98 Cherokee

Red Rover

Overlander magazine did a write up on buying second hand Cherokees a couple months ago. Would be worth a look.

Lyndon

Red Rover,
I owned a 1997 model for a number of years & the truck had 175,000 klm on the clock when I traded it in. when new the jeep had a problem with exhaust gas recirculation valve failure, replace under warranty, it is a known problem with the VM motor. look around the engine bay for soot around firewall and turbo some have been known to have leaking exhaust gaskets if left Neglected(as with any car look for a good service history) the VM motor is A detroit diesel, they are used for lots of stuff overseas, you see them on lot's of Generator sets & have a very good reputation. they are shoe horded into the engine bay though in the jeep without much space to work on if ever needed.
serviceing parts are expensive, standard oil filter is about $33.00, the serpintine drive belt costs about $200 and is specific to the jeep. that said the last a long time (100,000k was still ok)
the Racor type fuel filter costs about $120.00! it's a special for jeep, easy fix is replace the fuel filter with a Lucas 290 type then $6-$9 to by a filter anywhere.
that said it was very reliable, had no squeakes or rattlees in it after all thoses K's a lot of them on rough roads and 4wding.
they Have a track lock LSD in the Back diff standard, make sure it works!

unlike the Auto with it's selectable constant 4wd system the diesel gets
the manual gearbox & part time 4WD system, worked very well, look for leaking diff seals & axle bearings if it's got a lot of K's on it, mine was still ok but a few others I had seen with very high milage had stated to leak at this age & signs of under body damage
you would be hard pressed to be disapointed with the ecconomy ofthe jeep I could get 9l/100 in summer with A/C on sitting on 110 klm/h on the highway bet run was 8.2 lt/100 klm. around towm & off road never used more than about 13 lt/100 klm.
the engine torque these motors have is super, with the light weight it gives them a pritty good turn of speed if needed and the hadle very well on road. I still miss the self demisting mirrors & the execellent cruise control!

Red rover, the later model gets a wiz bang 16valve head & high pressure common rail direct injection.

the model you are looking at is a over head valve(with individual head for each cyclinder) motor, it's indirect injection, the motor has individual sleeved bores and if maintained corerctly just about bullet proof (Hence used for staionary engines, trucks etc). VM Motorie is a division of detriot diesel, they make the heads for lots of other motors in europe. the engine it'self is low tech compared to say the engine in a prado or jackaroo.
the engine & boost control system on the other hand is computer controlled eg. electronic accel, automatic idle & antistall control. the injection pump is mechanical with computer control.

it's a bit of a hybride with the mechanincal pump(which any diesel mechanic will understand) and the electronic accellerator/boost control than controls the mechanical injector pump & turbo waste gate.

if you look up Detroit diesel Vm motori and Eaton you might get some more information. as I said I had no problems as such other than the EGR valve when new.

remember the europeans make & sell more diesels than petrol powered vehicals. & yes the motors come from Italy and if you take a carfull look at how strong all the gear is around the motor you will get a good idea that they are pritty no monsense about things, just look at the brackets on the alternator! when the local mechanic looked at mine the first time for a rego inspection he call the guys over in the workshop to show them the bloody big brackets on everything in the engine bay!