First of Hi, All. I'm looking to get my first Jeep. And have been looking at a few on craigslist.

The one I'm currently looking at, the guys is asking for $2500 Or Best Offer.
Here are the problems the 1997 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited has:

He says the car will stall every couple months, then he says he is able to start it back up right after it stalls and the problem wont occur again for a few months.

The car has 170k Miles, with a beautiful Black Leather Interior and has the V6 Engine. Pretty clean car, inside & out.

Whats wrong with the car? And is it an expensive fix? Should I buy it still?

 

You could buy a clean WJ(99-04) V8 4x4 for the same price as that I6 ZJ. No telling what the owner has or hasn't done as far as maintenance.

 

In my opinion the 4.0 straight 6 up to '99 is the best engine.

 

I have a 97 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo with the I6 and its the easily the most reliable motor jeep ever made.

 

I'd walk away from that deal. I hate electrical issues, but it could literally be something as simple as a ground. That's what happened to mine. But no one here has a crystal ball to tell you what's wrong with that vehicle. Take it to a mechanic for an inspection.


I was told to stay away from WJ v8's because of warping heads.

I bought my 98 ZJ 5.2 for $2200 with 136k miles.

Paint has small chips in several spots along the sides. Needed a headliner. Suspicious sound from the rear end/rear axle area.

I've had it for months now and it's been great. I put in a new headliner for $150.

 

I just picked up an 02 WJ 4.0L with a little over 100K miles for for $3,000 from Craigslist. Pass. door was either replaced or repaired but I didn't care about that. This vehicle runs and drives great, under side in in great condition super clean interior, no leaks.

 

Have not heard of that one.
I love my '00 4.7L. I traded my 99 selec-trac WJ 4.0 even for the '00 Limited. I paid $2300 for the '99 and the '00 was $3100. The only thing I really need to do besides routine maintenance is "fixing" the upstream o2 sensor. The previous owner removed a few things under there

The only problem I have with the I6(owned two, 97 XJ and 99 WJ) is any overheating and the head gasket blows, and or the head cracks. The problem was supposedly corrected starting in 2002. Both of mine had blown HGs. Thankfully they spewed outside the motor instead of inside.

 

cost might be high, depends on other factors and condition of jeep.

under the assumption it has a 242 or 231 tcase you dont need to worry about tcase issues (like the 249 on the early zjs).

Stalling on zj's could be a lot of things. I'd want to poke around and run it myself for a bit to see if i could figure anything out. Could be simple, could be a pita.

Zj's can be electrical PITA's. I am slightly lucky, when my grandparents first bought my 1995 used in 1997, they had to get the whole thing rewired under the hood due to issues. So I've had minimal issues with that. But it can get pricy.

Motor is strong and will last forever if you take care of it. Common leak is rear main seal so look for oil between the engine/tranny. That's not cheap if you have a mechanic do it.


It has the 42re trans which is is hit or miss. some people never have an issue, some people have to put in a new one.

It may be a limited with black interior, but it's not a v6. It's an I6 just so you know (no v6's til wj's came out)

it's a unibody, no frame, can get bent in a decent accident, so find out accident history and check for rust in the rocker pannels and other parts of the body.

zj's are great, lots of parts available and not insane to replace stuff.