North American XJ owners - Australian XJ owner seeking help!
Australian owner of a 1996 XJ 4.0 Auto here. This is a Hail Mary post. My XJ is suffering the usual crank / no start condition with a faulty ECU (you know, where the capacitors leak onto the board).
This is a huge reason Aussie XJs go on the scrap heap... we have a mostly hot and dry climate so rust is not an issue here.
Problem is, due to the miniscule numbers of XJs in wrecking yards, finding a compatible ECU is next to impossible, especially when searching for a 'ran when parked' vehicle with a known good ECU. Those computers get snapped up very quickly (to quote a FB Marketplace seller of a working ECU last month "I could have sold that ECU a million times over").
My understanding is that a 1996 is a transition year which has the early OBDII setup but is not VIN coded. My ECU is part number 56041252 (but appears to be from a wrecker vehicle so who knows if that is the factory part number for my VIN). As I understand it, there are a number of ECU P/Ns interchangeable for 1996 4.0 Autos.
I have found example part numbers here: https://www.fs1inc.com/1996-jeep-cherokee-4-0l-engine-computer-pcm-ecm-ecu-programmed.html
If it helps, my VIN is: 1J4FJB8S5TL329668
My history attempting ECU repairs over the last 6 months have been:
ECU #1: pulled from my vehicle (p/n 56041252): sent to a popular eBay ECU repairer based in the USA. Waited approx. 8 weeks to be told it cannot be repaired; out of pocket $220 AUD.
ECU #2: found at a wrecker (p/n 56041297): sent to an Australian ECU repairer, less than one week turnaround but same story as number 1 cannot be repaired. $295 AUD out of pocket for the investigation.
ECU #3: learnt my lesson and purchased a fresh refurbished unit from a different US based ECU repairer on eBay ($1005 AUD). Plugged it in, vehicle fired up immediately and drove around great for 24 hours, then stalled. Back to the crank no start condition. My auto electrician has diagnosed the refurb ECU as faulty (!) Currently working on a warranty claim with this eBay seller which has me going back and forth between them and my auto electrician (which I can understand). Very slow process, especially with the time difference and no way to pick up the phone and actually talk to them. It's been 3 weeks already. Got a gut feeling this will drag out over a period of time.
I would love to learn of a source of known good XJ ECUs, if such a thing exists. Surely there's people out there pulling these computers from rusted out cars all over North America. Anyone out there who could point me in the right direction, or provide some suggestions?
I love my car and it deserves to stay on the road. It's in good original condition. I don't want to scrap it over one or two failed capacitors.
TLDR; Australian seeking help from North Americans who have a bigger pool of spare parts
