Last year was supposed to be the year that I traded that old Jeep in for something new.  After all, I have been driving this thing for almost 10 years, it has over 175,000 miles on it.  Ah well, best laid plans, etc, etc.

1997 Jeep Cherokee sport

Over the years, I have kept some statistics on this vehicle, for example:

I have been keeping up with the maintenance items, Oil changes, brake pads and rotors, etc.  Its just that, well, for the last several years the little things have been let go.   The air conditioner stopped working about 3 years ago.  Then the parking break release button broke off and the hood latch pull handle came off.  Then I noticed the oil spots in the driveway.  None of these are very expensive to fix, they just require time.

The first thing to fix was the rear brake lines.  These are important if stopping is required.  They were rotted to the point of leaking.  I bought the parts at the local Dodge dealership in Kingston.  They are steel and come in two pieces, the longer piece is about 6 feet long and needs to be threaded up to the master cylinder on the fire wall.  The second part is about 6 inches long and goes between the pressure equalization valve and the long part just installed.  The hardest and most important part of the whole job is bleeding the air out of the lines.  Since I did not replace the lines to the wheel hubs, I bleed out the line to the junction on the frame.

Replacement oil pan 1997 Jeep Cherokee 4.6L 6

Next, the oil pan was leaking, it had a rotten spot on it above the drain plug.  I was going to try and patch it with fiberglass and epoxy, but decided that replacing the entire oil pan was easier.  I went to the junk yard and found one for about $25.00 and bought a new gasket at the before mentioned Kingston Dodge dealership.  At $35.00, the gasket was more expensive than the oil pan.   Replacement involved draining the oil and taking the old pan off.  I used gasket seal and put the “new” oil pan and gasket in place.

1997 jeep cherokee hood release cable

The hood latch was easy, it is just a cable with a hand pull attached.  I used the  old cable to fish the new cable through the fire wall and attached it to the release lever on the underside of the hood.  I greased up all the hood release mechanism to keep it working well.

The hand break was another issue.  The required removing the center console and took a long time.  Every time I thought I had all the screws removed, there would be one more hiding somewhere.  Once the console was out, replacing the hand lever and break cable was easy.

Next up, drain and flush the transmission, transfer case and transaxle.  I will bring it to the trusted neighborhood mechanic to do that work since they don’t charge too much and have the oil disposal tank.  I need to replace the idler pulley and the serpentine belt as they have been making noise when it  gets cold.

After that, there is an exhaust leak somewhere near the manifold.  It is steadily getting louder.  That will need to be replaced next but it is not a pressing issue yet.

I am going to try to get >200K miles out of this Jeep.  It is not the most fuel efficient vehicle and I wish I could drive something newer, however, it is 4WD which is almost a requirement in the winter time around here.  It is also paid for (and has been for many, many years).

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