1988 Jeep Cherokee Basic review from North America

I have a 1988 Jeep Cherokee. It is the very basic model. I has no major interior options or accessories. However, as far as performance is concerned, my Cherokee is equipped with the 4.0 liter inline 6 cylinder engine, as well as four wheel drive.

I am very fond of my Jeep and I have made many aftermarket alterations to enhance its performance.

All of the interior carpet has been removed and replaced with a hard, black rubber mat. This one-piece mat has been crafted and positioned to fit the shape of the Jeep's floor panels, and it also extends into the tailgate.

My Cherokee is lifted with 2 inch Rancho suspension lift.

I have B.F. Goodrich Sport King Tires to improve off-road performance.

I have added a sound system to my Cherokee, including a Pioneer CD deck, with Fosgate 5.25's in the front doors. Rather than using the premade factory positions for 5.25's in the tailgate, I added two Pioneer 6x9 speakers in custom boxes in the back. Subwoofers are on the way.

All of these upgrades have added to create a fantastic Jeep, which I thoroughly enjoy driving on and off road. However, I cannot deny the fact that my Jeep has caused me many problems!

My 1988 Cherokee has a Peugeot BA10 5-speed manual transmission. This was arguably - if not certainly - the worst transmission Jeep ever used. It was only used for two years, before it was discontinued by Jeep. The transmission was completely shot. The only shop that would work on a Peugeot transmission was AAMCO. The complete rebuild totaled up to about $3,850. I should have just bought another Jeep. However, with 240,000 miles on it, a little wear and tear was expected. So I decided to cough up the money and see where my Jeep would take me.

After my transmission makeover, my Jeep was fine. She worked and ran like a beauty. The 4.0 liter was smooth and powerful and easily pushed my Jeep wherever she needed to go. Excellent off road performance, supplying plenty of torque as well as efficient and smooth highway performance with light to moderate engine noise at high speeds, are characteristic of the everyday perfomance of the fuel injected engine.

The transmission, when it is not broken, shifts smoothly and reasonably. Offroading is best in second gear. The optimum torque rating for the inline six is at 4,000 rpms. This can easily be attained in second gear to allow maximum power to be transmitted to the wheels in off road conditions.

The two inch lift comes in very handy off road. It is the opinion of this author, that the Cherokee's off road performance is best optimized with a suspension lift, at least 1.5 inches, but anywhere up to 4 inches. There are 6 inch lift kits available, but such a lift would make city and highway driving a little bit more challenging, but never-the-less it is still feasible.

As far as performance is concerned, my Jeep proffers superb performance on and off road - when it's working. About 12 months after I had the transmission rebuilt, I had problems shifting gears. I had a difficult time popping the gears into place, and an even more difficult time removing gears from their position. Sometimes, I would have to use two hands to pop the transmission out of gear and into neutral so that I could upshift. I speculated that it was a problem with the hydraulic clutch system. I was correct. Evidently, when AAMCO rebuilt my transmission the one part that they did not replace was the slave cylinder for the clutch, which subsequently broke and began leaking brake fluid. I would add dot 3 brake fluid into the hydraulic clutch reservior only to find that it would be near empty the following day. Obviously a leak somewhere in the hydraulics, and the slave cylinder is where it was leaking. I dropped the transmission, and replaced the damaged clutch cylinder with a new one. I also replaced the rear, driver's side wheel cylinder.

In addition to the problem with my hydraulic clutch system, I was losing most of the pressure in my braking system. I found this odd because I had done a complete brake job not more than 3 months prior.

Needless to say, all of these repairs left me quite perturbed and with an empty wallet. The fun never stops. Not long after I needed to replace the front passenger side hub and bearings. No parts shop carried this particular piece, so I had to buy it at full price from the factory. Ouch. I took this opportunity to do a front end job on my Cherokee as well. In addition to repacking the bearings, I replaced the upper and lower ball joints on both sides, as well as some other preventative maintenance work.

Confident that I had replaced or repaired everything that could go wrong with my Jeep, I was quite dismayed when my Jeep soon began leaking 3 quarts of oil every two days! Hence that statement - the fun never stops. I submitted my Jeep into a repair shop to have them replace the rear main seal between my prize 4.0 liter engine and my despised Peugeot 5-speed. The shop also replaced the front seal in my engine. This stopped most of the oil leak, but I was told not to drive my Cherokee at speeds greater than 60 mph or else the high pressure generated by the engine at such speeds would force oil through an already leaky valve cover gasket. An expensive problem, which I wanted to avoid. This made driving between 55 and 60 mph on the interstate a lovely task. I am replacing the valve cover gasket tommorrow. So, about $6,000 dollars later, I ask myself, "Was it worth it?" Undoubtably, Yes. I love my Jeep.

I love my Jeep. I admit I have paid a lot of money for repairs, but never-the-less, I love my Jeep. I love being able to tell people that I drive a Jeep. I love walking out from a store and into the parking lot, to find a beautiful white Jeep there waiting for me. It's a Jeep thing. You might understand - if you own one. Jeep is the pinacle of style and performance, the zenith of accuracy and precision. It is the apex, where agility and grace meet power and superb offroad handling.