Damn did I get screwed, my own fault though

-
M

MileHighDart

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 3, 2004
Messages
4,748
Reaction score
6,017
Location
Lakeview, OR
Well I wanted to replace my daily driver (Nissan p/u). Looking for something with a little more power to pull a small camper.

So about two weeks ago I picked up a 2005 Grand Cherokee from a small used car dealer.
First mistake was not taking to a jeep dealer for a pre purchase check. Second mistake was missing some existing problems when I was test driving / looking it over.

30 minutes after I bought it, I stopped to fill up the gas tank. When I restarted I had the window down and could hear the massive exhaust leak at the drivers side manifold. Didn't hear it during test drive with windows up and air on.
3 hours later on my way to work, I look down and the check engine light is on.

Next day I call the dealer, "sure bring it down and we'll check it out". Well, all I found out is that it has an exhaust manifold leak (which I already knew) and that the check engine light is on because the trans is throwing a code. (but it drives and shifts fine.) The dealer of course wont do anything to fix either of these problems, (used car, as is).

Next I find the moon roof refused to stop in the "closed" position, opens and sort of closes but you have to push the center button at exactly the right time to make it stop near a closed position. Read on the internet a little that if you put it in the open (raised at back) position and then hold the center button down for 5 seconds, and then cycle the thing open and closed a few times it will reset the brain so it knows where open and closed is. Well
what I ended up with after holding the center button for 5 seconds is that now it will not function at all ! Stuck in the open ( rear of the glass lifted up) position !

Its just been a freaking nightmare from day one and I'm so freaking pissed at myself for getting in a hurry and not properly checking it out, and pissed at the dealer for selling me a turd and refusing to do anything about it.

How many thousands of dollars will I be out before I can get all this crap fixed? I have no idea.
 
Sorry this happened to you.
Disconnecting and reconnecting the battery may reset the moon roof so you can try to "re-learn" the end points.
There may be a circuit breaker tripped, that you will have to look up.
IF there are limit switches or some sort of potentiometer feedback, they may not be sending a signal or a faulty or noisy signal to the controller.
If it's not seeing any feedback change, it is supposed to stop to prevent damage to the motor because it can't "see" any response to what it thinks it's trying to do.
 
Many states have a change of mind law, you have so many days to take back a vehicle. Even if they sell it as is you can return it and get your money back. Check the colorado laws.
 
Then again, like a power window, high current at end-of-travel may create a mildly burned spot on the motor commutator, and judicious banging in the area of the motor may jar it into action.
Best wishes.
 
Hard lesson to learn, but you need to remember they were traded in for a reason.
 
I would just take a deep breath and try to tackle the problems one at a time. So far, it doesn't sound like anything major, but just a lot of smaller issues.

If you're really unhappy, check the lemon laws in your state. You may have some options there.
 
And of course, I already sold my Nissan, which never gave me a lick of trouble in 15 years.
At least that sale worked out good. Dealer wanted to give me $1800 for it. I sold it yesterday for $4350


In Colorado, the lemon law does not apply to used cars, only to things you bought in your home, like from a door to door salesman. Everyone thinks there's a 3 day lemon law to return a used car, but there isn't. Already checked that out. Only hope in the first three days is if the "as is" document has a "right of rescission" clause written into it, which of course it doesn't
 
Last edited:
Well good luck. So far, it sounds like all of the problems would be a Saturday afternoon individually. Jeeps are not bad vehicles. They are built like tanks.
 
image.jpeg
I heard from my friend that he sold his Jeep for $1,000 to a mechanic and that guy spent a while on it but finally found the bad sensor and fixed it for less than $100 (plus his own free labor). I too would have kept it (if it was mine) and I had the time to tinker with it.

My father in law gave me his totaled 1989 Jeep Cherokee Laredo (thanks sis-in-law for totaling it!). I like taking on challenges like this for myself but I am leery of doing it for family/friends. I ripped off the front end and found that the frame wasn't bent like the shop that totaled it said, but the bumper mounts just folded over. A little bit of hammering fixed that and $400 of new/used parts put it back on the road. Just when I registered/ insured it, the antilock brake pump started squealing! I googled it and found that Chrysler gave this first year system a lifetime warranty, so I took it to the dealer and after they didn't believe the lifetime warranty story, they checked and found it to be in fact true! They fixed it entirely (new pump) for free! After I found out that no one in the family needed a "new" car, I decided to keep it and put a snow plow ($800) on the front end for my 700 foot driveway.

I love this Jeep, but dozens of little problems have arisen in it. If I didn't know how to trouble shoot and repair them myself, it would have cost me thousands.

Now, I park it in the back yard for about 10 months of the year and in late December, I throw a battery on the passenger floor (since this Jeep takes an unusually small and now rare battery I use my boat battery) and use jumper cables out the vent window to the engine compartment. It starts right up after about 15 seconds of cranking! Thanks fuel injection! I do use Stabil in it though. When the snow season is over, I don,t even pickle anything in it. Just park it and remove the battery again.
 
Last edited:
"Her" 2001 Jeep Gran Cherokee, the window master switch bad and a short. the short was found. get a good used switch from the boneyard, ?? after 3 I gave up. order one from Dodge? NOoooooo. find one somewhere in America. yes, week later, and 1000 mi away, but, her windows go up and down. NOW, the replace the computer so she has air? ha
I like my spare truck I bought last month, 81 ram 1/2 ton, 225 slant, 4 spd OD, manual windows, NO air!!!!! perfect! collector ins, 170,000 mi drives like new. O K so the input bearing makes a little noise. alum case no doubt. still love it. 18 mpg is o k.
 
If you get any problems with the power windows not working, check the "bulhead connector" that connects to the doors. My grandma's pass side went out and the shop charged her $600 to fix it...

A month later the driver's side did the same thing for another $600...

My mechanic friend told me that there is a problem with the wiring harness connectors and you have to clean them up and it will fix the problem....

Grandma got taken...
 
For the trans problem....find a good trans guy. My buddy has a trans shop across the road...and one right next to him. He is running them both out of business....simply because folks will visit them with a problem like yours and walk out with a bleeding rectum from getting a "rebuilt tranny" when all they needed was a $35 solenoid....which they find out when visiting my buddy...
 
inkjunkie said:
For the trans problem....find a good trans guy. My buddy has a trans shop across the road...and one right next to him. He is running them both out of business....simply because folks will visit them with a problem like yours and walk out with a bleeding rectum from getting a "rebuilt tranny" when all they needed was a $35 solenoid....which they find out when visiting my buddy...
Click to expand...

It's hard to find good repair shops like that today...
 
I've owned three GCs, two 95s and a 94. Never get one with a sunroof. I removed the headliner and resoldered bad joints in the sunroof controller. Worked for a couple years and after that, plastic pieces broke in the slider and I gave up.

I have a 94 Nissan truck. The parts area in the garage is a single box and I never have to go to it. The Jeep area takes up half my garage and is on the grow.
 
Cherokees and Grand Cherokees always have gotten a bad rap. Bought a new Cherokee in 94, wife drove it for 167k, gave it to my daughter, drove it till 231K, sold it at the Buy here pay here lot where I worked part time. Girl named Dawn drove it to 318K then gave it to her brother. I bought my wife a 2002 Grand Cherokee to replace the 94, Drove it to 187K, Sold it to a friend of mine for his daughter in 2008, she has yet to be able to tear it up. and she does try. These were two of the best vehicles we Have ever owned.
My advise is keep your head up and work the bugs out of it. You'll have a good Jeep in the long run. Is it a 4.0 6cylinder?
 
Last edited:
Darthomas said:
Sorry this happened to you.
Disconnecting and reconnecting the battery may reset the moon roof so you can try to "re-learn" the end points.
There may be a circuit breaker tripped, that you will have to look up.
IF there are limit switches or some sort of potentiometer feedback, they may not be sending a signal or a faulty or noisy signal to the controller.
If it's not seeing any feedback change, it is supposed to stop to prevent damage to the motor because it can't "see" any response to what it thinks it's trying to do.
Click to expand...


YOU MIGHT ALSO START WITH LOOKING AT ,AND CLEANING ALL THE GROUND WIRING POINTS YOU CAN FIND, THEN CHECK ALL THE CONNECTION POINTS FOR LOOSE OR CORRODED PINS AND SOCKETS, ELIMINATE THEOSE FIRST ,THEN GO DEEPER, ANYWHERE THEY WIRES MOVE IS THE NEXT PLACE TO CHECK FOR ABRASION OR BROKEN WIRES.
 
Doesn't that moon roof have an emergency crank? I think most of them do, so you can manually close it, until you can fix it... or not (once closed, I'd never open the damn thing again).
 
69_340_GTS said:
Doesn't that moon roof have an emergency crank? I think most of them do, so you can manually close it, until you can fix it... or not (once closed, I'd never open the damn thing again).
Click to expand...

I'm going to go check that right now ! If it does have a crank, I'll just close it and leave it alone.

I've got the gasket and new bolts to fix the exhaust leak, just need time to get it done.

This also is making a loud "clunk" in the front suspension, only now and then, but don't sound good. Usually after backing up and turning fairly sharp, and then starting forward, Clunk ! So gotta figure that one out.
 
MileHighDart said:
I'm going to go check that right now ! If it does have a crank, I'll just close it and leave it alone.

I've got the gasket and new bolts to fix the exhaust leak, just need time to get it done.

This also is making a loud "clunk" in the front suspension, only now and then, but don't sound good. Usually after backing up and turning fairly sharp, and then starting forward, Clunk ! So gotta figure that one out.
Click to expand...

Swaybar, control arm or trackbar bushings is the first place to look. If it even has any of those things. I don't know 2005 stuff.
 
DodgeLad said:
Swaybar, control arm or trackbar bushings is the first place to look. If it even has any of those things. I don't know 2005 stuff.
Click to expand...

That's what I'm thinking, probably a bad lower control arm bushing or something. Just need to get under there with a prybar and start trying to move things around and see it there's any slop in the bushings.
Started on the exhaust fix this morning, worked on it for 3-1/2 hours, then had to stop to get ready for work. Hopefully finish it up in the morning. It had the classic 4.7 broken exhaust manifold stud at the back of the manifold. Got the manifold off, replaced the gasket, and put it back together with new bolts I got from the Jeep dealer. Lower rear bolt had broken off, but luckily it still had about 1" of bolt still sticking out of the head so I was able to just grab it with some vice grips and unscrew it. The upper rear bolt, someone had replaced with a hardware store bolt and they managed to screw up the threads in the head, so when I tried to tighten the new bolt it just kept spinning and would not tighten down. So tomorrow, I'm going to the store to find a bolt about 1/2" longer, and hopefully there's still some good threads deeper down in the hole. If not I'm really screwed.
 
I drive new cars every day at work and there are several every day that have sun roof problems that bounce back.

It can be several things but mostly it needs to be taught where to stop.

The windows do the same thing.

On the brand X that I drive to stop the roof just before it closes and slowly bump it to closed and once closed hold the switch to teach it. (Windows same way) then I open and close several times. Sometimes it takes a few time to program, then sometimes I take it to trim to repair.

Good luck and don't beat yourself up too bad.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top