2000 Jeep Cherokee questions.

2000, 4X4, 4.0L, Auto.

Who has one. Do or did you like it? How is it for towing sub 5000 pounds.

Thanks.

I leased a silver 2000 Sport brand new for 2 or 3 years (I forget which). Residual value was really high, so total lease cost was really low. My first new car with first job out of law school with no intention of buying it. I did like it. Engine is bullet proof. I never tested the higher mileage reliability obviously. I really can't recall if I towed with it - I think I must have, but just can't remember. I'd think it would do fine unless you also loaded the jeep to the headliner with stuff. A few nits. The rear seat was not a split seat. You lose a lot of utility because of that - no 3rd passenger and a long something or other (bike, wood, skis, etc.). I think the spare is inside on the left = more lost interior room. If you want utilitarian but not wrangler utilitarian, and those nits aren't relevant to you, it would be fine. A grand cherokee of similar vintage resolves those nits too.

I had a 2000 Cherokee Sport from 2004-2008. Mine didn't have ABS and the brakes were fair at best. It replaced a 1997 Explorer which rode better, drove better, got better mileage, had better brakes, and was more comfortable. But the Jeep was a 4 door and we had just had our second kid so......that's how things go sometimes.

I towed a 2,500 lb trailer a couple of times and the mileage went from poor to "holy E36 M3!" Really dropped off badly, like single digit bad.

On the plus side, it was as reliable as gravity and everything did what it was supposed to do. It's problem is that it's designed with hardcore off-road running gear and then sent out to swim in a suburban landscape where CR-Vs and RAV4s are better at that job.

We replaced ours with a 2004 Sequoia which was miles better for our needs and actually got better mileage.

I have an '01, it's modified, lifted, larger tires, it's okay. It's a Limited, all available bells and whistles, leather power seats. I'm 6' tall 34" inseam, I feel cramped. I hear the non power seats provide more room.

For a dedicated tow rig, I'd probably be looking elsewhere, especially if you'll regularly be towing 5k+ lbs.

2000-2001's had coil on plug rather than a distributor, low pinion d30 front axle rather than the previous years high pinion. Biggest downfall of the 00-01 XJ's was the 0331 cylinder head, which were very prone to cracking and causing issues.

I'm a huge fan of XJ's, we've got 6 in the immediate family, and I've owned over 20. They aren't the best riding or the most fuel efficient but as said, they are reliable as gravity and parts are dirt cheap when they do break.

I wouldn't want to tow anywhere close to 5k pounds with an XJ. Maybe 3k tops if the trailer had brakes. The brakes aren't their strong point.

Look for one with the Chrysler 8.25" rear axle rather than the Dana 35. The 8.25 is a much stronger axle.

untchabl wrote: Biggest downfall of the 00-01 XJ's was the 0331 cylinder head, which were very prone to cracking and causing issues.

That's the resounding consensus on most of the forums, but really if it's still running today, it's either had the head replaced, or ain't going to crack. Ours has an 0331 head with 230K miles on it.

It's a done deal. Runs perfectly, drives decent, new tires. Needed, will be a headliner and some of the plastic parts on the driver's door.

As far as the towing, it will haul the boat to the landing a dozen times a year, and haul the rally cross car about 30 miles a couple of times a year.

Great rig. I picked up a 1995 for my daughter last year, and I still laugh when I buy parts. How can they be so cheap? And working on it is also a joy, so much room to access anything. This is what the cockroaches will be driving after Armageddon.

Jeep straight engines are definitely stout but why do they get poor mpg generally. On a side note, I had a 2wd 87 4cyl 4 sp comanche 20 + years ago. I was able to get up to 28 mpg on trips.

Nice, I like that color on the 97+!

I love my 2 door 5 speed 96, now with 31s and a 3" lift. Mine's a stripper model with no carpet, bedlined floors, and mud tires, so it's not exactly the most quiet or comfortable car I've owned but I love it as a DD. I actually get pretty good mpg in mine, for what it is - about 23 before the lift and seems like about 18 after in mixed driving. I've replaced a lot of parts in mine, which I attribute more to the car having sat for several years prior to my ownership than or reliability, so thank God parts are cheap and XJs are as common as anything in junkyards. Fun to tinker with (provided rust isn't an issue ), lots of crossover to other Jeep models and an absolutely massive aftermarket.

In reply to Toyman01:

Looks good. I have a '99 with just under 200k and it's been good to me. It's now relegated to boat, home Depot etc duty.

It has the power to tow my catalina 22 sailboat but the boat and trailer combo weigh more than the Jeep, so it does not do it gracefully.

I keep my boat near the ramp on dry storage so it's a short hitch and launch but it's been doing it for years every couple weeks. Usually has to go in the water to mid rear bumper.

The cooling system and the brake system are known weak areas. Trailer brakes help with one, a HD fan clutch from a 99 zj helped me with the other. Did have to add washers to the mounting bolts for the fins to clear.

Good luck with it.

I had one of the most unusual combos. A 2001 Cherokee Limited, with 2WD, 4.0L, cloth seats and auto trans. It was a company car. Had it from 7 miles on the odometer to 89,000 miles. Since it was a company car, I beat the living E36 M3 out of it. I went into ownership not being a Jeep fan, but when I turned it in I had a newfound respect for Jeep. It was incredibly practical, extremely rugged, had great torque and just wouldn't die no matter how hard I tried. Even with 2WD, with a good set of tires, it was good in the snow. Fuel mileage sucked, but when you beat on it, what else would you expect? Besides, gas was $1.10 then and I didn't pay for it anyway, so I didn't care. I grew to love the truck.

Then I had to turn it in, and they gave me a 2004 Jeep Liberty as its' replacement. What a turd that was. Had a better highway ride than the Cherokee and my company finally wised up and gave us 4WD...AND snow tires...so it was a beast in deep snow. But beyond that, mega ugh....

Towing-wise, having pulled a car trailer with my ZJ a few times, I wouldn't do it with an XJ unless that's one very, very light car and trailer (under 4k lbs and has brakes on both trailer axles with a good brake controller).

One of the reasons there were a zillion of these sold in the late 90's is a quirk or Chrysler/Jeep sales from that era. People with 1994/1995 leased minivans came in upside down by thousands of dollars and in order to "hide" all that negative equity dealers steered them into an XJ. In my VERY short tenure as a car salesman I saw that cycle repeated many many times.

I had 200k on my 96 Cherokee. Great truck. Crappy Mileage. Rides like a Jeep. Buddy just bought a 2000 and put a blower on it which makes it super fun but did exagerate the braking deficiencies.

And now it's sitting on the side of the road waiting for a tow truck.

Oh no - she done broke... What happened?

Front caliper locked up, and over heating some.

Sucks, but is common. Happened on my TJ. If you want to discover just how gutless a 2.5l is, lock one of the calipers up.

Calipers are cheap. Be careful with the caliper bolts, they thread into the caliper, it's not difficult to strip the threads out of the caliper.

Toyman01 wrote: Front caliper locked up, and over heating some.

Common on the caliper. Some times its a worn down pad mounting surface. It will stick the pads and act like a bad caliper.

Overheating, check the radiator. They are stupid small in flowing core width, it's long and skinny, which makes it really easy to become clogged since it has Chryslers' version of DexCool in it.....

Spent 2 hours waiting on a AAA wrecker that never showed up.

By then, everything had cooled off. Radiator looks to be full of straight water, hence the overheat. Engine sounds fine, brakes cooled off and turned loose. I drove it 10 miles home with the heat on full and using the parking brake with no additional problems.

I'll have to go through the front brakes and flush and fill the cooling system.

It also has a oil leak. I couldn't tell where it was coming from, but looks like rear main or oil pan. I'll get it up on the ramps this weekend and see what I see.

I'm getting the feeling this thing has been sitting for a good while.

Rear main is a common leak. Easy to do in your driveway. Just drop the oil pan, take the rear main cap off, hammer the oil seal out, hammer new one in (It's two piece), reinstall oil pan.

Another common leak location is the oil filter adapter that turns it 90 degrees. It's just two big o-rings but the hex bolt is easy to strip.

Good luck.

Every time it's come up i've mentioned that i've towed cars (and one 3800lb truck) on a tow dolley with XJs and it always sucked. I'm not just saying it sucked compared to towing with bigger trucks. It sucked compared to towing the same weights with a 3000lb fwd car of the same basic size. So it's pretty bad.

Uhm.... sitting on the side of the road waiting on the wife (who is THE most awesome wife) to show up with the Triple A card...and then WAIT with you for 2 hours for them to not show up. So triple A failed but wife earned brownie points.

Toyman01 wrote: And now it's sitting on the side of the road waiting for a tow truck.