1997 Jeep Grand Cherokee: hesitation when accelerating

Filed Nov 3, 2010 · Driver assistance, Fuel system · 132,520 miles · CA

My vehicle will stop running while I am driving, the car will begin to shake uncontrollably and then it will completely die. This cause me to try to turn the car over several times till I get it started again and the vehicle will loss power, hesitate when I give it gas. This vehicle is not safe. Especially when I drive on the highway and it begins to shake and will completely shut down. I am afraid for my life, and my daughters.

Filed Mar 11, 2009 · Engine · 100,000 miles · CA

Tl*the contact owns a 1997 jeep grand cherokee. While driving between 65-70 MPH on normal road conditions, the vehicle hesitated and vibrated. Suddenly, the vehicle stalled without warning and the RPM's decreased excessively low. There were no warning indicators illuminated on the instrument panel. The engine restarted after 15 minutes and then resumed operation; however, the performance was poor. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer for diagnostic testing and they stated that the failure was related to the primary control module (PCM). The vehicle was repaired. The VIN was unknown. The failure and current mileages were 100,000.

Filed Feb 22, 2005 · Engine · VA

Since mid december 2004, I have been having trouble with my 1997 jeep grand cherokee. It has since been in the shop on a weekly basis, with the same problem of the motor hesitating or cutting off while driving. So here we are $1400 later driving off the lot and the car cuts off twice before driving 1/4 of a mile. They have cleaned the throttle plate twice, replaced the fuel pump, replaced the catalytic converter, replaced a primary coil twice, replaced the o2 downstream sensor, replaced wiring in the steering column and then this week replaced the o2 upstream sensor. And I still have the same problem with the hesitation and cutting off. The only response from the dealership service department was that with this many miles I'm going to be nickeled and dimed with repairs. The car has never given me any major problems prior to december. I am not getting anywhere with this service department and am not ready to give up on this car. I took it to the dealership for the repairs feeling that they would be the most knowledgeable about the car. I am very frustrated at not being able to find out the problem and have it corrected. I would appreciate any suggestions. I have requested a print out from sadler that details all that has been done to this car since december. I would appreciate it if someone could contact me concerning this issue.

Filed Dec 7, 2003 · Transmission · 95,000 miles · MA · crash · fire

When you step on the gas it takes 5-10 seconds for the transmission to kick in. Then it bucks into gear. When sitting idle, the transmission feels like it will stall. Our mechanic told us that the transmission is failing and needed to be replaced. At this time, our grand cherokee is dead. We can not believe this is the second grand cherokee we have owned and the transmission had failed. We got rid of our '95 grand cherokee because the transmission kept hesitating, the dealer could never seem to find anything wrong, of course. We knew this car was a lemon and got the dealer to get us into a brand new grand cherokee (1997). Now 5 1/2 years later this car's transmission has failed. Jeep needs to step up to the plate and get these cars fixed!

Filed Sep 26, 2001 · Acceleration, Transmission · CA

Would be driving vehicle and it would hesitate. Would rev up as if in neutral. Would suddenly kick in, and then accelerate. Have taken to dealership, and was informed by mechanic problem was low transmission fluid. After changing fluid in transmission was driving again, an d problem still occurred.

Filed Jul 4, 2001 · Transmission · PA

I have been taking my jeep back to the dealer since about 7000 miles with a hesitation problem. They said they checked engine, transmission, and other items with no sucess in locating the problem. Now, a few months ago I started having problems with it wanting to just take off like a bullet, as soon as you barly get it into reverse. I explained to crystler, that now ,I wonder if the whole time they couldn't find the problem if it was my transmission. At 55000 miles I understand things start going wrong, but not the transmission. I felt that if it needed repair they should pay for it, or at least waiver the labor. So I took it to a transmission specialist, he replied " if you were my wife you wouldn't even drive it any further, it's that bad" so now it still sits in the garage gitting fixed ,1 1/2 weeks as of today ,and I still don't have it back. The specilist told me the whole transmission would need rebuilt, due to burnt out clutches in 1 st gear, and reverse, and burnt out tourque converter. With a grand total of $2326.70. Then I saw the issue on cnn about the jeep grand cherokee, and I really felt that applied to our jeep. Please help. The dealership kept telling me alot of crazy things, like "you must not be excellerating properly" and with the reverse, "everyone has to keep there foot on the break when putting it in reverse" well I never had a vehicle that would just shoot off like a rocket in reverse. Thank you lise greathouse.

Filed Jun 18, 2001 · Fuel system · IL

Fuel sensor was replaced in 1997 and may 2001, and once again. Fuel was not feeding through lines, causing vehicle to hesitate. Vehicle came out repair shop, and in rain 2 days later, vehicle almost came to a stop at 60-65mph. Consumer took it back, and techinician test drove vehicle with consumer noting the problems. June 8, dealer kept it for a week, and problem was still there.

Filed Jun 23, 1999 · Acceleration, Transmission · WA

Constant RPM fluctuation, hesitation under load, shifting from overdrive to drive during freeway speeds, chronic.