FS - 2012 Grand Cherokee Overland - As Is/Needs Work

[ChrisH]

Hello Jeepers!

2012 Cherokee Overland. Approximately 106k miles. Silver, tan leather interior, sunroof, etc…all the goodies. Location is SE MA on the 495 belt.

This is a project car at this point: I’m told by two separate mechanics that the motor is history – flattened camshaft due to lifter failure. The motor runs and vehicle is driveable, but likely not for any significant distance.

I have copies of all service records and both mechanics reports on the engine analysis for review. Prior to the check engine light coming on for this problem, this vehicle hit all scheduled service points.

If there’s interest in this project, please make me an offer. My plan at this point is to junk the car, but perhaps someone might want to tackle this.

Note - this is a "as is" sale - and I expect any offer would be priced to reflect that. I hate to junk it if someone in the Jeep community as the time and knowledge to take this on.

Thanks for reading.

Chris

[MDSRACING398]

5.7 or 3.6?

[Frank]

Other than the engine , Body Rot ? Things dont work ? Would that have a lift gate or split lift window drop gate ? FjR68

[ChrisH]

Hello, and thanks for the questions.

It's a 5.7
lift gate, not drop
No rot...the car has been garaged since we purchased it.

Full disclosure on any other possible concerns:
We replaced one of the air springs a few months ago - right rear, I believe
There's a small tear in the backseat leather underneath the front of the seat; relatively not visible to the users, and doesn't impact use of the seat.
The car was in an accident some years ago and we had a door replaced.

I'll post some pictures when I can (likely this weekend).

[beaker]

Out of curiosity, I went digging about this failure. Interesting read, and the comments on the article are pretty good as well.

https://jalopnik.com/chrysler-built-hem ... 1842400890

[ChrisH]

Yep, I found and read this article as well when this all unfolded.

The gory details:
Vehicle is my wife’s daily driver, plus the “family truckster” when we go on vacation, haul the dog around, etc, but it generally didn’t see a lot of miles and was never wheeled.

First symptoms I noticed in the spring were that the exhaust smelled dirty/gassy and we would get an occasional misfire. We got an initial check engine light and the dealer suggested it could be bad plugs, so we agreed to have them swap them out to the tune of several hundred dollars. They also suggested that it could be caused by a fuel pump recall that’s been pending for several months. Anyway after the plug swap we drove it for a day and the check engine light came back on. Back the dealership…leave the car…get a call a day later and they tell us, gee, sorry…the motor is history unless you want to open it up and replace the camshaft.

That’s when I started poking around to see if perhaps there was a TSB or if anyone else had seen the issue and found the article that Beaker linked. There’s more info out there as well that you can find if you look around – it’s known issue with these motors and it appears Chrysler for the most part is washing their hands of it. I pushed back on the dealer and they offered me $500 for a trade. KBB for this vehicle (if it were clean and no motor issues) is somewhere in the 8-10k range.

Since I have trust issues, I took the car to a local mechanic that I use for other work and had them take a look – without sharing what I had already learned. They held if for a day or two and their tech called and basically said the same thing – bad motor. He’s a bit of a jeep guy, so understood the situation with this engine.

So, the car has been sitting since COVID arrived here in MA – March timeframe.

Just as an aside, so folks understand my motivation for posting this here: I was an active BSJ member a few years back – wheeled a few times a year over the course of maybe three years. I still own a TJ rubi that I love, but because of some family and professional commitments, just don’t have the time to spend in the woods. I learned how to wheel with this group (thank you!!!), and had some great times. I hope one day to be able to get back into it. Anyway, given how cool the folks in this club are, I thought someone might be interested in tackling this. I have no motivation at all to give anyone a bad deal here…the vehicle needs major work to be viable and I don’t have the time or skills to take it on.

I’ll also share that the response (or lack thereof) from Jeep/Chrysler has been totally disappointing. I’m pretty sure I’m done with their products. It bums me out, but this is the second “new” car I’ve bought from them that has been problematic. I owned a Dakota a few years back that never had any more use than commuting up 495 and yet the thing spent a ton of time in the shop. I had really hoped one day to get into a Gladiator to replace my current truck, but I can’t bring myself to patronize a company that ignores a problem like this. I’ll never sell my TJ…couldn’t bear to part with it, but no more of my dollars are headed to the Chrysler folks. Bummer.

Anyway //rant off//. Thanks for reading and for any interest you have in the car.