jeep question
 

i know.. i know.. this is a f-body forum but since alot of members have jeeps i decided to post this up. im going to be looking to get a beater in a month or 2 and was wondering if there was anything i should know about while looking. im leaning towards something like http://www.cars.com/go/search/detail...0&aff=national maybe not that exact one but a 03-04. i know to stay away from the V8's but is there anything to watch out for with the i6's? any advise would be helpful. thanks

my girlfriend has the exact jeep (grand cherokee special edition) in red, paid 14k for it with 36k miles maybe 6 months ago, and its in good shape and no problems yet.
my friend just got an 04 grand cherokee freedom edition for 14k with 38k miles maybe a month ago.

I can't say enough good things about the I6. I'm still pretty pissed that they decided to axe it. It's got a ton of low end torque and it's reliable. Keep on changing the oil and maintaining it and you could easily get 200k+ miles on it. Don't know much more about the Grands, though.

yea, that one is a little over priced. i know KBB is garbage but it says retail value in excellent condition is 15,250

i heard from alot of people that the I6 is very dependable too thats y im looking to get one. this thing better last 200K... in need to get my money's worth! haha

The Grands are pretty good overall. My mom has a '99 (first year of that body style) with the I6, and it's had a few minor issues - door lock solenoids, window regulator, and brakes every 5K miles under warranty. The dealership even put the upgraded '02-up dual-piston calipers on the front and it still would warp the rotors every 5K miles. Since it finally went out of warranty, I changed the rotors to Raybestos and she hasn't had a problem since.

My brother-in-law bought a used '04 with the I6 and it's been pretty good to him. He's put a bunch of miles on it already with no issues. IMO, if you're going to buy one, get a Laredo model with the I6 and regular climate controls. The dual-zone climate controls go bad very frequently (something with the blend doors), and it's an expensive, time-consuming repair from what I've read on Jeepforum. Good luck on the hunt!

the problem with the blend doors on the dual zone is that the motors are too strong and brake the stop tabs and then the door "pin"(if u wanna call it that) cracks by the motor and the motor will just free-wheel without it moving the door at all. to repair it, u gotta remove the entire dash and since ur in there, its recommended u do all the doors/motors that way 2 weeks later u arent doing the same thing

jeeps are awesome! my 4.0 has 190K on it and it still runs strong. dynoed 133 hp and 208 lb/ft :lol:

:stupid:

if you take it to a shop, prepare to pay for a lot of labor. it only takes me 2 hours start to finish, but they charge like 5 or 6 hours for it :-?

moral of the story... take it to ian, buy him a case of beer. hell be happy ;)

ian. since you work for jeep.. is there anything i should watch out for with these besides the vent doors breaking? any electrical problems? drive train? anything else?

The WJ Grand Cherokees (99-04) are great Jeeps. My wife has an '04 with the 4.7L v8 and the 5 spd auto, and she loves it. We've only had it since July, but it's got over 60k on it now with no issues. I've heard that the 4.7 is also a very reliable motor, and as long as you can keep your foot out of the go pedal, you can get great mileage with it (25+ on the highway). The 4.0 I6 is plenty of motor to get the grand cherokee going though, and that is a wonderful motor.

Check this site out for more info on the 99-04 Grand Cherokees: www.wjjeeps.com

- Justin

libertys are horrible on gas! especially for a v6!

the only common problems I see are window regulators and lock solenoids. the 1999-2001's sometimes had a problem with the heads cracking, but anything built after that is much better. blower motor resistors like to crap out every once in a while too. besides all those little things, they're outstanding vehicles.

My wife's '03 Liberty averages 15mpg, mostly local around-town stop/go driving. On a straight highway run, it'll turn about 22mpg according to the onboard computer. Not really terrible, considering it weighs 4K lbs - they're friggin' heavy!

I think my bro-in-law's '04 Grand with the 4.0 gets around 22-23mpg highway, and I'm sure he's not easy on the go pedal.

I6 put my bone stock jeep in the low 16's

what year(s) were the problems for the heat/ac in the Grands? I remember it being a huge PITA since the entire dash had to come out.

99-04 :lol:

its not that bad if you know what you're doing. some of the bolts are pretty well hidden though.

ian whats the deal with the early second gen GC brakes?

I have an '02 Liberty 3.7L V6 5-speed. I love the thing, hasn't given me any problems and handles itself pretty well off-road. Might be something worth looking into.

the had a service bulletin to switch to a newer style caliper for the front brakes. pretty much all of the ones that come through my dealership have it done already.

imo, the cherokee sport is a decent looking ride without all of that added body cladding.

my wife's liberty has the 3.7 v-6 and she gets good mileage. the only thing i changed prior to taking delivery was to add leather seat covers. that added 1k to the cost, but at 15k it was a good price ('02 liberty bought in '04). five years later there are no major problems. i replaced one of the lock solenoids. still running the original brakes (although i think it's about time to look at them), replaced the tires to geolanders with the same specs as factory tires and no worries on ice/snow/whatever. i'm the only one who uses the 4-wheel drive, and i try to engage it once every six months or so to keep things moving/lubricated. one of the few times i bought a car with no headaches.

You know your business very well, sir. My 2001 was one of the cracked heads. DC made good on it though. Cost me $100 to replace the head. Seen the blower resistor pack problem quite a few times on all makes of Jeep.

I dont know about calling me sir, I'm not very old :lol:

the auto temp control resistors sometimes melt the connector too. again, an easy fix.

ian!!!! i had a question about the 4 wheel drive in the jeep. my friends mom had one where on the shifter it was 2 wheel drive, 4 part time, 4 full time, and 4 low. on the one i test drove had the quadra-trac II and i asked the salesman about it being that it it only had 4 part time, Neutral, and 4 Lo on it. he said that 4 part time means it is in 2 wheel drive all the time untill the transfer case picks up the tires spinning then puts it in 4 wheel drive. howeveerrrr on http://www.wjjeeps.com/tcases.htm it says that "Full time 4WD operation sends power to both the front and rear axles under normal driving conditions and automatically transfers torque to the front as needed" and "Operating Modes: 4WD High, full-time (Sends power to all wheels)." who's lying to me? and is the quadra-tec II a good 4 wheel drive system?

IIIIIIIIIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

4 part time is only for off-road / slippery conditions use. If you use it on dry pavement you'll end up hurting the transfer case. 4 full time can be used all the time, no matter the conditions.

Are you sure that this wasn't 4 full time / Neutral / 4 Low? That's the setup in my wife's '04 WJ. It's full time 4wd, with a low range. It's always in 4wd.

BTW - I would most likely trust WJJeeps.com over a used car salesman anyday....

- Justin