Hello all. First post by a first time XJ owner originally from the UK but now living and working in Qatar. To clarify right from the off – I know sweet **** all about vehicle electricals and mechanicals – I like to drive cars, not get mucky fixing them!

Mine is a 2001 Cherokee Classic, 110km on the clock, one owner from new, dealer maintained, stock throughout. I've only owned it 2 weeks.

Always wanted one of these beauties ever since I first clapped eyes on one back in 2007 when I first came out the Middle East. There's just something about that shape, and that engine, that pushes all my buttons, I tell you.......

Anyhow, I was tootling along at 110kph (about 70mph) on a three lane (plus slip road) highway here in Doha yesterday afternoon. I see the traffic bunching up ahead (it was rush hour) and so I press on the brake pedal to slow the Jeep down.

As I press, I hear a 'PING!' and then the pedal just drops to the floor. Absolutely no tension in it at all. Just sitting there like a dead fish.

So I totally c*ap myself as I now have no brakes and I'm about to pile into a mountain of traffic.

Miraculously, I manage to maneuver the Jeep to the slip lane from the fast lane without hitting any of the other vehicles whizzing around me and ease her down using a combination of periodic handbrake yanking and screeching of tyres against the kerb. I finally come to a grinding halt only about half a yard away from the line of cars stopped ahead of me at the traffic lights. Phew!

I got the Jeep towed back to the dealership where is it currently being looked at. I reckon it’ll be at least a week before I hear anything as here in the Middle East there is no sense of urgency about getting anything done any time soon.

Any ideas as to what may have caused the pedal to just catastrophically fail? If it helps, I saw a mystery metal clip lying in the footwell under the pedal after I came to a stop. The PO had just had the booster, master cylinder, brake cylinders, rotors, pads and drums changed before I bought it.

The dealership guy also said that the accelerator pedal had ‘play’ in it too, which I didn’t notice myself.

Also, despite the fact the Jeep scared the living s*it out of me and by rights should have had me six foot under by now, I still want to get back behind its wheel and drive it again. I just L-O-V-E this thing. This attitude has really p*ssed off my frantic girlfriend, who reckons that if I don’t scrap the whole thing right now and drive something sensible then she’ll kick my @ss to the kerb, period.

So what do you guys reckon – carry on driving the ‘death trap’, continue to risk life and limb and REALLY annoy my life partner, or go out and buy a Honda????

Cheers in advance for any advice.

Ash

 

drive the death trap and tell the girlfriend to deal with it
and dont even think about buying a honda my jeep has been hit by other cars three times my girlfriends honda... hit one and totaled.
point in case jeeps are funner and safer then a dam honda

 

I think you've hit the nail right on the head, my friend.

Jeep's ARE more fun than any other car out there. A real b*tch to own and drive, as I'm finding out after only two weeks, but more rewarding than anything else I've ever driven.

I've owned Japanese before. My conclusion? Brutally efficient but utterly soulless. Same goes for German.

Although the mantra over here in the Middle East is that anything built in the US is tosh, I'd still take a Ford, GMC or Chevy over anything manufactured in the Far East.

It'll take some ***** to trust those brakes again, but I can't resist the lure of that straight six rumble, I guess........

 

Sounds like a brake line went. Did you try pumping the pedal at all to rebuild pressure? Got a picture of this "clip"?

And tell the Mrs.....

 

There was no pumping that pedal. Take it from me - that thing was totally lifeless! Even the traffic cop who flapped it around with his hand a couple of times said he hadn't seen anything like it.

Just done a search on a Jeep parts website and found this, which looks a dead ringer for the 'clip' I found in the footwell....

Frankly, I'm not feeling brave enough to tell the Mrs. Can you instead?

 

What did the parts catalog call the clip? I suspect that the brake pedal pivot broke, but it's just a guess. I never looked at what the pivot looks like.

 

sound like therod from the booster has came off the brake pedal arm its any easy fix just put it back on and reinsert clip and dont take it where the ex owner had it repaired

 

Wildbill1 - the parts catalogue called it a 'brake hose retaining clip'.

Freegdr - the PO had it repaired at the Jeep main dealer, who are the people looking at it now. They have acknowledged it might be a case of poor workmanship on their part and have said if this is the case it will naturally be fixed for free (and competently this time - I live in hope!).

The independent garages over here are really not to be trusted, so Jeep is my only option while I don't have a clue how to fix these kinds of things myself. Days like this, I really wish I had it in me to be a grease monkey.....

 

thats great i would hope they look at it right away since they could be sued in this situation

 

Top marks to Freegdr for the correct diagnosis.

It was the retainer clip which attaches the brake booster push rod to the pedal which had 'pinged' off and which needed to be replaced and re-fixed.

Dealer has given reassurances that it won't happen again, so I'm back behind the wheel and lovin' every minute (much to the annoyance of my other half, who's still pushing for the rig to be scrapped.......).

Thanks to all for their help on this one!

Ash

 

It's not the XJ that tried to kill you. it's whoever did the work thats responsible.
Sounds like the booster push rod came undone from the brake pedal.

 

Dam scary!

Is this a common fault?

 

No it's not common.
whoever did the work on the brakes screwed up big time.

 

X2 never heard of anything like it, and I would be wanting to know the guy from the dealership who did the work in the first place...

Sounds like the mechanic must of came from the Toyota factory