Originally Posted by Hippeh

When I bought my '98 Cherokee, I was lucky enough to have a best friend who was a Dodge/Jeep mechanic. Right away he noticed that the intake manifold had a crack, you could hear it 'ticking' (goes away once it's warmed up). I couldn't even tell what it was, but he knew. As I recall, he said it was a relatively common issue that they addressed in later models. It wasn't a deal breaker because it still ran great, but it was a great bargaining chip in getting the dealer to lower the price. Also, look for respray paint jobs. As others above stated, dealers will buy it off the auction lot for $2k, throw a $99.99 paint job on the skin and try to sell it at premium price (they listed mine for $4600, 112k miles).

I also learned another trick. I called the lot the day before I went to look at it and scheduled a time early in the morning. I got there about 40 minutes early. The first thing my friend did was check the radiator, and found that it had been running long enough to get hot. The dealer said "well, we had to move it on the lot". Red lights went off and my buddy said "so it took you what... thirty minutes to move it?" The dealer walked away without answering. My friend explained that they were A) probably trying to warm it up enough to hide the tick from the manifold crack and B) making sure that when I started it for the test drive that it would fire right up and run smooth. I'm not that savvy, but I learned a lot that day. Flip ALL the switches, make sure every thing electric works, check for steering slop/loose ride, etc. etc. And if you can, take a friend who's a mechanic!

P.S.- I've been a forum lurker here for a while, just never had anything worthwhile to add.. glad I finally did.

Originally Posted by OcalaXJ

Bought a 00 not to long ago. I didn't do my research on the 00-01 cracked head deal. Paid the price. My buddy has a 92 with 285k that he just drove to Colorado from Florida.

Originally Posted by bmrrwolfe

Yeah dealer used car lots, and those other "wholesale" lots are very shady sometimes... As well as private owners... Always ask every question you can think of, and maybe reword questions to see if you get the same answer. If your not very mechanically inclined, ask a buddy who is to check it out with you and have him double check over every nut and bolt on it!

Originally Posted by EUGENE the JEEP

hows this one year off ? http://southjersey.craigslist.org/cto/2171470395.html

Originally Posted by EUGENE the JEEP

OH just trying to help . didn't know if you seen them yet . GOOD LUCK.

Originally Posted by bigA

Cherokee001, keep looking, you'll find one. I ive near Englishtown, kinda a neighbor lol. I looked at about 8 before I bought mine from a used car dealer in Tinton Fall. An 01 with 90k miles. I looked on Cars.com and autotrader.com. Look there.