I bought a Grand Cherokee... I had to

[prariepunk]

Recently, my fiance's coworker was wanting to scrap her 1999 Grand Cherokee Limited (157k mi) because she was afraid it was going to blow up & the motor was bad (no oil pressure).
My lady suggested to her that I look at it & that it might not be as bad as it looks. After code reading turned up nothing but an evap leak, I decided to start it... after all, if the motor's bad, the motor's bad. It fired up but sounded really weird. I popped the hood & saw that it was a 4.7 V8... a very, VERY neglected V8. I told her that I wanted to take it for a drive to see what it was doing because idling in a parking lot, it had oil pressure. Reluctantly she agreed & we took off down the road.
I didn't want to drive too far just incase things went sideways quickly. There was a dragging coming from the rear axle but nothing was happening with the oil pressure so I turned around & headed back. Well as I got headed in the right direction, the oil gage dropped to zero. I continued on down the road to see if it really was no oil pressure. The owner asked if I was crazy & I told her that engine with no oil pressure usually let you know with sounds too & this one wasn't ticking or knocking.
Once in the safety of the parking lot, I told her that it was just an oil pressure sending unit & they're about $50 and if she bought the part, I'd install it for her. She was just sick of dealing with it (ignoring general maintenance) that she said it was mine for $400... I couldn't NOT buy it!
I'm $400 in to parts on it and she's slowly getting back to being a loved vehicle. Oil sending unit, oil change, spark plugs, hood/rear hatch/rear glass lift struts, bulbs, a LOT of orange flavored coolant bc she accidentally put oil in the coolant 🙄, door pins to put the door panels back on, a ton of grease on the doors & a thorough cleaning of the inside. I'm probably going to do pads/rotors & wheel bearings to be safe. I'll upload photos when I can, it's not letting me through my mobile.

[mark sr]

The oil gauge should always be the first suspect. I was ready to change the oil pump on a cherokee I used to have when I noticed it had the same low oil pressure when the engine was shut off.

[JPNinPA]

Cool!

Long time no post!! Glad to see you back.


Never look down on anyone unless you are helping them up - Jesse Jackson

[prariepunk]

I quickly learned why the Teves/ATE brakes have a bad reputation... they hung up on me about ½ mile from home. I ordered the Akebono conversion.

[TerryMason]

That's awesome. I love a good deal. Are you going to keep it and drive it, or flip it?

[prariepunk]

That's awesome. I love a good deal. Are you going to keep it and drive it, or flip it?

I think I'm going to use it as a winter vehicle to keep my '18 Rubicon out of the Ohio salt. I've put $600 in parts into it & it still needs bearings for the D44 in the rear. I just changed to Akebono brakes & it's a night and day difference. I went from around 9 mpg to 19 mpg. The brakes were hanging up something fierce.

[prariepunk]

[prariepunk]

Original plug from '99. All 8 looked like the one on the left.

[prariepunk]

Shiny & new

[JPNinPA]

Need some toothpaste polish for those headlights. Looks like some TB cleaner or brake fluid got on there.

Looks like a nice vehicle.

Plugs are not terrible if they are that old.

Clean the TB, IAC and battery cables and grounds. Do a round of steam or sea foam yo clean carbon. Throw a bottle of fuel injector cleaner in and blow it out on the highway. Clean out the CATs from the poor mpg buildup.
Bet your mpg gets a bit better.



Never look down on anyone unless you are helping them up - Jesse Jackson

[prariepunk]

Need some toothpaste polish for those headlights. Looks like some TB cleaner or brake fluid got on there.

I have a headlight polishing kit (works great on soft top windows) that helped but it won't get rid of whatever's going on with the passenger headlight.

[JPNinPA]

Actually that mpg is good based on EPA numbers. 14/19


I bought some inexpensive replacements on rock autofor another vehicle. .. maybe time for euro upgrade or projectors...?

Never look down on anyone unless you are helping them up - Jesse Jackson

[prariepunk]

This was earlier today while I was out & about. I romped on the skinny pedal a bit... it'll break traction when you get on it.

All said right now I have just over $1,000 into it & that's including the $400 for the WJ. Like me, the headlight isn't much to look at but it functions. If I'm keeping it, it'll be something to keep in mind.

I'm already going over a transfer case swap in my head. It's got the 247 (AWD/N/4L) in it right now & I hear that the 242 (2WD/AWD/4H/N/4L) is a bolt in option and they have one at the parts yard from behind a 4.7 near me.

[TerryMason]

I have a headlight polishing kit (works great on soft top windows) that helped but it won't get rid of whatever's going on with the passenger headlight.

I've never successfully done this. I've bought the kits (the kind you use with a drill), and cleaned up the headlights alittle, but I've never gotten the results you see in the video. It always looks like I've replaced a 10 old lens with a 6 year old one.

[JPNinPA]

I had some luck on headlight assemblies using old polishing compound on a soft cloth. But the milkiness wasn’t bad.


Never look down on anyone unless you are helping them up - Jesse Jackson

[prariepunk]

I've never successfully done this. I've bought the kits (the kind you use with a drill), and cleaned up the headlights alittle, but I've never gotten the results you see in the video. It always looks like I've replaced a 10 old lens with a 6 year old one.

I'll try to snap a pic of what they look like currently when daylight returns, I was impressed with it.

[prariepunk]

[JPNinPA]

Looks better than it did.


Never look down on anyone unless you are helping them up - Jesse Jackson

[prariepunk]

Looks better than it did.

It does & it throws light a lot better too! I will admit that I'm spoiled in my Rubicon that has OEM LED headlights/fog lights... you know, the kind oncoming traffic hate. Compared to the LEDs, the halogen bulbs are just kind of a dull yellow but I'm not dropping that kind of cash into a $400 22 year old vehicle.