Grand Cherokee, what to look for
Discussion
I have to get a new car by the weekend on a very limited budget and fancied something a bit bigger. The Grand Cherokee's have caught my eye as there are a few available at very low prices, including some with an LPG conversion.
What should I look for when inspecting them?
What mileage can I expect them to do (if maintained well) before age-related issue start to occur?
What should I look for when inspecting them?
What mileage can I expect them to do (if maintained well) before age-related issue start to occur?
1. Drive round on good tarmac (not loose stones etcs) at slow parking speeds, on full lock, to see if the diffs are winding up.
2. Rubber strips on top of the doors rust, you can see bubbling under the rubber.
3. Check mirrors fold in and out.
4. Check heating very carefully as the blend doors fail and that's a dash out job.
5. Check rear tailgate shuts properly, especially if it's had a LPG conversion.
6. Also if LPG converted, check rear bumper is firmly attached.
7. Apparently the manifold can crack on the straight 6, otherwise these engines can go on for a very long time for no problems.
8. Check if the 2nd gear stick will shift if you intend to use low range.
9. The tweeters can fail on the dash top.
10. The controls for the ventilation can become loose, and not correctly adjust airflow
11. The plip works
2. Rubber strips on top of the doors rust, you can see bubbling under the rubber.
3. Check mirrors fold in and out.
4. Check heating very carefully as the blend doors fail and that's a dash out job.
5. Check rear tailgate shuts properly, especially if it's had a LPG conversion.
6. Also if LPG converted, check rear bumper is firmly attached.
7. Apparently the manifold can crack on the straight 6, otherwise these engines can go on for a very long time for no problems.
8. Check if the 2nd gear stick will shift if you intend to use low range.
9. The tweeters can fail on the dash top.
10. The controls for the ventilation can become loose, and not correctly adjust airflow
11. The plip works
Edited by podwin on Monday 24th January 13:46
when they do the LPG conversion, does that mean that you end up with 2 tanks - one for each fuel, or is the original tank taken away?
I was idly looking at autotrader the other day and noticed a couple of grands that had an "underfloor" conversion - suggesting to me that they might have an extra tank, raising the possibility of an intact original tank, suggesting a very useful total range. would this be correct?
I was idly looking at autotrader the other day and noticed a couple of grands that had an "underfloor" conversion - suggesting to me that they might have an extra tank, raising the possibility of an intact original tank, suggesting a very useful total range. would this be correct?
My Grand Cherokee has the under floor tank conversion for the LPG.
It must have a custom (tiny) petrol tank, as i've never managed more than £25 in it.
LPG tank did take £35 to fill, but its shot up since November, getting on for £55 to fill with a maximum range of about 180 miles on LPG.
In the time i've had mine i've had to replace siezed front brake calipers.
Other than that, it has a knock on the front suspension that needs investigating and its always had slight heating issues.
But for what i originally paid, its been great!
It must have a custom (tiny) petrol tank, as i've never managed more than £25 in it.
LPG tank did take £35 to fill, but its shot up since November, getting on for £55 to fill with a maximum range of about 180 miles on LPG.
In the time i've had mine i've had to replace siezed front brake calipers.
Other than that, it has a knock on the front suspension that needs investigating and its always had slight heating issues.
But for what i originally paid, its been great!
sawman said:
when they do the LPG conversion, does that mean that you end up with 2 tanks - one for each fuel, or is the original tank taken away?
I was idly looking at autotrader the other day and noticed a couple of grands that had an "underfloor" conversion - suggesting to me that they might have an extra tank, raising the possibility of an intact original tank, suggesting a very useful total range. would this be correct?
We've got a little LPG runaround which is switchable between petrol and LPG, I'm pretty sure this is the norm.I was idly looking at autotrader the other day and noticed a couple of grands that had an "underfloor" conversion - suggesting to me that they might have an extra tank, raising the possibility of an intact original tank, suggesting a very useful total range. would this be correct?
QuackHandle said:
sawman said:
when they do the LPG conversion, does that mean that you end up with 2 tanks - one for each fuel, or is the original tank taken away?
I was idly looking at autotrader the other day and noticed a couple of grands that had an "underfloor" conversion - suggesting to me that they might have an extra tank, raising the possibility of an intact original tank, suggesting a very useful total range. would this be correct?
We've got a little LPG runaround which is switchable between petrol and LPG, I'm pretty sure this is the norm.I was idly looking at autotrader the other day and noticed a couple of grands that had an "underfloor" conversion - suggesting to me that they might have an extra tank, raising the possibility of an intact original tank, suggesting a very useful total range. would this be correct?
sawman said:
QuackHandle said:
sawman said:
when they do the LPG conversion, does that mean that you end up with 2 tanks - one for each fuel, or is the original tank taken away?
I was idly looking at autotrader the other day and noticed a couple of grands that had an "underfloor" conversion - suggesting to me that they might have an extra tank, raising the possibility of an intact original tank, suggesting a very useful total range. would this be correct?
We've got a little LPG runaround which is switchable between petrol and LPG, I'm pretty sure this is the norm.I was idly looking at autotrader the other day and noticed a couple of grands that had an "underfloor" conversion - suggesting to me that they might have an extra tank, raising the possibility of an intact original tank, suggesting a very useful total range. would this be correct?
Mine had an LPG tank in the spare wheel well, so the original petrol tank was left alone.
The petrol fuel pump is here, hence an LPG tank cannot sit flush on the bottom which isn't a problem with a spare wheel.
Hence to keep the floor level the LPG tank has to be quite slim which gives a poor range.
I took the option of a 75l tank, with a raised boot floor. This gave a range of 210 - 225 miles.
A full tank of petrol would give a 250 mile range in addition.
Here's a picture of the installation:
And with the raised floor in place;
The economy of 17.5 mpg on petrol dropped to 13 - 14 mpg on lpg.
When I moved house my commute involved sitting in traffic, and I no longer used the motorway hence economy dropped to 11 mpg.
Filling up so often became annoying, the cost never bothered me at the time though
The petrol fuel pump is here, hence an LPG tank cannot sit flush on the bottom which isn't a problem with a spare wheel.
Hence to keep the floor level the LPG tank has to be quite slim which gives a poor range.
I took the option of a 75l tank, with a raised boot floor. This gave a range of 210 - 225 miles.
A full tank of petrol would give a 250 mile range in addition.
Here's a picture of the installation:
And with the raised floor in place;
The economy of 17.5 mpg on petrol dropped to 13 - 14 mpg on lpg.
When I moved house my commute involved sitting in traffic, and I no longer used the motorway hence economy dropped to 11 mpg.
Filling up so often became annoying, the cost never bothered me at the time though
Edited by podwin on Tuesday 25th January 10:22
My mechanic has advised me not to touch one with a barge-pole on the grounds that, although reliability can be good, if anything goes wrong they can be very labour intensive/expensive to repair. He also sid that to get good performance in the snow/ice I would need to dispense with the poser wide wheels and get something narrower with winter tyres1
Comments?
Comments?
PoleDriver said:
My mechanic has advised me not to touch one with a barge-pole on the grounds that, although reliability can be good, if anything goes wrong they can be very labour intensive/expensive to repair. He also sid that to get good performance in the snow/ice I would need to dispense with the poser wide wheels and get something narrower with winter tyres1
Comments?
I know mine had M&S tyres as standard.Comments?
I thought the Jeep was very good off road, which is why it's crap on it, unlike the X5's and ML's
Edited by podwin on Tuesday 25th January 10:34
That's worrying!podwin said:
Mine had an LPG tank in the spare wheel well, so the original petrol tank was left alone.
The petrol fuel pump is here, hence an LPG tank cannot sit flush on the bottom which isn't a problem with a spare wheel.
Hence to keep the floor level the LPG tank has to be quite slim which gives a poor range.
I took the option of a 75l tank, with a raised boot floor. This gave a range of 210 - 225 miles.
A full tank of petrol would give a 250 mile range in addition.
Here's a picture of the installation:
And with the raised floor in place;
The economy of 17.5 mpg on petrol dropped to 13 - 14 mpg on lpg.
When I moved house my commute involved sitting in traffic, and I no longer used the motorway hence economy dropped to 11 mpg.
Filling up so often became annoying, the cost never bothered me at the time though
great write up on your profile, cheersThe petrol fuel pump is here, hence an LPG tank cannot sit flush on the bottom which isn't a problem with a spare wheel.
Hence to keep the floor level the LPG tank has to be quite slim which gives a poor range.
I took the option of a 75l tank, with a raised boot floor. This gave a range of 210 - 225 miles.
A full tank of petrol would give a 250 mile range in addition.
Here's a picture of the installation:
And with the raised floor in place;
The economy of 17.5 mpg on petrol dropped to 13 - 14 mpg on lpg.
When I moved house my commute involved sitting in traffic, and I no longer used the motorway hence economy dropped to 11 mpg.
Filling up so often became annoying, the cost never bothered me at the time though
Edited by podwin on Tuesday 25th January 10:22
PoleDriver said:
My mechanic has advised me not to touch one with a barge-pole on the grounds that, although reliability can be good, if anything goes wrong they can be very labour intensive/expensive to repair. He also sid that to get good performance in the snow/ice I would need to dispense with the poser wide wheels and get something narrower with winter tyres1
Comments?
Mine is a '98 Grand Cherokee on normal road spec General Grabber tyres. Comments?
It has never been stuck in the snow and that's without messing about with the fancy transmission.
I bought it in Dec '08 with 90,000 miles on it for £850 with "no heating".
Its now on 109,000 and for those miles it has nearly always been towing a loaded car trailer with no issues.
The "no heating" cost £4.60 to fix
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