Considering purchase of 1996 GC

[Saab01]

I'm looking into getting a 1996 Grand Cherokee Loredo... 106000 miles and the asking price is 4500. It looks nice from the pictures and has new brakes/exhaust. It may need new tires.

Is there anything i should look out for? I was also considering cherokees in the same or lower price range is one better than the other?

It's all about the Lux factor, the both of them are allmost the same, the big differance is the coil springs in the rear of thr Grand VS leaf in the Cherokee, engines and trans are the same in the 4.0 class or I6 class, but you can get a V8 in the grand or ZJ class.

If you just need a back and forth car both are great, the Cherokee will be better on gas dew to lighter weight, but if you going to be in the car alot and want a nicer ride and more toys go with the Grand. I like the grands myself, but if I was going to just have a skooting around off road/onroad toy it would be a reg cherokee, they seem to have more aftermarket stuff anyhow.

Stay away for 4 banger Cherokees they are junk, check for piston slap on the I6 or 4.0s as thats a problem, people will hide the noise with 30W oil, so check the dip stick for thick or just changed oil.

Grands are easy to work on, parts are easy to find, no real rust problems on them...

I would be watchful for v8s with the 249 T case as they have issues with the VC hydro clutch.

If I can be of any help just let me know.

Oh I would ask $3,500 depending on the shape, as so many Jeeps Grands are out and about, and you can get a very , very nice one for that money, like V8 and leather/ heated seats.

[swanny]

I bought a 1998 JGC last summer (100,000 miles on it) and here is what I have ran into. Take it on a good test drive and listen for any whining noises at any speed especially from the rear. Bearings were known for going bad prematurely. Make sure to get Timken if replacing them. Electric door locks get sticky and don't operate correctly. Check the radiator really well for leaks especially where the core meets the plastic tank on both sides. Exhaust/intake manifold gasket leak on 4.0L engine. Make sure all the steering linkage is tight: tie rod ends, control arm bushings, ball joints, sway bar connecting links and bushings, steering stabilizer and steering gear. Don't be a victim of "death wobble". Look at other threads on this topic. These are not reasons not to buy a Jeep because they really are good vehicles. Just make sure you know about them before you buy, then you can negotiate down the price so you can afford the repairs. I wish I would have checked mine a little better. Rear end cost $250. Radiator cost $200. Door locks $90 each. Front end parts $150 so far. Exhaust gaskets $35. Prices are for parts only, I did the work myself so figure in more to pay for someone elses labor. Also I would have to recommend the transfer case (model 242) with the selectable 2X4, and full time/part time 4X4 if you are looking at at a 4X model. The full time feature is great for my wife in the winter I can put it in full time and leave it there all winter and know she will have 4X4 any time without worrying about damaging the transfer case when she is on dry pavement. Hopefully this helps you with some things to look out for that I didn't know about when I bought mine. I love my Jeeps!! 1990 Cherokee Laredo and 1998 Grand Cherokee Laredo.

Sounds like they Jeep you got was well, umm... used!?

It must have been a family with a teen driver, I have looked at alot of jeeps and have not seen some of the problems you listed, coolent leaks, sticking locks? I have seen Jeeps with 200,000 without problems like that.

I can say that the wheel bearings have problems, even with the rear Alum. D44 my Jeep stared making some "strange" noise's around 55,000 on my 1998 5.9 LX ZJ, it would happen after driving on the high way for about an hour, then a "tweet" sound would start comming from the rear, if it was cold out, it would not do it as much, or just take longer to work, I was told by a guy who worked on the ZJ line, now has his own shop doing trans and grears that the wrong settings were set at the factory, and he gave me the right settings for the Alum case D44.

I took it with a grain of salt, because I don't know if this guy was for real. I had plans to replace the rear with a 9" Ford but never did it.

I would like to add to "what to look for" to the list of ZJ problems.

Check that the back up lights work, what seems to happen in the ZJ is that the cable has to be adjusted, and is messed up by the dealer when you take it in for the recall on the shifter dent-in. You can't see the back up lights to well because of the tint in most Jeeps, and just forget it in the Lux class with tint, I did'nt know anything was wrong with the back up lights till a month after the dealer did the recall, the dicks did'tnt even want to fix the problem.

The rear hatch latch sticks badly with use, not the flip window, but the hatch it's self, and from what I have read in here some poor guy was ready to get out a hammer because his was stuck shut, NO ADJUSTMENT CAN BE MADE on this so don't let any person selling the Jeep say it can be, the part has to be replaced, nothing else works that I have seen.

Speakers, what a crappy thing to do, the Jeep speakers are 2ohm and if you replace them with anything less then 2ohm the system well it sucks. See most replacement speakers are 4ohm and some places can't even order them. the speakers in all 4 doors are the same, maybe knowing that helps, you also may have a factory amp under the rear seat, I forget what side the amp is on.


The drivers side door "pops", seems these guys can't last but only a few years without some sort of pin problem, I would get a junk yard set and get them rebuilt and just replace them, you don't want to take both off of the door because you would have to re align the door, and it's heavyer then it looks, remember it's a door made to take the impact of another car. I took the doors off my 72 GTO and allmost tore my sack putting them back on!

The I6 engine has piston slap, and or cracks the skirt on #1? The noise is like nails on a chalk board to engine builders or just people who are into engines. I have read that this is not big deal, and that it's not going to puke the rod out the side, but one has to think about a noise thats able to make it's way past 2 walls of cast iron, one water filled coolent jacket, past the fenders/firewall and hood and over road and normal engine noise.

I can't live with such a noise, so I would look into replacemenet engines, such as strokers, they cost the same and some are cheaper then say a Jasper engine. Trust me the Dodge V8's are so much better then the I6 , tho the I6 drinks less and has less to go wrong with it, so the stroker I6 is V8 power in a time tested engine from the 60's? Sorry I know the engine is old but I'n not sure how old it is, I think the I6 replaced the Pontiac Iron Duke 4, I do know it's a AMC engine , I real Jeep engine, not a dodge engine.

On V8's the engine eats water pumps, so just know that if you think your engine is loud check the water pump with a wooden rod, put one end on the water pump and the other end put your thumb, thenplace on your ear, ummm watch the fan...ok...
I have read to replce the belt every time you do a water pump, but the 360 eats them good, so don't do it every time, it's stupid.

The belt tensioner is also a hidden problem, my mileage went up a little with a new belt and tensioner, I did get the best Goodyear belt "Gator back" and a life time tensioner. If you tensioner is "bounceing" it's time to replace it. You will see and hear improvements.

Look for Jeeps with rear diskes, it's so much better to change pads then shoes. The T case in V8 ZJs uses what is called a VC clutch to move power to the front when needed, however this fluid clutch fails, you will notice the car "twisting" in tight turns, like at a gas station.

YOU HAVE TO REPLACE THE VC, you can't adjust anything, so don't be fooled by the seller, I know that they have to be "worked out" if left sitting for a week or 2. I use B&M Syn trans fluid on all my T cases that take ATF, I noticed better mileage also when doing this, as well as replaceing the ATF with B&M syn in the trans.

Also the wireing is in play, seems that some jeeps suffer from broken wires in the doors, seems that after time of open and closeing the doors the wries at the joint or bend come apart.

Stay away from 1999 WJs

[lsavoie]

Fuel pump WILL go out around 100k, give or take ...
I also replaced rear bearings at about 100k
Just stranded me with a bad Idle Air Control
and now I think I need a CPS
Its a good thing I really enjoy not having a car payment...

Originally Posted by lsavoie

Fuel pump WILL go out around 100k, give or take ...
I also replaced rear bearings at about 100k
Just stranded me with a bad Idle Air Control
and now I think I need a CPS
Its a good thing I really enjoy not having a car payment...

Do you have a I6 or V8?

You know your right about stuff going wrong on these, but it's a great balance of car/truck for a family, or as a single driver.

It's a solid axle 4x4 with good engines, it's good off road and good on road, it's not 100% on or off it's just balanced, and the aftermarket makes kits for the 4x4 people and a few offer street kits, I seen one that replaced all the control arms, all the springs and shocks for on road cone driveing.

My 5.9 ZJ is fast, it does mid 14's form the factory, I could not make up my mind to do off road or on road, tho I did have the skid plate package and I was thinking of a Paxton for low 13 runs, but I have a GTO for that, so I kept it stock.

My WJ Limited is one of those jeeps also, it's got the V8 and the Quadra II system, I don't know what to do to it...


This is not my Jeep but add the Jeep bug/stone guard and window guards and it looks just like it.

[lsavoie]

I6,
You're right. I've looked around for alternatives and can't find anything that suits my needs. Commuter, weekend fishing, boating, and light hauling, torquey 4.0 with OK gas mileage. I expect to spend a bit annually to keep it going, next is a knock in the left front suspension when making a left turn. Not sure what that is yet... Any ideas?
What years is your GTO? 2005 or 06?

[BenBB]

It could be the stablizer link arm. Mine '96 did that in the front right, because it was disconnected from the sway bar and it was hitting the coils. Thats a $35 repair. you will need a jack to get the jeep up to be able to aling the bolt into the holes.

Originally Posted by lsavoie

What years is your GTO? 2005 or 06?

The so called "new GTO" is very much not a GTO, at least a Pontiac GTO. The car is a import from the Aussis with a Chevy engine.

Pontiac never put a chevy engine in a GTO nor has the GTO ever been a import.

PMD even left out the words "Pontiac" on the first run, and I say PMD because they did the only thing Pontiac on the car, and thats the 3M stickers.

Now don't take this the wrong way, the car is fast, and it handles great, but so do most cars in it's price class, but is it a American Legend, no. I'm not an older person trying to hold on to anything, i'm 31 and a owner of a 1972 GTO www.geocities.com/RAMairGTO72 it's a real GTO made from plans made by Americans and build by Americans.

The AussiChevy GTO is like haveing an American Flag made in China.


As for the Jeep, I had the same type of problem, my sway bar link broke and was bumping the coil, mine was in the rear, and it was hard to find, see when at a stop or resting the rod end that was broken sat in place, so I did'nt see it, everythings black and at the time I did;nt have a good light to see, it looked like nothing was wrong.

So check all 4 sides of your Jeep for this problem by pulling on the sway bar it's self.

[fourx4forfun]

just got my96 grand limited 5.2 4x4, got a folder full of receipts on the work the owner had done, from what i saw he had the rear end worked on couple different times so that does seem like a weak link there, owned a cherokee 4.0 also some time back, did not care for it, love the grand though, only options she doesn't have is the sunroof and heated seats, at some point the remoted cd deck had died and the owner took it out. he had a problem with the rear hatch locking also as found a receipt for that. he just put michelin at all around on it, runs and handles great. will be putting a K&N FIPK on it soon and changing out the muffler to a Flowmaster. she is much better for getting around in Dallas traffic than my HD was, much less somewhat better mpg, although insurance went up getting the Jeep.

What was your "HD"?

Yes it seems that the guy you got the Jeep from did all the leg work for fixing the big things. I would do the Ebay thing and find a factory replacement CD/tape raido. Like a add to this Fourm about the Ohms form the factory system. Did they put a aftermarket radio in the Jeep?

The factory has an Amp in most limited or V8 jeeps, and ...well i'm not going to write forever here, it's just not a good idea useing aftermarket, I don't know if you have the steering wheel radio controls, but if you do it takes Mr. Spock to wire them up to work with an aftermarket system.

I have to tell you I LOVE those controls, I can even go into my factory 10 changed in the back without even looking at the head unit in the dash.

I'm looking into getting a Dodge 3500 98 1/2 24V up and I do hope that I can get it with the controls on the wheel.

You have a 249 T case most likely so it may be a good idea to put a little money aside to when t DOES go bad, what you may want to do is switch to a Slect-a-track, it's not as strong, but not that weak it's going to have problems. With it you can have 2wd, or 4x4 full (just like yours) 4x4 part, and 4x4 low part, I drove a loner 02 with that T case, man what a fun time I had with it, and I may have beat on the jeep a little but it can take it...lol, man that I6 gets better gas miles, crap LOL.

[micallen]

Getting back to the original question, I have a 93 GC 4x4 4.0L and love it. It was ZERO trouble until it hit about 160,000 miles. Not counting the current breakdown (which is likely the CPS or computer), the only major problems have been: replaced the radiator about a year ago, the A/C compressor and accumulator about 5 months ago, and the drivers side window regulator a few months ago. They are great all-purpose vehicles. Drive like a car. Easy to park. Tough. Handle off-road or weather conditions.

I've already decided, that if mine (now at 166K miles) dies any time in the next year or 2, I'll probably get a 1997 exactly like the 93 I have now. I just like the style from those years.

You may be just better off fixing you own, if and when you buy a later year your going to be faced with the same kinda problems.

[micallen]

Originally Posted by ramairgto72

You may be just better off fixing you own, if and when you buy a later year your going to be faced with the same kinda problems.

Well, that's assuming I can find a low milage one.

[fourx4forfun]

i had a 98 chevy silverado extended cab 4x4 long bed hd, 5.7, loaded, was a nice truck but more than i needed for commuting 97% of the time in dallas traffic. if i ever want to upgrade travel trailers will miss it though, book says 25ft is biggest a grand can pull.