My smelly old jeep grand cherokee
 

so ive just picked up a 2006 jeep grand cherokee crd ltd from the boss at work. ive known of this car for around 8 years as the company owners used it to come from ireland and back. my boss bought it at the start of the year but now has a free-lander so i bought this from him. i paid £1500 with a fresh 12 month mot on it which is a bargain and around £2k under market value.

its a 3.0v6 turbo diesel (merc lump) which is silky smooth and has bags of torque,it has 215bhp but more important it has 376ftlbs @ 1600rpm. im contemplating a remap as that will give 260bhp and around 450ftlbs which would be fun.
its covered 133k and runs like clockwork.comes with a fully loaded interior including parrot hands free.all electrics work aswell which is a bonus.
it also had 4 x new tyres at the start of the year.
its been in a quarry for the last 2 years and as a result it has no service history and only 1 key and a few swirl scratches which should buff out with a MOP.

i know its been looked after as the owners were always sending our fitters out in it to be serviced etc.

ive just ordered the following to give her a major service ready for winter

-fuchs titan gt1 pro-flex oil and a filter (takes 10L of oil-yikes)
-castrol syntrax diff oil for the front and rear diffs along with the diff additive from crown.
-smith and allan transfer case oil
-heavy duty comma extreme G05 coolant
-air filter

i have spoken to neil smith transmission services in cannock regarding the auto box and he quoted a drive in/drive out price of £180 inc vat for a fluid and filter change and to run a diagnostic on it. i am tempted to leave well alone as it seems fine so may stick to the old rule of if it aint broke-dont fix it.

now for £1500 it isnt perfect.....

-needs a new gas bonnet strut (£12 from ebay-on order)
-needs new discs and pads ideally and a brake fluid flush as no idea if and when its been done so will get these done when it has its service.
-only 1 key (spoke with jeep and its around £250+ for a second key)
-needs a machine polish to get rid of swirl marks etc
-needs a service (already sorted parts)
-couple of holes in rear tailgate behind number-plate which im just gonna bung up with some rubber grommets.

and thats all, she drives great and has loads of room inside for my ample backside :)

keeps the scooby off the dirty salty roads for the winter which is a good thing.

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.sco...7a79a5f8f0.jpg
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Looks clean in photo's.

We looked at one of those for my mum, looked really nice, 2006 model but guy wanted £4000. Think it had done just under 100,000.

Ended up getting a 2006 4x4, done 66,000 petrol for alot less.

cheers, yeah for £1500 im not going to quibble or moan

thats a lot of jeep for the money :cool:

are you fawor's long lost brother by any chance?

all the oils arrived today thanks to opie oils and my new gas bonnet strut is here aswell :)

i've been waiting for two weeks for my order from Opie...:? I ordered some semi synth for my Connect Sportvan...

that's unlike Opie mate, I've never waited more than 2 days for mine.

So drove down to southsea today in the jeep, 160 odd miles,no issues whatsoever.........well chuffed with it.only used a quarter tank aswell which isn't bad for a big old 3.0 v6

yeh..been nearly two weeks

Sounds good, been thinking about getting something like that for a daily. Would love a Tribeca but MPG will most likely suck.

My Wrangler wasn't too bad on a long run..I changed the rear diff to a 4:56 (iirc) because i had 33's on it..It would get about 25mpg in 5th...It got a bit scary at 80 though! 4.0 straight six..It could tow a tank..As i said before, i loved that thing more than any other vehicle I've ever owned...

so im back from southsea, the jeep peformed perfectly, 420 miles and still just under a 1/4 tank left,not bad for a 2 tonne 3.0 v6 diesel tank fully loaded with 4 people and bags

Hi , Wife drives a MY 01 V8 it is her 3rd Jeep. even at 15 mpg she loves it.
We tow a power boat behind it she and I use it for the dog and her work trip.

Things to look out for , that can be expensive ,
Rear diff , clunk / rasping while cornering. Required a new Dana 44 diff assy
Any sort of clunk or wander in steering. Tie rods (4)
Brakes pads /disc Quality ( lots of cheap crap about for these)
and on V8 cracked cast manifolds.
Heated seats that only work occasionally / not at all. new elements.
Your later model CRD , might suffer from numerous electrical issues, you just have to live with that. But at the price you paid you should be very happy.

no electrical issues so far :)

yeah for the money im over the moon

I'm telling you Shrek, with a bit of mechanical sympathy and maintenance, these things will orbit the Earth..

diff oils and engine oil/filter being done this weekend :)

in 3 weeks time will be doing a full coolant flush/brake fluid change and transfer case oil change.

it feels like a tank compared to the x5, i loved my x5 but was always worried about something breaking on it (door carriers/window mechanism/rear diff/head unit/cooling fan etc)

engine and oil filter changed today along with air filter, front and read diff oils and additive and a new gas bonnet strut too. diff oils came out looking like new which probably means it was fully serviced before my gaffer bought it from the company owners back in feb but as there wasnt any paperwork i wanted to get it done.

we tested the coolant and its fine so not going to bother draining it.

new bosch aero flat blade wiper fitted aswell. next up is transfer box oil but ideally need a ramp for that,spoke with thwaites who i use for my subaru and they say that they can do it for me in a few weeks so will get brake fluid changed at the same time.

so after 10 weeks of ownership i honestly cannot complain about anything with the jeep.

been down to portsmouth in it,around stoke,up to leeds and around birmingham and its been 100% reliable.

all fluids have now been changed including the transfer box oil. i may not bother doing the auto box as a few people have said that as there is no history of it ever being done its probably wise to leave well alone whilst its behaving.

there is an oil leak somewhere on the engine (suspect cam covers) but there is that much sand and dust in the engine bay mixed with the oil that its impossible to see where its coming from so i may just jet-wash the engine bay and take it from there.

smelly old jeep.............LOVIN IT :)

Seems like a great buy!

My old man had a Cherokee, not a grand granted but he bought it brand new in 99 and only just put it out to the field last year. The engine and mechanicals were all still good but the body was absolutely rotten. Was practical like a landy but soooo much comfier!

so ive had this for almost a year now and its a ****ing tank lol

its just passed its mot with 3 advisories which i will get sorted. ive been southsea in it,all around lowestoft,cheshire,leeds and various other places and ive used it as a tip-run wagon whilst i cleared out my grandmas house and it hasnt put a foot wrong,not one single issue with it at all. ive even treated her to a wash for the 1st time since buying it lol

love cheap cars like this that take a kicking but keep on ticking