2000 Jeep Cherokee Sport from North America - Comments

I have a 2000 Cherokee Sport. It has 102,000 miles. I have a high pitched squeal when I first start driving the Jeep for about the first 5 minutes. I am really stumped, I have replaced the left front wheel bearing, right front u-joint, cleaned out all the front brakes and replaced the backing plates, I also replaced the idler pulley because I installed a new belt and the next day I noticed the squeal. I have had my Jeep in the garage daily trying to solve this problem. It will not make the noise when I drive the Jeep when it is on the lift, in 2 or 4 wheel drive, and it will not squeal when idling. It only does it when it is first driven. Any ideas? Anyone experience this?

I do not have the shake you all mention, but I immediately replaced the steering damper when I bought the vehicle. I did have my passenger window regulator fail tho. I had to hold the window up with some heater hose and a pocket knife as a wedge.

I haven't been able to test my A/C because it is winter. I have dealt with many Cherokee A/C problems at my garage though.

I have had a lot of the same issues with my 2000 Jeep Cherokee Classic. Replacing the stabilizer bar fixed the highway wobbling. To work around the A/C squeal I just drive the Jeep a block before I switch the fan to high. Now I have a squeal in the front end that occurs once I get to about 15 mph. It is intermittent and is getting progressively worse/more consistent. I opened the window last night while driving (a big deal in Fargo in February) and you can hear the squeal well coming from the tire area. I know next to nothing about cars so would appreciate any help. Even if someone could give me some ideas about what it might be. The frequency gets higher as I accelerate and stops when I stop moving. It is unaffected by switching it in to 4WD. I know it's not the brakes because we had non-Jeep pads put on and they squeak terribly too to a different tune. I'm due for a tire rotation so maybe that will identify whether it is tire related. Please email me at ajkugel@gmail.com for ideas. Thank you very much.

I have gotten closer to solving the squeal, but still not quite yet. We've had extreme temperature changes here on Cape Cod and when it is warm (50 or above) there is barely any squeal to none at all. Today where it is about 0 it is non stop and extremely loud. I'm guessing it could be the front driveshaft, possibly the CV joint. It doesn't make sense why that would wear out. I might drop that driveshaft and drive the vehicle around to see if the squeal is still there. I've heard other Jeep owners complain of a squeal from the front driveshaft. Any comments or help is greatly appreciated.

To 28 February and 7 March:

The squeal that you are describing sounds very much like a worn fan belt (or serpentine belt). This would make sense if it's worse when it's cold, and when you accelerate. Belts are stiffer in the cold, and the power steering pump would tend to drag until it warms up.

Before you spend hundreds of dollars on bearings, simply check the belts. Are the surfaces that mate with the sides of the pulley shiny and glazed? Is the belt loose? From where it rests naturally between adjacent pulleys, can you move the belt more than an inch up and down? Do you hear the squealing when you turn the steering wheel sharply, especially when the tires meet resistance? If so, you probably need a $7 fan belt.

I have a 2000 jeep cherokee, and have the same problem as the first guy. I only have 34,500 miles, and for the last 3-4 weeks, I'm getting this intermittent squeal from the front end. It used to do it starting at 30 mph. Now it seems to start at 15-20 mph. The last couple of days it's quiet for the first couple of miles and then starts doing it. I had the brakes completely replaced (it made no noise, of course when I took it to the mechanic), but that didn't solve the problem. It's driving me crazy.

Hello.

I have having the same problem with my 2001 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo. After about 30mph it squeals when I take my foot off the gas peddle. The sound becomes higher pitched as I go faster. It is quite troublesome and I just got my car which makes it more irritating. Do you all recommend I bring the car back and return it or should I replace the front drive shaft?

Please respond to nbialek@gmail.com.

Thank you everyone!

Its not a fan belt. Mine is brand new. I've also replaced pullies as well. All the other mechanics who have looked at it said its not the motor. Its some other component.

I have encountered the same squeal problem before. In my case it was the clutch plate on the air compressor - a nice 700 bucks for parts and labor. Best case scenario its the belt or the pulley, but take a look and a listen at the clutch plate on the air compressor.

I have a 2000 Jeep Grand Cherokee and just experienced the locked ignition problem for the first time (76,000 miles). My steering wheel also locked up. I saw someone else had the steering wheel lock up with the ignition... how did you solve this problem?

I have a 2001 Cherokee Sport, it has 123K miles on it now, but I bought it brand new from the dealership...

The past year it's had the "shaking" problem at 50-60 MPH, and made a noise when I would turn...

Took it to the dealership, they did whatever they did to it, all I remember exactly was balance, alignment, something about bearings, and over $500...

Well, the noise has gone away, but the shaking has gotten worse, took it today, and they said that my steering damper needed to be changed, and I needed 4 new tires and gave me a quote of over $700... Any suggestions??

Also, just for my sake of venting, before I had 90K, I had to change the serpentine belt. I also have had about 6 new sets of tires in the past 7 years, no matter how much I have them rotated, etc...

My automatic locks work sometimes and not others, my rear door light has been on for about a year, sometimes the rear door won't shut, and my stupid air conditioning doesn't get very cold...

I loved my Jeep, of all the cars I could've gotten I wanted my Jeep... but with all the money that's been put into this car, and the 3 wrecks that weren't my fault, I'm so ready to get rid of it at this point... I know so many people with Euro/etc cars with more mileage, etc. that haven't had the probs, I don't know if I'd buy another american made car...

This is my second jeep cherokee, last one was a '99 and I got 212k miles. I did have to replace the steering stabilizer when the front end vibrated. That fixed it. It started doing it on my new one at about 50,000 but I found that new tires all season radials fixed it, and when I'm on a potted or bumpy road, hold the steering wheel more firmly, it helps to stabilize it. So, haven't replaced it yet on the new one, has 75,000+ miles.

I am having a problem with the AC, it quit blowing cold suddenly right after smog check. Had it charged twice with dye and they can't see the dye anywhere, tried to convince me to replace the evap core on suspicion, which I didn't do... I read a lot of blogs about the AC troubles on these... any new thoughts? It's 100 degrees now in Sacramento anyone know an honest AC shop?

I have a 2000 jeep cherokee sportand for all of the people with the vibrtion problem the problem is not the stabilizer its you need to weigh down your tires an get wheels balanced after I did that I don't have problem no more an for the ac you need to change the fan motor because after I had the dealership do that it blows cold airi hope this helps.

Help.

I have a 2000 Cherokee Sport with around 160K.

My a/c quit blowing cold. It will rarely blow cold for about 5 minutes then stop.

I bought an a/c charging kit thinking the refrigerant was low. The optimal pressure that it said to look for was just below 45psi. When I hooked it up my pressure was around 125psi.

The guys at the parts house said it was not low refrigerant, but would not say what else it may be.

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Ron.

ron @ ronstiles . com

I have a 1998 Cherokee Sport and have had major vibrations troubles. I had just about everything in the front end replaced and nothing seems to make this go away. My Jeep has 110,000 miles now and this just started happening. The vibrations begin at 65 miles per hour and alway happen on uneven freeway pavement. Does anyone have insight to share? If so please e-mail me at ericposter@hotmail.com.

Thanks!

I've noticed numerous A/C problems, but not any solutions on the Jeep Cherokee Sport 4.0 (mine is a 2000 model with around 76k miles). I've been through the whole gamut, first a recharge of the system, then a new evaporator, then a new radiator (since I was told that it was not operating properly which was reducing the effectiveness of the A/C system itself). Have tried two different garages. The air seems to cycle in and out - it used to seem this happened most when I was driving slowly in heavy traffic, but now it seems more random. I've been told that the freon does not need to be charged as it is adequate.

Anyone who has been able to solve this problem with any suggestions, that would really be helpful!