1997 Jeep Cherokee — Known Issues & Recalls

Your vehicle unexpectedly stalls while driving normally on city streets. This is an intermittent problem that happens at random times. The cause could be related to your fuel system or engine, and a mechanic will need to diagnose why the engine is cutting out.

Your Jeep has a fuel system recall that your dealership has been unable to complete for over a year, citing unavailable parts. You've run out of gas four times on busy highways and while driving to work due to this unresolved issue. The dealership may need to source replacement fuel system components or perform fuel system diagnostics to identify and repair the underlying problem.

Your car is stalling randomly while you're driving—sometimes at highway speeds and sometimes while stopped. The engine may shut off completely, or it might keep running but refuse to move before stalling. This happens unpredictably, and you might see a check engine light appear and disappear on its own, with the car running fine for days in between episodes. The fix will likely involve diagnosing the fuel system, ignition system, or engine control computer to find what's causing these random stalling events.

Your Jeep sometimes won't start and just cranks without turning over, especially after you've parked it for a few hours. This has been happening for a couple of years, and multiple mechanics haven't been able to identify the cause. The problem usually resolves itself the next day. A diagnostic test of your battery, starter motor, and fuel pump relay may be needed to pinpoint the intermittent starting issue.

Your vehicle suddenly lost engine power while driving, and the brakes failed to stop the car even when pressed all the way to the floor. The vehicle went off the road into a ditch and rolled over, but the airbags did not deploy. The problem occurred at 250,000 miles, with no warning lights appearing beforehand.

Both your driver and passenger airbags deployed unexpectedly right after you started your vehicle, causing you to suffer a head injury that required emergency medical care. The cause of this sudden deployment was not identified. This is a serious safety defect that needs immediate investigation by a qualified technician or your Jeep dealer.

Your car's engine control module (ECM) has a faulty circuit board that causes complete power loss without warning—the engine shuts off, all lights go dark, emergency flashers stop working, and power brakes fail. This can happen anytime, whether you're stopped or driving. The dealer says the ECM needs to be replaced to fix the problem.

When you press the brake pedal, it goes all the way down to the floor without stopping your vehicle. You've experienced a complete loss of braking power. The dealer was notified but did not diagnose or repair the problem. Getting your brakes checked and likely replacing worn brake components will be necessary to restore safe stopping ability.

While driving your 1997 Jeep Grand Cherokee, the engine suddenly seized and the check engine light came on. The vehicle was not taken to a dealer for diagnosis or repair. This happened at 172,000 miles. A complete engine inspection and likely an engine rebuild or replacement will be needed to resolve this issue.

Your engine control module (ECM) is shorting out, which is causing your engine to run with the wrong air-to-fuel mixture, stall while driving, and lose power unexpectedly—you experienced this at highway speeds and nearly got hit by another vehicle. The short is also causing backfiring and gas to flood into your muffler. Additionally, your vehicle information center display isn't working, and your EVAP canister fittings have deteriorated, allowing fuel vapor hoses to lose their secure connections and causing emission problems. Fixing this will likely require replacing the engine control module and inspecting or replacing the EVAP canister fittings and related hoses.

Your Jeep is having trouble starting and frequently hesitates or stalls while driving on city streets and highways. Even after replacing the distributor cap, rotor, spark plugs, wires, and coil, the problem continues. Most concerningly, your engine suddenly loses power at highway speeds, which creates a serious safety risk — you nearly had a crash on the interstate. The underlying cause hasn't been identified despite your efforts, though it may involve fuel delivery, engine sensors, or transmission components that will require diagnostic testing to pinpoint.

When you use your high beams or turn on the right turn signal, your hazard lights flash rapidly in the back only. This has caused you to be pulled over by police multiple times. The multifunction switch has already been replaced, but the problem persists.

Your Jeep's wiring harness lost its ground connection to the engine computer (PCM), which prevented the fuel pump from working properly. This required significant rewiring work to fix the ground connection and restore fuel pump operation.

Your coolant temperature sensor warning light kept coming on, so you replaced it, but the light continued to turn on and off intermittently. About a month later, your radiator suddenly split at a seam without any warning signs—no warning light appeared and the coolant temperature gauge showed nothing unusual, even though you had checked the coolant level that morning. You had to replace the entire radiator to fix the issue.

Your ignition switch is failing and causing your vehicle to lose power while driving. You were notified of two recalls for your 1997 Jeep Grand Cherokee, but the dealership couldn't complete the repairs because the necessary parts are unavailable. The manufacturer has taken longer than a reasonable amount of time to make these parts available for the recall.

Your engine stalls unexpectedly while you're driving. This is a significant drivability problem that needs attention to prevent being stranded on the road. The issue likely involves the electrical system or engine components, and a mechanic will need to diagnose whether it's a fuel delivery problem, ignition system fault, or engine control issue.

Your dealership refused to perform a safety recall (N45) unless you paid them to fix corrosion damage on your vehicle first. Since this is a safety recall, you believe FCA should cover the full cost to make your Jeep safe again without charging you for the corrosion repair.

Your fuel gauge is bouncing around erratically instead of giving you a steady reading of how much gas you have. Additionally, your rear driver's side window keeps rolling down by itself every time you start the engine. The vehicle shows no open recalls, though it's unclear if these issues were previously addressed. Fixing this will likely require replacing the fuel gauge sender unit in the fuel tank and repairing the window motor switch or electrical circuit.

Your horn stopped working because the horn button is built into your steering wheel airbag, and mechanics say the only way to fix it is to replace the entire airbag—which costs hundreds of dollars. You can no longer warn other drivers of safety issues on the road. Fixing this would require replacing the airbag assembly or adding a separate horn control switch to your dashboard.

Your 1997 Jeep Grand Cherokee didn't come with the original manufacturer's trailer hitch installed when you bought it. Your dealer refused to install one and said your vehicle wasn't covered by a recall campaign for fuel system issues. You installed an aftermarket trailer hitch instead, but the manufacturer confirmed your vehicle is excluded from that recall.