cappedup

What about buying a $1000 car and it going for 20k? After all that with the Subaru, we got offered a Jeep Cherokee with a quarter of a million miles for 1g. Its been looked after by one guy since new and is in astounding condition for what its been through. Eletric evrything with 100s of toys inside. Grand Cherokee Limited. It has a couple of issues which are easily sorted, and if it keeps going for a year i will feel like ive done pretty good. Any more and i'll be a happy bunny. Its never going far and is going to have an easy life, go the gas mpg doesnt bother me. So, many thanks for the input. Guess i need to find a Jeep forum!! Take it easy.

If it was quite severe. If not, it could be difficult to identify, and might just appear as slight random vibration. I know when something drags on and on, its sometimes worth considering options first ruled out. Hence rotate each wheel, off the car. Spock said something once about logic and ruling out other possibilities. Can't remember what though.

The guy had it for a couple of years, as a second car for his wife, and him for fishing etc. his wife was driving at the time of the 'splurge'. He finished the repair in Dec, I guess got the inspection done, and has driven it since, until they have now replaced thier 2nd car with something else. It looks very old sat next to his big ol' GMC! I'm an English bloke, and we arn't that great at haggleing, as a nation. The window price is usually close to what gets paid. Whats the etiquette here? Do i insult the guy by offering 2500, or sensibly stick in my real offer of 3500, which covers a new rad and some brake pads?

I once scratched my head for days trying to figure out an alignment/vibration issue on a van, I finally learned that one of the actual wheels was bent. It had taken a sideways knock and was playing all sorts of tricks. Try swapping the suspect wheel with the spare. Or another known good one, just get it off the car, and see what happens. Also have a mate follow you and look at each of the wheels, see if there is actual visible vibration.

I had a real good look around the top hose and couldnt see anything. The clip on it wasnt the best quality, but still never saw a drop from it. The hose itself was brand new, still had the clean sticker on it etc and had that 'new rubber' look. Part of the HG renovation. I'm certain the leak was from the rad, but it was close to the hose join, and steam does have a habit of travelling. If it was that join i would blame the clip, which wasnt as top quality as it could have been. Would there be anything to make the leak vanish? Expansion somewhere? By all acounts the engine didnt cook. It blew its coolant which was spotted before the temperature rose. By all accounts! I took that as a very good thing after reading lots on here before going to look There are some things that I just wont know for sure. Even if i did like the guy. Ive been viewing a few cars (this is the first Sub) and walked away from a few as it didnt feel right. Just some kind of Spider Sense thing. I felt like I gave the car a good test, and the HG is 3000 miles old. I had it at 50mph at least for 20 minutes. I could survive the financial outlay and have the HG done again should they fail, but it will hurt in many ways. Just that car was such a little mover i feel like taking a punt. But, not if the judder indicates a transmission issue, or the EGR fault is always a $700 fix, or the pin hole leak is indicative of iminant meltdown etc. Cheers for the reply.

Just been to view a 1998 2.5 outback Wagon. Headgasket failed and replaced 3000 miles ago, it now has 120k. Its the 30th Year limited edition, which i think means the bottom half is a different colour and it has heated seats. The guy selling replaced the HG, i liked him, believed what he said, and am pretty sure the job was done well. (I'm a suspicious bugger and for me to like him is rare!) The new style gasket went in, the multi-layered metal one. At the viewing I spotted some water on the left side, just under the top hose. Couldnt see a leak. Then when it had been running for about 5 minutes and some temperature got into it, the top left of the rad started to steam, like a tiny pin hole. Guy says he never spotted that before and seemed happy to replace the rad. The car was running constantly for about 90 minutes, which included 2 15 minute drives, up hills, at speed, low speed etc. I feel it got a good water system, pressure test etc. After the first 15 minute drive the tiny steam leak seemed to vanish. Other issue was a CEL code 400. EGR fault. Looking over the engine i spotted a small (half inch) hose not connected, on the left side, on top of a small black box on the very end of the block. Something to do with pressure inside top of engine. There was a matching one attached properly on the other side. We put this back, reset the code and the CEL stayed out, but he confessed its a fickle thing and can spring back on. Is it likely this hose was at fault? I liked the engine. Seems like a daft thing to say, but i feel I can work on that car. I'm no ace mechanic, but i can use a spanner and liked the access to most of it - apart from the rear right plug!! So some questions: Are there any figures for the reliability of the newer head gaskets? Of course a lot depends on how they are installed, but in general are they seen as solid? CEL, i can really imagine those things being a real bugger to knock off and determine the faults. If i purchase the car, do i have to have it inspected in NYS to change the ownership? The car has an inspection sticker up until December at the moment. Last thing i want is to spend on an unknown problem just to get the thing on the road. Does the pin prick in the rad seem like a symptom of anything else? The rad seemed solid apart from that. Coolant didnt seem to be at a high pressure in the hoses. Oh, under braking I detected a bit of vibration. Guy says its likely to be the front rotors. Might get worse, might stay the same. I've owned a stack of cars and never had that symptom. There was no veer left or right, stayed true, was evident braking from most speeds, could be described as a judder more than vibration. Sound familiar at all? I guess the big question is: 1998 - post gasket fail, 120k, worth $3750? I think it is, but with the couple of things listed I was going to offer $3500. Oh, where are my manners?! Name's Chris, if i buy this car (and i do love it, boy what a sturdy drive) you'll see plenty more of me. I'm quite a tinkerer and would enjoy posting pics and stuff so you fine fellas can help me through things. EDIT, forgot to say its Auto transmission. Selection was silky smooth. But wondered if the juddering might have been some kind of automatic gearbox run-down thing. Ok, I made that up. Only ever had one automatic, a Volvo 343, crazy car. It had a drive belt for pete's sake!