WJ Grand Cherokees

Learn me these things.

Have an opportunity to grab a facelift 2004 that "has a blown motor" (as in... doesn't run, and it's likely nobody has done any troubleshooting, so hey... might be a $40 ECU.) for about $1000. Looks pretty clean, one small rust spot. It's a Limited, so 4.7 V8 and black leather/woodgrain interior, which also seems to be in pretty good shape.

Don't know miles yet.

I can get the motors for dirt cheap.

My goal would be to get this back on the road for less than $2000 out of pocket and 40 hours max invested. That leaves me in a good place to either keep as a backup, or sell at a reasonable profit.

What do i need to know? I hear tales of these motors being garbage. True? Or overblown internet lore?

In my experience they werent bad motors. Somewhat frustrating to work on though, just because the engine bay is pretty full, especially when you are used to the 4.0. I would be more concerned with the aging luxury chrysler problems. Do the windows go up and down, does climate control function properly, that sort of thing. The people who owned those seem to be the deferred maintenance types, so be prepared for can of worms.

In my experience of one: we have one that my wife bought new and has always been well maintained. It's now at just over 100k and has been almost faultless. The biggest problem was a high consumption of OE brake rotors, after we switched to Brembos the premature wear stopped. I've had to replace the shocks, a front caliper and the battery otherwise.

Hers is a Laredo so it dodged the stereotypical HVAC problems. I did have a problem with a cold passenger footwell and was prepared by the internet for all sorts of difficult fixes, but it turned out to be a hose that was kicked off - 10 second fix. Current bug list is dodgy buttons on the trip computer and a turn indicator that acts up when the car is cold. Also a very slow leak at the transfer case output that's been there for at least a decade and isn't bad enough to bother fixing.

It's boring as hell to drive. No feedback at all about what's going on under the contact patches. Hot asphalt, wet ice, whatever. You are not to know. Reasonably competent offroad with the sway bars removed. Ridiculously small interior for the size of the exterior - EVO or Car once called it the "anti-Tardis".

If it sounds like I'm not a big fan of the vehicle (regardless of age), you're right. I had nothing to do with the purchase of this thing and if it wasn't fully paid off and reliable, I'd get rid of it. It has few redeeming qualities other than working consistently.

I have owned a 2004 SE (cloth, V8) since new, now with 186,000 miles on it. Original drivetrain, except I replaced the driveshaft at some point. The only major issue I have with it is the rocker panels are substantially rusted their entire length, to the point I have to use foil tape to cover the holes to pass PA inspection. It also has generic cats (rather than spending the outrageous amount for factory cats) that clearly impact fuel economy. It has been quite reliable. I know they are a crap-shoot - some are reliable, some are not. I actually enjoyed driving it more on local trips than both of my Explorers (07 and 15). It just isn't worth it to me to fix it and the next $500 repair bill will send it for scrap. Look hard at what your profit might be if you are all-in for $2,000 and what if you have to spend a bit more. I don't know what these go for in "good" condition.

Yeah, neither SWMBO or i really enjoy driving her mom's 2000 6 cylinder, either. Feels like a minivan for all the bad reasons.

Mostly wondering if this thing is likely to break me, or if my plan is somewhat reasonable.

klb67 wrote: I have owned a 2004 SE (cloth, V8) since new, now with 186,000 miles on it. Original drivetrain, except I replaced the driveshaft at some point. The only major issue I have with it is the rocker panels are substantially rusted their entire length, to the point I have to use foil tape to cover the holes to pass PA inspection. It also has generic cats (rather than spending the outrageous amount for factory cats) that clearly impact fuel economy. It has been quite reliable. I know they are a crap-shoot - some are reliable, some are not. I actually enjoyed driving it more on local trips than both of my Explorers (07 and 15). It just isn't worth it to me to fix it and the next $500 repair bill will send it for scrap. Look hard at what your profit might be if you are all-in for $2,000 and what if you have to spend a bit more. I don't know what these go for in "good" condition.

Good running ones in this condition seem to be going for about $4-6k, bearing in mind i don't know what the mileage is on this one.

Worst case scenario, i'd be ok with getting it running for $2k out of pocket, and dumping a little more into it if it had other issues that couldn't be seen prior to a potential motor replacement. Anything over $3k for me would be the "this was a bad idea" point.

Bear in mind i have no NEED for this, but i'm in the middle of trying to decide what to do with our current two XJs. SWMBO's has some heat/ac issues that need to be taken care of, as well as some small rust issues caused by multiple sub-par windshield replacements. Otherwise, it's in awesome shape. Mine is exactly what i wanted, but i'm not bonding with it and i'm facing a huge amount of money to make it into something i will love, so i'm considering getting rid of it and searching for a B2600i 5spd 4x4. Having the WJ around would mean i could take my time with well... anything, as well as have something a little better suited for towing than the XJs.

I'm not trying to inflate the fleet again/more, but having a nice vehicle around as a spare that you have very little money in and represents a couple grand equity isn't really ever a bad thing.

I'm a ZJ guy, all the way. Original owner of a 97 with 85k on the clock.

I think they are better values than the WJ for essentially the same performance, and the engine bay is a lot easier to work in.

Jamey_from_Legal wrote: I'm a ZJ guy, all the way. Original owner of a 97 with 85k on the clock. I think they are better values than the WJ for essentially the same performance, and the engine bay is a lot easier to work in.

I agree with you, but this one is available to me, and a ZJ has not been dropped into my lap.

I'm not actually shopping. This just happened to be thrown my way if i want it.

Between dad and I we have had 2 or 3 wjs all 4.0, a zj, 3 or r xjs and some cjs. Wj is nice, my brother still drives one but I have a friend who litterally just sold his v8 to the dealership for pennies. Litterally $200 and I told him he made a good deal. His was junk, not a bad car but the motor had been toasted from headgaskets and thay weird control module issue that kills power to everything randomly. Check into that issue too it was the "brain" of jeeps version of canbus and its common for the to go on the fritz

If that is the one that has the Mercedes 722.6 transmission that can get expensive. The one in my E300D has noticeably seen better days at 230k, and just for service (fluid, filter, replacement electrical connector, etc) it is $150+, and they recommend replacing the valve body (another $300) if it had over 175k or so.

Travis_K wrote: If that is the one that has the Mercedes 722.6 transmission that can get expensive. The one in my E300D has noticeably seen better days at 230k, and just for service (fluid, filter, replacement electrical connector, etc) it is $150+, and they recommend replacing the valve body (another $300) if it had over 175k or so.

$150 service sounds pretty reasonable to me, it's not a mercedes unit though.

Yeah, $150 for fluid and other stuff isn't too bad I guess, but then you have to buy the stupid dipstick tool for $40, then they likely need a valve body too for $300, etc. I wasn't sure what jeeps had them, I think some grand Cherokees and crossfires have them in addition to Mercedes and jaguars.

If i do this and keep it, i'll probably just farm out a trans fluid flush. We'll never put a ton of miles on it. I drive the most out of both of us, and i rarely do 15k miles a year, spread out over 2-3 vehicles.