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:
| Category | Number | Quantity | Comment |
| Oil Changes | 38 | 228 quarts of 10W40, or 57 gallons | about every 4,500 miles |
| Gas | 20 MPG average | 8774 gallons | |
| Windshields | 3 | ||
| Windshield wipers | 6 sets | 12 wiper blades | |
| Windshield fluid | 10 gallons | 10 gallons | about a gallon a year |
| Tires | 4 sets | 16 tires | |
| Radios | 4 | Two were ripped off, one broke | |
| Brakes, pads | 4 sets | 16 pads | |
| Brakes, rotors | 2 sets | 4 rotors | |
| Batteries | 4 | ||
| Accidents | 3 | 1 – rear end
1- guy backing into front of vehicle 1- parked car door dent |
|
| Deer strikes | 1 | No fatalities | |
| Bird strikes | 1 | 1 fatality |
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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There’s something to be said for simply driving a vehicle until it won’t go anymore. In my opinion, no matter the gas mileage, fixing and driving the old one is better than buying a new car that took a LOT of energy to produce!
Jennifer, you are right, often times the embodied energy in a product is not taken into consideration when looking for environmentally friendly products. I figure that as long as it is running well and has passed the yearly polution test, then it is running okay and I shouldn’t worry too much about replacing it yet.
Do you really need four wheel drive? There are thousands of people that don’t have four wheel drive and get around just fine. I am sick of all these SUV’s driving around in the snow
Basically I drive a 4WD vehicle because of my job. I am on call 24/7 and need to respond in all sorts of weather. I also drive a SUV to avoid running into people like you.
Oh Paul,I was shocked to see the kind of vehicle you drive. To this day every time I see a Cherokee Sport I shrink from the pain. You see, my 1997 Cherokee Sport came as a package deal with my wife, the dog and the in-laws but I digress. I was driving the Cherokee on a business trip one day when the front left tire had a catastrophic self-disassembling event (it exploded) just as I was merging on an interstate. It was so quick that it bruised both of my thumb and my forearms collided with each other enough to cause bruising on both. Now comes the 4 lanes of interstate traffic and a guardrail. Not a single car touched me or anyone else for that matter but that guardrail did a heck of a number on the front right corner of the truck. The insurance company elected to put it all back together. I am not sure if it was not put back together correct or if I was just scared of it, but I hated driving that thing afterward. So we sold it in favor of something a little more comfortable for our growing family.However, I understand the concept of keep it, fix it, drive it. I have a 1997 Nissan Maxima approaching 250,000 miles. A year ago I had to put a new water pump in it. I let the dealer do it because it is inside the engine ran off of the timing chain. While they were in there, I had them change the chain and tentioners too. I was discussed at the cost and the design but then the following was pointed out. Most water pumps only last 30,000 miles and mine lasted 190,000 and at that rate, the maintenance cost was something like 14 cent/mile. Gave me a whole new way to look at it. The car is begining to have more problems than I can keep up with but I think I will drive it until it quits beyond the point I can justify putting more money in it.Thanks for you detailed Blogs.Fred W.
Fred, interesting story. I have never had a blow out at highway speed and hope not to. Regarding the Jeep, it has been a pretty good car. Sure, there were the normal maintenance items. One out of ordinary repair, the linear motor that controlled the idle speed went out at about 70,000 miles or so. More inconvient than anything else, if I took my foot off the gas pedal, it would stall.
The best thing I can say about this vehcile it it is paid for and has been since about 2002 or so. All those years of no car payment is nice. It is really worth next to nothing as far as a trade in goes, so I think I will continue to drive it for as long as it runs.
FIX IT, DONT LET THAT GREENIE DISCOURAGE YOU!!!!!!! LONG LIVE THE JEEP!!!! At least it was keeping jobs HERE while it was built.
fix those jeeps. i trying to do so for my jeep. had it a long time but it hasn’t moved for a long time.
Funny thing about those jeeps, it has a cast iron straight six, which according to my mechanic is good for 300K if taken care of. They stopped making them in 2001. Why? Why did Chrysler stop making such a sucessful and reliable design? Perhaps Detroit would do well to study their past and see what they used to do right, then make changes accordingly.
I understand they quit making the 4.0 in-line 6 because of curent MPG and emission standards required by the feds. My 93 Sport is going strong at 157k miles. Even with my woeful maintenance dicipline.
A water pump every 70k miles. A clutch master and slave (manual trans) at about 100k miles. A radiator at 120k miles. I probably spent less than $4k in repairs over the last 15 Years. They wont ever make ‘em like that again.
Only problem is the power locks are sluggish and she wont go into 4Wd anymore. Probably needs a new transaxle. Any one have any experiance with that? And yes…. I need my 4×4. I dont need any better reason than because I want it.
Hey – I’m trying to replace the oil pan on my ‘89 Cherokee Wagoneer. I’m having a ton of trouble getting the old pan out. Any hints?
Thanks,
Matt
Jaspar Engines remanufactures the Jeep 4L, mechanics say its one of the best remanufacturers out there. I have a quote to install (with all supporting parts) a Jaspar remanufactured Jeep 4L engine in my 98 Jeep cherokee for approx $3200 (Shenandoah Valley, Va). It beats buying a new car and the jeep will last probably another 10 years.
My 1990 Jeep Cherokee Starts up fine and runs for like 2 minutes then stalls out! then won’t start for some time after and then does the same thing. Was running great for awhile and then it sat because belt snapped off then replaced it then put new plugs and wires and new battery and it’s doing this shit now! Any clues?
I have a 97 Cherokee Sport 4.0. Have spent only a couple of hundred dollars on it over the past 12 years. Have about 150,000 miles. But now I am starting to have some heating/cooling problems, that being it overheats occasionally. Last summer (2009) I replaced the radiator. Has been working great until last week and started loosing water/coolant. I replaced the water pump and thermostat. Fired it up and let engine warm up and drove down the street and back to make sure engine was getting nice and warm as well as checking the gauge, which read about 200 degrees. Turned on heater and blower but air not hot. Barely warm. Not sure where to go from here. Maybe heater? Not familiar with that. I could use some type of diagram as to the flow of water and how to access and look for problem if anyone can help.