneer for the next phase of life. Performance upgrades, new carb, all sorts of things. Shortly after I moved to California I found that I needed to smog it (this wasn’t something that existed in Louisiana at the time). I quickly found it didn’t have the smog parts and I needed to install this part of the system. I got all the parts, but then my time dried up and it’s basically been sitting in storage ever since with tons of spare parts and big plans. I was always looking toward the horizon to a time when I’d have a moment to devote to the Wagoneer, and just as that moment arrived… a mouse had snuck into our garage and somehow got inside the Wagoneer and ate the new door panels and chewed up the seats, and basically crushed my dreams of what I wanted this vehicle to become. At this point it had gone from near perfect and upgraded with tons of new parts, to something I’d now have to start from much further behind. I got busy again and it’s been sitting in storage, collecting dust. Over the years I’ve come to grips that I won’t be able to find time for this vehicle for many more years and with plans for children and home ownership coming into the picture – I’ve finally had the realization that I need to find it a good home. I need to find someone who can make memories with this vehicle, who can continue to write the story for it and make it a better story than I’ve been giving it the last several years. Current Condition: The Wagoneer was in great shape when I brought it to California – it had essentially been restored other than a few little things. Since then it’s been sitting a lot and it’s been sitting continuously for the last two years, on jacks to keep the weight off the tires. Due to inactivity the vehicle is sold as-is and will require some TLC to bring back to it’s prime. 190,000 Miles on vehicle 60,000 Miles on current odometer and most drivetrain components(130,000 miles at time of odometer replacement and drivetrain rebuild) I’m the third owner. The vehicle is currently in California and has been back and forth from Louisiana, where it was last titled/registered. I was not able to register in California due to smog, so it has been in storage, as non-operational. The vehicle records will show a fender bender under the 2nd owner. All damage to the vehicle was corrected before I purchased it. Here are links to photos and a few video overviews: Video 1: Video 2: Video 3: Video 4: Video 5: Video 6: Below is an attempt at a comprehensive list. If you have questions – please email me – as it’s not improbable that I might miss something. Exterior: The body is in great shape – aside from a few little nicks and some under paint localized rust in typical Wagoneer trouble areas. It was fully stripped to metal and given a professional PPG paint job in the original black in 2005. New 3M vinyl wood siding was put on. Nearly every lens and exterior part including grill, blinkers, tail lights, roof rake seals, door handles, etc were all replaced with new parts. Has been garaged or covered most of it’s life. There are 3 panels on the passenger side of the car that do not have the wood strip outline on the wood siding. These are included, they just need to be cleaned up, adhesive strip applied (included) and put back on. All badging is included, it is easily applied with the adhesive strips included or using any auto grade 3M adhesive foam. Car got new tires 2 years ago – have maybe 1,000 miles on them max. The car has been on jacks ever since so weight has not been on the car other than a few times moving it around. Original Jeep wheel hubs included – all 4 in good condition. A hard find for Wagoneers. Windshield has a long crack in it across the lower portion. Started in the cold with the heater blower across it – seemed to be a cold/hot crack. Mechanically: The engine was rebuilt in 2001, and has had about 60,000 miles put on it since. It starts every time, runs strong. Many components have been replaced over the years - radiator, power steering, alternator, thermostat, oil pump, fuel pump, water pump, ECM, brakes, calipers, distributor, timing belt, carb, heater core, transmission cooler, spark plugs and wires – nearly everything has been replaced or upgraded in the last 10,000-60,000 miles. When the torque converter was replaced and the transmission rebuilt, I found out years later that they installed the wrong tension belt and by the time I needed to adjust the tension (to take up slack) the adjuster had no adjustment left so when I parked the vehicle for good two years ago it had a good bit of a slip and some forward/reverse clunk when shifting into drive or reverse. I would highly recommend replacing this and tightening up the transmission and resealing it. I highly recommend that all tubes and rubber hoses be replaced. It’s been sitting for a while and rubber dries out over time. Additionally – seals like the transmission seal should be replaced. The vehicle has A/C but it has not worked since 2001 and was “disconnected” (compressor pulley belt removed). Could be a simple fix – didn’t have the money in college to fix this, but I’d gone my whole life without A/C – so it didn’t bother me. My air conditioning was 4 windows down! Heater blows hot. Transfer case and transmission are leaking – likely from sitting for so long. I’d reseal them both. The transfer case had not any servicing since ** I have a box of smog parts and diagrams, a full suspension polyurethane body kit (worth $450 alone), an oil pump, water pump, full four door set of lock solenoids ($220 when purchased), some body parts, replacement parts, cruise control cable and module, all the decals from when the wood vinyl siding was replaced. There is very little that this Wagoneer is missing. All it needs is someone to give it the time to improve it. Interior: Headliners (front and back) are in good condition. Front headliner is slightly a different color from when it was redone when the sunroof was re-sealed. Sun visors are there and in tact, both could use a reupholster, they are original from 1989. Carpet and interior panels were replaced in 2005. Most interior metal parts were sanded and repainted in the original color. Only issue - big stain in the carpet in the back seat driver side. It was from a leak from the underside in wet conditions. After I noticed it I found the culprit and sealed it. I attempt in depth carpet washing with little result. A different method might work well? Dash has no cracks, and all parts, knobs are there and working. The driver door window has come off of it’s track. This is typical with these vehicles. There is a plastic gear and the gear stop breaks off every few years. Cheap part, easy to replace. These are $15 from www.TeamGrandWagoneer.com - all of the window motors worked when I parked it last, seals were good, and wing windows are sealed and operational. Seats work, but I believe there may be an electrical issue. They were unplugged from the connector 2 years ago. Sunroof works and motor work, but the switch corroded. I have a replacement switch that has not been installed. I believe I also have a spare motor for this as well. Front seats and arm rest are very worn, and then there was the story of the mouse… about 3 years ago a mouse got into the garage and into the car somehow and did quite a bit of damage through feeding himself. Pretty much at little holes in everything that was in mint condition. It was pretty much the needle that broke the camels back for me. Making so much progress over the years only to have a small mouse set me back so much. For instance I had searched for 4-5 years for a mint condition rear seat. I found one in 2008. It’s in the vehicle. It was pristine, until the mouse, now there is a small bit of damage to it from that. Cargo area is in great condition. Has a cargo cover – pretty hard to find Wagoneer item. There are also two subwoofers (built to match the Wagoneer) and an amp with wiring run from the front. All of the speakers were upgraded, Pioneer I think – can’t recall.