super "low" miles 88

[Pete M]

a nice looking truck, but I've got some questions, like where's the center console, where's the floor trim on the drivers side, why do the pioneer stripes end at the cab, and that seems like a lot of clutch pedal wear for only 7k miles. 

 

but most of all, why does carfax show 150k miles at last odometer reading?  something is fishy here. 

 

 

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1988-jeep-comanche-6/

 

 

[TheDude]

I think someone "restored" this and reset the odometer.


Founding Member of the Comanche Preservation Society

[Minuit]

But most most of all, why is the grille upside down?

 

Setting an odometer back to 0 is never okay, even when you really really restore it. They didn't really really restore it. It's no big deal that the mileage isn't exactly correct on a cheapo dumpster fire like my 89 that's had about 5 different instrument clusters installed, but when you try to pass off a sloppily restored truck with miles on it as a 7k original, we've got a word for that that starts with F and ends with raud.

 

On the bright side, anyone with any amount of knowledge about MJs will immediately know that something is very wrong.

 

I don't feel up to doing one of my usual savage teardowns (I'm sure the BAT comment section will rip this thing apart) but they've gone and checked every single box on the "sloppy restoration" list.

 

There's also no "off" position on the HVAC slider (it's on the fan switch instead ), and the graphics look wrong. WTF? There's some weird stuff going on here.

 

I almost feel like making a BAT account just to warn anyone who has serious thoughts of spending money on this truck.

[Fernando87mj]

23 minutes ago, Minuit said:

But most most of all, why is the grille upside down?

 

Setting an odometer back to 0 is never okay, even when you really really restore it. They didn't really really restore it. It's no big deal that the mileage isn't exactly correct on a cheapo dumpster fire like my 89 that's had about 5 different instrument clusters installed, but when you try to pass off a sloppily restored truck with miles on it as a 7k original, we've got a word for that that starts with F and ends with raud.

 

On the bright side, anyone with any amount of knowledge about MJs will immediately know that something is very wrong.

 

I don't feel up to doing one of my usual savage teardowns (I'm sure the BAT comment section will rip this thing apart) but they've gone and checked every single box on the "sloppy restoration" list.

 

There's also no "off" position on the HVAC slider (it's on the fan switch instead ), and the graphics look wrong. WTF? There's some weird stuff going on here.

 

I almost feel like making a BAT account just to warn anyone who has serious thoughts of spending money on this truck.

Most likely dealer installed a/c. The switch on my 88 is like that 

[Gjeep]

It's a nice enough truck for the price. Has had a full repaint on the exterior sheet metal by the looks of the door jamb. ZJ rims. There's a 125K original '89 SporTruck in my neck of the woods $5600 with camper shell, so the price seems fair for what you're getting.

[Minuit]

At the current $5k bid I think you could do far better. I know I'm very harsh on these trucks, but someone has to be. On the patented "Minuit is a rivet-counting scumbag" for-sale MJ evaluation scale, this one scores a solid Avoid/10.

 

Some details that I don't like the look of:

 

- The repaint appears to be of average to poor quality. I see a lot of orange peel, there's several visible chips, no tailgate stickers, etc. I would guess that the repaint is several years old at least. I know I've said it before, but I prefer a worn out original paintjob to a low quality repaint.

 

- LOTS of missing parts. Badges, passenger side lower door sill, passenger side sill guard, mini-console, engine bay relay cover, front air deflector, just to name a few. I really hope this truck comes with a tote of loose missing parts,  because some of these aren't going to be easy to find in good shape for the next owner.

 

- The upside down grille and sideways shifter boot paint a picture of a lazily re-assembled truck post paint job. I know I'm drawing conclusions based on simple things, but there's a reason - if someone does crappy work in one place, they're likely to do crappy work everywhere else. If they can't get the visible small details right, who's to say they got the important things you CAN'T see right? For instance, I wouldn't want someone who can't get a grille flipped the right way welding in new floor pans.

 

- I thought for sure that those ZJ wheels were directional (and therefore there's one wheel for the left side and a mirror image for the right side so the "blades" on both sides face the same direction) but nope, every picture I can pull up of a ZJ with those wheels looks the same way as the truck in this listing. The ones on the passenger side are backwards! I can't un-see that now, and those wheels are now dead to me. That's horrible, and whoever signed off on that wheel design back in the 90s should be ashamed of themselves.

 

- That coolant pressure bottle looks old. Eek.

 

- The bench seat appears to have been reupholstered, and it doesn't look like a whole lot of care was taken when the cover was put back on. The piping across the back should be horizontal.

 

- The oil pressure gauge is pegged at 3 o'clock, in exactly the same way as it is when the wrong sender is installed and the engine is running. My guess is that the truck originally had an idiot light cluster but was swapped for a 3/4 cluster at the same time as the odometer was set to zero. If that's the case, that's another half-done job. Of course, it's also possible that the gauge or sender is broken or the sender is unplugged.

 

- I see some sketchy looking wiring going on near the relay center. Possibly related to the non-standard A/C install?

 

- I don't care if the odometer broke and had to be replaced. When that happens, you get the odometer corrected to what it should be. You don't reset it to zero. Not the seller's fault, but still a huge black mark against the truck.

 

- After looking at the A/C in some more detail, it looks to be added on with non-standard parts as @Fernando87mj pointed out. "wrong" HVAC selector panel, non-standard expansion valve, no service ports at the compressor, and the lines don't look right - lots of strange looking parts here, most if not all all of which are almost certainly impossible to find by now. I still don't understand why these add-on A/C jobs weren't done with the OEM parts. If this is typical of the dealer installed A/C systems on these trucks, I'm glad I don't own one because this one appears to be an absolute hackjob.

 

- Look at the picture where the bottom of the passenger side floor pan is visible. Might just be an artifact, but that floor pan doesn't look right. I also see what might be an aftermarket Ziebart undercoating. If that's what it is, don't walk away, RUN!

 

And I'm sure that's not everything I could find if I really looked.

 

 

[Dzimm]

So the next truck I look at buying, I'm bringing Minuit with. 

[Minuit]

29 minutes ago, Dzimm said:

So the next truck I look at buying, I'm bringing Minuit with. 

 

If you can arrange the transportation, count me in

[Dzimm]

2 minutes ago, Minuit said:

 

If you can arrange the transportation, count me in

Of you or the truck? 

[watchamakalit]

 
- I thought for sure that those ZJ wheels were directional (and therefore there's one wheel for the left side and a mirror image for the right side so the "blades" on both sides face the same direction) but nope, every picture I can pull up of a ZJ with those wheels looks the same way as the truck in this listing. The ones on the passenger side are backwards! I can't un-see that now, and those wheels are now dead to me. That's horrible, and whoever signed off on that wheel design back in the 90s should be ashamed of themselves.

Thanks alot, you know there are things that can't be unseen. And this is one for me.

You just absolutely ruined these wheels for me. Way to go man. Lmao

My build: https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink?url=https://comancheclub.com/topic/8033-finally-found-onenow-it-has-a-new-floor/&share_tid=8033&share_fid=53169&share_type=t

[Minuit]

7 hours ago, watchamakalit said:

Thanks alot, you know there are things that can't be unseen. And this is one for me.

You just absolutely ruined these wheels for me. Way to go man. Lmao

My build: https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink?url=https://comancheclub.com/topic/8033-finally-found-onenow-it-has-a-new-floor/&share_tid=8033&share_fid=53169&share_type=t
 

If I have to notice it every time I look at those wheels for the rest of my life, so does everyone else

[Pete M]

I just want to know why the decal stops.  

[watchamakalit]

I just want to know why the decal stops.  

Crappy resto/repaint. Didnt have the brains to fix/finish it.

My build: https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink?url=https://comancheclub.com/topic/8033-finally-found-onenow-it-has-a-new-floor/&share_tid=8033&share_fid=53169&share_type=t

[GrizzzzBear]

I have read through this whole thread, along with the ad, and Laughed at the Floor and Underbody rot. 

The paint Sucks. Plain as Day.

Why the Red switch on the Dash?? Really??? A Pioneer Radio??? Personal choice. 

The CarFax is a Good Read. Original Owner sold it with over 100K miles in '05!! Last entry has over 150K. I really laughed.

I knew a High School Auto Body Shop Teacher, who would come back to Beat & Slaughter the Flunky who put this P.O.S. together.

Nevermind what he would have done to the Painter. Satan's Lake of Fire would be a Leisure Vacation, after Mr. B got done with him.

 

Whoever Owns and Wrote the Listing, is Absolutely a Criminal. And I know, there were Laws in NJ regarding Auto Sales Fraud.

I found some information from a NJ Lawyers website....https://www.njconsumerlawyer.com/auto-fraud.html

[Minuit]

I thought for sure that the BAT comment section would be full of people pointing out the clear flaws, but color me surprised. One or two comments about the obvious odometer fraud but everyone else blabbing about how great the Jeeps they used to own were. Somebody's really gonna spend several thousand bucks on this truck. I wish them well, but I expect whoever ends up with it will regret it once they get their own eyes on it and have to live with it for a while. I hope at least someone finds this thread BEFORE they make a bid and decide accordingly, not right after money changes hands.

 

As a side note, the listings were written by BAT's own staff as of a couple of years ago, not the seller. I don't know if that has changed recently, but as far as I know they are still being written by someone who has probably never even seen the truck in person and is not specifically familiar with the make or model in question. If you look at something on there you're familiar with, you'll often see little incorrect things in the listings, so my warning to anyone in general is to take the descriptions of the truck in BAT listings with a grain of salt.

 

If this thing goes high, that's more good news on the "MJs increasing in value" front though. As much as I'd rather see a high quality example sell for big bucks rather than a mediocre one with some serious red flags.

[TheDude]

As for the AC controls, every 88' Comanche I've seen has had the same panel, compressor, all metal electric fan and odd manually adjustable expansion valve.

I'm not sure if it's a year specific thing or what.


Founding Member of the Comanche Preservation Society

[MJCARENA]

The ad says 7k miles shown, total mileage unknown.