I’m trying to sell my '09 Jeep Grand Cherokee with 93,000 miles. As far as I know, it’s in great condition. A guy came to look at it. He crawls under it and says my 4WD is soaked. He has no interest - doesn’t even want to drive it. I take a look and sure enough, it’s pretty wet and oily under there. News to me.
Is this a huge issue? Should I try to get this fixed before selling? How much does this affect the value?
Issue ? It was to that person but might not be to others . Fixed ? I would at least have a shop look at it and give you a repair price then decide . Value ? It all depends on your asking price compared to the market.
The oil would have to be cleaned off to see wher it is coming from and then the car put up on a lift to determine where the oil is coming from.could be as simple as an O-ring or as expensive as a cracked case.
Does the 4WD system work?
If you’re really concerned, take the Jeep to a shop for a repair estimate. Whatever they quote you to repair it, have that figure in your back pocket to potentially deduct from the selling price, if anyone else brings it up.
And make sure you have the oil level checked, it could be way low.
Those look more like casting mold lines. Does this leave oil on your driveway/garage?
Maybe, but that diagonal one on the side of the bolt hole in particular…? It seems like exactly where I’d expect to see a crack.
It doesn’t leave oil on the street, so maybe it’s not that bad. I called my mechanic and he said he never noticed anything. I’m going to drop it off tomorrow so he can take a look.
Lots of 12-year-old cars have oil and other moisture underneath the car. If I were you, I’d get an estimate to change the gear oil and replace the seal if it has one that leaks. Make sure they use a new crush washer on the drain plug, rather than reuse the old one. The fill hole might also have a metal or rubber crush washer. You’ll want to make sure that gets replaced too.
Sell the vehicle, don’t waste hundreds of dollars repairing oil seepage.
It may just be road grime. If you never checked the oil, do it and maybe replace it. You can use that as a selling point.
If you really want to know, I’d spray it down with brake cleaner, wipe off the entire area and get it CLEAN, then watch for any seepage. If those are cracks, they’ll quickly start seeping.
^^
Excellent advice!
Some of it does look like mold marks but I agree the diagonal line on the right looks like a crack.
The car is 12 years old. That’s not enough leakage for me to tag it as needing repair if I were doing an inspection on the car.
Looking at those pictures, I’m not sure “soaked” is a term I would use here.
I was going to say the same thing. It’s probably just a little seepage from a gasket or seal. Very common on a 12 yo vehicle. I think the buyer was a little overly cautious, unless the seller is asking top dollar for it.
