Faults:
From the moment I got the vehicle, it was apparent it had problems.
The first instance of major trouble was that it would just stop on the highway, usually while the cruise was on and it was accelerating on an incline. After waiting 5 minutes, it would start up fine, go 10 miles and stop again. If you barely touched the accelerator, you could go 10 mph on the shoulder, but any attempt to step on the gas would be met with dead response and it would stop again. If Jeep ever reads these, they must understand my wife and I were fearful for our lives going down the shoulder of the Interstate going 10 mph.
After several trips to "my repairman", we had checked every possible technical problem and found nothing. O2 sensors were good and fuel tank appeared clean. We did a complete fuel system cleaning, replaced the fuel filter, and changed all the fluids.
That lasted about a week. We took the Jeep to NY to get married. We almost didn't make it on-time because this nonsense happened 6 times there and 3 times on the way home.
We are only getting 11-12 mpg in town and maybe 15 on the highway.
The only way we've gotten any relief is to use Premium unleaded at all times. Any less than that and it starts all over again.
The Jeep always feels like it is towing a boat every time you first get in it and start driving. It is extremely sluggish.
The newest problem looks like a bad transmission. Every 3rd or 4th shift into reverse yields nothing. Then after 10 or 15 seconds... the engine races and clunks into reverse.
When you first start out on a drive, it shifts from 1st to second just fine. Then, it races in 2nd for several miles, red lining at 40-45 mph, before it finally shifts into 3rd. After you drive it for 10 or 15 minutes, it appears to ride a lot smoother.
I refuse to take it to any Jeep dealer for repair. Their prices are like highway robbery for anything. Several people I've talked to say you can't get out of a dealership for less than $500 for anything.
I've talked to 4 other 1999 Laredo owners, and all 4 have had transmission troubles. Three have had the transmission replaced at 56K, 38K, and 18K.
When you talk to a Jeep dealer however, they have had no recalls on the transmission.
The former Laredo's have a 3/36 warranty. The 7/70 warranty on the drive train only applies to the new QuadraTrac transmission.
The battery completely discharges if it sits for more than 3 days. I can't park it at the airport and go out of town. If I do, I have to have it jumped as soon as I get back just to drive home. it is a brand new battery.
The console clip broke the first time I opened and closed it. The rear compartment retractable shade broke the first time I used it.
The bearings went bad in the rear causing severe road noise and had to be replaced.
The vehicle rides very hard and you get tossed around on every bump and turn.
General Comments:
I refuse to take it to the dealer and pay hundreds, if not thousands of dollars to try to "figure out" what might be going wrong.
I am not about to spend one dime to replace a transmission on a vehicle with 69K.
This vehicle is the Edsel of the SUV industry. I am going to hire a lawyer that specializes in this type of litigation and put the pressure on Chrysler. Since I work for a newspaper and with a competent lawyer, we ought to cause enough bad press for Jeep, they'll have to come clean and put out a recall on these transmissions.
A good friend had the same problems with his 2001 and Jeep replaced EVERYTHING that was wrong with his including the transmission. His went bad at 58K.
This vehicle was purchased in April 2002 at 58K. I parked it in August 2002 with 69K and have not driven it since.
3rd Feb 2003, 23:44
A Jeep Grand Cherokee only has three motor options starting in 1999. One is the straight six 4.0 liter, another is a 4.7 liter base V-8 and the other is a 4.7 liter HO V-8. Chrysler does not make a 5.4 liter engine for the Grand Cherokee line. The 5.4 liter is manufactured by Ford.