25th Jul 2010, 05:34
My wife has a KJ too, and the timing belt broke; the sales guy said it was replaced at 100000 Km. It broke at 120,000 Km, breaking 4 rocker arms + bending 4 valves. Needed new head gasket + the bolts to hold the head down to the block. In Australia that's $10,000. Parts were bought from the USA for a total of $750USD, and the injector was $195AUD from the UK.
The front and the rear diffs, and the gearbox and the transfer case, all have synthetic transmission fluids and oils. NEVER use mineral oils. At $44 a litre for the oils, save your money.
The car was supplied to us with road hard rubber tyres, and the traction in the wet is poor. The KJ Jeep is cheap to run, but not cheap for parts.
Not built for Australian conditions; it doesn't need a preheater for the fuel, nor does it need a 2nd muffler /cat converter for a diesel, but it has one.
It does have the get up and go of a petrol/gasoline car..
The fan belt pulleys are crap; replace all of them with Toyota pulleys. The Jeep pulleys do not last. Jeep stand for "Just Eats Every Pulley".
In short, highly active and expensive to maintain.
7th Jul 2011, 21:24
Hey there, I had the same issue with my KJ CRD Ltd's brakes. I had the front rotors replaced under warranty at 12,000km; turns out it's the genuine brake pads are too aggressive, they stop you on a dime, but heat the rotors so much they warp, causing bad wobbling, and even the ABS to kick in when braking. So the cure is to replace with after market pads, but be careful; some after market stuff won't stop you at all, and nothing will ever stop you as good as the originals. It took me three different sets to find a reasonable set.
I have done 180,000 kms in mine, and haven't had much to complain about other than the cost of servicing, fair dinkum over $3000, for the 100,000 km service... Ed.
9th Jul 2011, 04:52
Agree with the XJ / KJ comments, and I'm from the US! Some of us know that the Cherokee name was used with the KJ. Many here still call the "Grand Cherokee" ZJ, WJ, etc. a Cherokee, not knowing what they really drive.
As far as the KJ in the states, many refer to it as the wifey Jeep.
13th Apr 2010, 07:54
Hi I have a KJ 2.8 CRD 2003, too. I had oil leaks at the gearbox and transfer case, I had No 1 injector replaced, upper radiator hose, front diff seal and front brake rotors (discs) under warranty - just as well.
The dealer never fixed the unusual tyre wear - front left outer shoulder was worn down within 20-25000kms - even though I brought the vehicle back to the dealer many times to get it fixed - never happened.
After the warranty period was over, I told the dealer principal that I would never return to their dealership. I was not interested at all.
Anyway, I fixed my tyre wear problem - if you want to know how send me an email: hvborg@gmail.com and I will tell you how to fix it for good, and this advice is free!!!
Anyway the current and ongoing problem I have is related to the front discs very bad run-out, which results in a strong wobble through the steering wheel and shudder through the whole vehicle. I have replaced these rotors now 4 times!!! Twice with genuine parts (one under warranty) after that I went non-genuine - but no difference except for the price!!
According to Jeep there is no problem with the brakes, and the dealerships have no explanation nor comment either.
The supplier of the non-genuine parts can't explain it either - the last set lasted less than 12000kms -and were replaced under warranty.
I think it is time to either get rid off the problem or ///???
THERE seems to be no solution.
I wonder if Jeep is ignoring this problem and hoping it will go away?!
Maybe they should re-write their slogan from: "There is only one Jeep" to "There should be only one Jeep"??