1997 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo 5.2L V8

Summary:

A pretty good ride

Faults:

Passenger Side Lower Ball Joint at 120,000.

Passenger Side CV Boot at 126,000.

Dashboard Lights (Various Bulbs) at 105,000.

General Comments:

A good ride.

Works great in snow and on sand dunes.

Climbs off-road hills like a breeze.

Wish it could go into a 2WD mode when I'm in town.

Has power to spare with the V8 5.2L.

Don't hit huge potholes, or you may have to replace a ball-joint (like me).

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 2nd August, 2004

3rd Aug 2004, 07:24

You should be able to put it in to 2WD while in town, doesn't matter of you have selec-trac or command-trac.

1997 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo 6 cylinder

Summary:

Wonderful for the money

Faults:

At 98000 miles I had to replace the power steering pump.

At 102,500 I put the first set of brakes on it. The original owner had never replaced the brakes.

General Comments:

I have really enjoyed my Jeep. I drive about 80 miles a day and average about 23 mpg. Other than the p/s pump I have had to do nothing, but routine maintenance (oil changes, tune-up and transmission service).

The only complaint I have is that the rear passengers don't have a lot of leg room.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 25th June, 2004

1997 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited 5.2 liter

Summary:

A totally disappointing automobile and Company

Faults:

To All.

I'm not sure what type of vehicles you drive, or will be considering in the future.

A bit of advice if I may - Do not buy a Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited.

Attached are photos of my 1997 Orvis Edition that has only 59,000 miles - far too new to have failures such as this.

What led me to investigate having this looked at was a constant metal on metal grinding type noise coming from the rear of the vehicle. The rear brake system was inspected and deemed to be in good shape.

The amount of damage? $2000.00.

Not good news for a vehicle that stickered close to $40,000.00.

The replacement parts will include two axle shafts ($500 ea), outer axle bearing and seals and all differential bearings and seals.

For those of you familiar with automotive terminology, look closely for pitting on the shiny surfaces of the axle spindle and on the bearing race (held by my father's hand). The pitting is a result of bearing failure.

If you perform a search on GOOGLE using key words, "Grand Cherokee, rear axle" you will find testimony from hundreds of Jeep owners that have suffered the same misery and CHRYSLER CORPORATION refuses to accept any blame for this poor design.

Over the weekend I happened to purchase a copy of Consumer Reports Buying Guide for 2003. This book gives negative ratings to 1994-2000 Jeep Grand Cherokees. I guess I found out why all too late.

As was explained to me, this also effects full size DODGE pick up trucks. The problem is just a bad rear axle design. Too much flex causes premature wear on bearing surfaces.

The selling dealer told me that there is no known issue with Jeep Grand Cherokees and rear axle failures. Yesterday I telephoned Chrysler Customer Assistance and quite frankly they could care less.

If you know of anyone that drives a JEEP GRAND CHEROKEE, you may wish to forward this message and advice them to get rid of it before their vehicle experiences failures.

Just a friendly F.Y.I., choose your selections wisely.

I will never have another Chrysler product in my driveway ever again.

(Photos available upon request - jailallspammers-online@yahoo.com)

General Comments:

A friendly warning for current JEEP owners or potential owners.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No

Review Date: 9th June, 2004

29th Dec 2004, 09:46

As a Current Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo, which I bought 2 years ago for $15,000, has had a few problems including the front end, not the rear. The front end tie rods are always black and greasy, no matter how much I clean them.

Now that I'm trying to sell the car, I come to find out that the money I paid for it was stupid on my part... according to the Kelly Blue Book it is only worth $6 to 7000 now, what a deprecation!!

To top it off the car (I think it is rebelling) has little things going wrong with it, like the back plungers are soft at times, the stock radio CD player sometimes skips, the power steering pump is noisy, and its doors are starting to squeak.

Maybe I'm a lucky one, its only been up for sale for a couple of months, and on Christmas day (2004) a drunk driver hit the rear end and then proceeded to back into the front end causing $59 to 6000 in damages. I think it is going to be totaled, upon checking the Kelly Blue Book again, it sets the value at $6500.

I can only say that this Chrysler product is only 1 of 3 that I own. My 98 Jeep Wrangler, which has been modified for the Rubicon has had not 1 problem, (guess I have been lucky).

The 99 Dodge 1500 p/u which has been body-lifted only has had the same problem as the Cherokee, and my mechanic assures me that it is normal for Chrysler products to do this.

If the mechanics know and say this you would think that Chrysler would do something! Why should they even think of expanding and increasing their product prices when they cannot even make them last a couple of years!?!

I remember the transmissions in all Chrysler mini vans went out at about 50,000 miles, but I guess now it is the rear ends. This is the last Chrysler product I actually buy...

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