We just purchased our first jeep last night. It is an Sport with a 5 speed transmission and has 80K. The person we bought if from had only owned it a few months and wasn't very knowledgable about what maintenance had been done. Is there any maintenance specific to this vehicle that we should think about doing?

First thing id do is check in the radiator cap or the oil cap on top of the engine to check for cracked head symptoms a brown milky substance bc 00-01 had problems with cracked heads if it doesnt then make sire ot doesnt overheat

I would replace the distributor cap and rotor and plugs and wires first off

So why would the lost two years of the cherokee have a head cracking probelm just wondering what would they have changed in the material that choices it crack wen over heated

aren't the 01s distributorless???

In 00-01 they put in the 03301 head casting in cherokees and i believe grand cherokees not sure why the change in head castings but the fixed it at the very end of 01

The powers that be at Jeep changed the material used. As long as the cooling system's maintenance is good it'll be alright but if the rig does overheat it could cause cracking in the head. Just make sure you don't overheat! You could do some preventative and change the heads out to the older style one if you wanted to.

Yes there's no distributor or plug wires on the 01

I have a 2001. I did the following: The obvious-change oil and filter. Then flush cooling system and replace thermostat-run it awhile and then do it again to remove additional sludge. Changed both radiator hoses. I drained and refilled the transmission fluid 3 times after driving it to flush that-I skipped that filter change-didn't want to remove the pan and the fluid looked and smelled pretty decent. I changed the transfer case fluid-that looked clean. I changed the axle lube in both diffs-the rear looked particularly muddy. I checked my spark plugs-those looked new. And remember to grease all of the steering fittings. Also flushed the power steering fluid by sucking the reservoir empty, driving it and refilling it 3 times. All of the fluid changes above included quality synthetic replacements. Remember to check your brake pads. Mine looked newer-nice and thick. Oh, and I removed and greased my slip yoke on the rear drive shaft-eliminated that clunking feeling when you come to a stop at an intersection-there is a nice write up on jeepforum.com for that.

Nice should run like a champ

All fluids, oil and air filter, spark plugs, upstream o2 sensor and probably a good idea to drain and flush cooling system. Check for warn bushings and oil leaks. And um, that's probably a good start

*New NGK copper plugs. Ensure gap is .035

*Replace ALL fluids unless you have believable records of recent changes.

*Check your serpentine belt. Replace it if there is ANY question or if it is glazed. Goodyear Gatorback is a good replacement

*Check/replace your air filter

*New 195 MOPAR thermostat also a good idea when you change the coolant. Replace all hoses if they are original.

*Commit the following sentence to your memory. "The #1 symptom of a cracked 0331 cylinder head is unexplained coolant loss"

Not trying to freak you out, trying to educate. An overheat virtually guarantees a cracked head, but you CAN have a cracked head with perfect maintenance; plenty of evidence of that. Will all 0331 heads crack? Absolutely not. But we're not talking about all, we're talking about YOURS. There is luck involved here. And because Murphy's law is alive and well, you need to at least once a week, check the level of coolant in your coolant reservoir. If you catch a cracked head early enough, you swap it out for a good head and you are on your merry way. If you do not catch it early enough, it trashes your engine as coolant does very nasty things to the engine bearings when it mixes with your oil.

Enjoy your 2001!