Community Forums

jacwjames · 03-03-2025, 08:40 AM

So I just bought a 2015 Jeep Cherokee Trailhawk, has 132K miles on it. It is in excellent condition and had already been set up to tow. Previous owner also included an RVi3 brake system, and Blueox tow bar which he had installed. He had the battery charging system installed and antiwobble wiring installed.

Seller said he only towed it one time, and from the looks of the tow bar I'm sure that's true. I got it for a good price so decided to take a chance on it.

I am going through and performing maintenance, doing brakes now, going to do a oil/filter and air filter change, and also the transfer case and rear differential.

I'll also do plugs at some point.

I'll probably tackle the serpentine belt, man they don't make it easy and when I do it I'll change the coolant since I have to pull hoses.

Big question is how many miles can I expect to get out the timing belt, book says 100K but I know this is conservative. Just wondering if I should do that also.

Is there any thing else I should be aware of.

What other problems have people had with the Cherokee's

dwaynebmsg · 03-03-2025, 09:08 AM

If the timing belt has not been changed and has over 130,000 miles on it, CHANGE IT!!! If the belt breaks, you will probably have to replace or rebuild the engine. If it needs the timing belt replaced, that would help explain "the good price".

FIRE UP · 03-03-2025, 09:32 AM

jacwjames,
Well Sir, you'd have a hard time replacing the timing BELT because there IS NO BELT! The Jeep 3.2L and 3.6L Pentastar are identical engines other than cubic inch size and are dual overhead valve configuration engines. And, in such, they use TIMING CHAINS instead of belts. While some home DIY types might be able to handle the chain(s) replacement, this technological job is more than likely done by either a dealer or a decently qualified repair facility. Each DIY type has different skill levels and tools etc. so, take that for what it's worth.

The 3.2L as stated, is quite identical to the 3.6L and as such, can have common issues too. One being the oil filter/cooler assembly. Chrysler/Fiat or who the heck ever owns all of it now (seems to change frequently) in their infinite wisdom, decided to create a plastic oil filter/cooler assembly and attach it to an aluminum V-engine right in the middle of the block. That oil filter/cooler assembly is a known leaker. If and or when it starts to leak, which can be in many various places, it will leak until the leak fills the V in the valley between the two heads. You won't even know it's leaking until that valley is completely filled and then the leak over flows the back side of the valley and then starts running down both sides of the trans bell housing.

When that happens, it looks like you've got a rear main seal failure and or other places. There are thousands of 3.6L versions that have sprung a leak in that filter/cooler assembly and have been replaced by either later and more improved OEM units or like the all aluminum versions like Dorman or Mishimoto (I have the Dorman I just installed a few weeks ago on my '15 JKUR 3.6L Pentastar). It's not an easy or fun job to get to and replace that oil filter/cooler assembly. It took me a couple days and I been wrenching for thousands of years, almost.

This not something to scare you. It's merely something to make you familiar with in case you see oil on the garage floor under your nice new Jeep toy. Just be aware. By the way, here's a video on the replacement of your TIMING CHAINS in your 3.2L.
Scott

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HsI4d8nOZU

Dodge Guy · 03-03-2025, 04:32 PM

No timing belt, chains only. And they last a long time. That era of Pentastar can have cam/rocker arm issues. Just keep the oil changed every 4K miles. Plugs are easy to do, removing the upper intake plenum looks intimidating but is very easy.
Those years of Cherokees are very reliable. You’ll be happy with it.
I work at a dealer and work on them regularly.

jacwjames · 03-03-2025, 08:03 PM

Thanks for the comments, all noted.

The seller did disclose that the transfer case had been changed along with the front drive shaft.

There is a mechanic working in a garage next to me and i stopped and talked to him. He said that I have a timing chain and as long as I keep the oil change it would last a Looong time!.

Since I didn't have a base line for maintenance I went ahead and changed oil and filter today. Also changed brake pads today.

I have oil on order to change the transfer case and rear differential oil.

I did inspect the serpentine belt, looked OK but will plan on changing it soon.

This will give me a base line on the major points. I try to keep up with the maintenance on all my vehicles. I figure pay me now or pay me later and I'd rather I did it proactively and try to avoid breakdowns.

jacwjames · 03-04-2025, 07:44 AM

[QUOTE=Dodge Guy;6961755]No timing belt, chains only. And they last a long time. That era of Pentastar can have cam/rocker arm issues. Just keep the oil changed every 4K miles. Plugs are easy to do, removing the upper intake plenum looks intimidating but is very easy.
Those years of Cherokees are very reliable. You’ll be happy with it.
I work at a dealer and work on them regularly.[/QUOTE

Thank,
The mechanic next door told me the same thing, just keep the oil changed, which I intend to.

jacwjames · 03-06-2025, 01:40 PM

So continue to dive deeper into the Jeep. It does appear that the seller had all the proper wiring done including the Anti Wooble harness. I found the original TSB on this and the part number was listed so I could download the detailed instruction.

There is a fuse holder under the hood and a switch in the center console. Adds another couple steps to be able to tow but better safe then sorry. I'm surprised they set it up with a fuse holder in the engine compartment vs some sort of relay and ign source but it is what it is.

I did put the Jeep through the steps to put in neutral, a little different but manageable. I highlighted the steps in the Manual and put a copy of the steps for ESP.

I am doing a full service on the Jeep including transfer case and diff oil, plugs and the serpintine belt. Both these projects are more difficult then other vehicles I've owned but I'll muddle through it.

Still wondering if others have had problems that can addressed proactively.

jacwjames · 03-07-2025, 03:37 PM

So I've been slowly getting in the parts to do a complete service on the Jeep. I used the Mopar parts site to look up the parts and then ordered from the best source, buying OEM parts.

On my old jeep GC one of the things I had done was change oil in the rear diff and transfer case, looked on the mopar site and got the oil part numbers, front and back take different.

I had looked at the rear and thought I saw the drain plugs but couldn't find a fill port. Got on line and found that there is not fill port and the plugs I found were the fill plug and there was no drain plug. The only way to get the oil out is to vacuum it out. On the passenger side I could not get any oil out, tube would not go down into the sump. Drivers side I got maybe 1.5 cups of oil out. Then put oil back in until started coming out the fill port, maybe 2/3rds of a quart. It was cramped space but finally got it done.

I found a video on the front transfer case and it is the same way. No real good way to drain the old oil. So I'll vacuum it out, even ore cramped. But I'll try it tomorrow.

jacwjames · 03-16-2025, 09:12 AM

I was not able to siphon any oil out of the transfer case but was able to add ~1/2 cup.

So if you have a small oil leak at a seal I'd make sure to keep an eye on the oil level. As of now I have a slight leak on the drivers side rear. Going to try and clean it off with some engine degreaser and monitor. Will check oil level in the rear periodically.

Changed the serpentine belt, what a pain, had to remove two coolant hoses to get to it. Not easy to change laying on my back. Getting off wasn't bad, putting back on not so much. Had to devise a way to hold the tensioning pulley off while threading new belt.

Since I drained 2/3rds of the coolant, which didn't look too bad, I added new!

Also changed the spark plugs. It took longer to pull off the air intake on top to get to the coil packs then it did to change the spark plug. Glad i did, the old ones (they had been changed once before) looked pretty far gone. Electrode was almost gone.

Looked into doing a transmission fluid change, not even recommended. No way to drain, plug suppose to be accessible from the top but I can't even see it. Since the Jeep has never been used to tow anything I'll forgo for now!

So pretty much did all the preventative maintenance I could do. Probably spent $300 total. Have some skinned knuckles and scratches but not too bad. I now have a base line to go by.
I do this with every used car I buy. Haven't bought a new car in 20 years. My wife bought a new Chrysler Town and Country and she took it to the dealer for maintenance and warranty work. Any warranty work they did was shoddy at best.
When warranty was up and she took it in for a service the came out and handed her a list of ~$3000 worth of work they recommended. I was livid and went and talked to the manager, asked why this wasn't brought up while under warranty. His reply was it wasn't their job to find things!!!! Lesson learned.

Shadow5501 · 03-16-2025, 04:10 PM

It is possible to change fluid on a Chrysler 948TE transmission. There are bunches of video tutorials on YouTube. Haynes has one specific to the Cherokee. Look also for one by “The Lawn Engineer” for a home method. He uses a Pacifica van, but it’s the same Pentastar & 948TE drivetrain combo.

If you’re going to tackle this consider ordering a dipstick tool for check ing fluid levels. They can be had for 10 bucks via Amazon. It’s one of those transmissions where the fluid level correlates to fluid temperature so you’ll need a way to determine fluid temperature.

jacwjames · 03-16-2025, 05:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shadow5501

It is possible to change fluid on a Chrysler 948TE transmission. There are bunches of video tutorials on YouTube. Haynes has one specific to the Cherokee. Look also for one by “The Lawn Engineer” for a home method. He uses a Pacifica van, but it’s the same Pentastar & 948TE drivetrain combo.

If you’re going to tackle this consider ordering a dipstick tool for check ing fluid levels. They can be had for 10 bucks via Amazon. It’s one of those transmissions where the fluid level correlates to fluid temperature so you’ll need a way to determine fluid temperature.

I did find the video on how to service the transaxle.

I did buy a Haynes Repair Manual. A little disappointed, lack of detail.

But in the Haynes book it states that the transaxle is a sealed unit and not designed to be serviced easily but it does give a vague procedure on how to service.

The video does provide better instructions. I'll do some more searching and determine if I want to try servicing the transaxle.

jacwjames · 03-22-2025, 11:38 AM

OK
Read quite a few posts on Jeep Forums with mixed opinions on whether to service or not. Says it is a sealed unit with lifetime oil but most posters who have changed the oil say there is a noticeable improvement in shifting etc.

So took the time to crawl underneath and check for the drain plug, easy access.

Since I don't know the history of the Jeep I am going to go ahead and change. It has 132K miles on it.

Cost of the Mopar 8/9 speed oil is ~$165. The special dip stick ~$12. So not expensive and cost benefit for me is piece of mind.

jacwjames · 04-13-2025, 08:24 AM

So, after changing the spark plugs I did not drive the Jeep much. Last week end I drove it about 35 miles and out of the blue it started running rough and the CEL came on. Pulled out my code reader and it was showing a misfire on #6 cylinder.

So finally got a chance to look at it on Friday. Decided to pull the top air intake off again, they don't make it easy.

Checked all the hose and wiring connections, all looked good. Decided to swap #6 plug and coil to the #4 position.

Drove it again, still ran rough but this time the misfire moved to #4 cylinder.

Not know if it was the coil or plug I decided to buy new plugs and try that. Sure enough that solved the problem. So the new plug was the culprit.

Who'd a thought

Glad I can do the work myself, shop charges +$190/hr, even the kid next door working out a garage charges $95.