1997 Jeep Wrangler engine problems
Owners reported engine problems in 113 complaints for the 1997 Jeep Wrangler, 21% of the complaints on file. It is the most reported problem area for this model year.
At a glance
- Complaints
- 113 21% of this year's complaints
- Typical mileage
- 73,000 miles 16 complaints with mileage
- Crashes and fires
- 3 and 7
- Injuries and deaths
- 2 and 3
Source: NHTSA owner complaints
When engine problems show up
View the numbers
| Mileage | Complaints |
|---|---|
| 0k to 20k miles | 0 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 1 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 4 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 7 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 2 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 1 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 1 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 0 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 0 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 0 |
| 200k+ miles | 0 |
What the data shows
Of the 16 engine complaints that report mileage, the median is about 73,000 miles, and 31% were reported before 60,000 miles.
These complaints mention 3 crashes, 7 fires, 2 injuries, 3 deaths.
What owners wrote
Car has a bucking and poor proformance at highway speeds up long hills, making 60MPH impossible. It has been a poor highway performer, but has become "rough-missfiring" very badly 3 times in the car life. First 2 serious failures I got a engine check light, resulting in dealer visits. Now the engine check light was "fixed" it is not there, but the failure mode is. The car exhaust pipe end is quite black, dirty running?
When cold, jeep starts and runs fine. After engine warms up, oil pressure would drop and jeep would almost die. If I shut it off and try to restart while still warm, jeep would have a hard time starting and if it did start, it would idle extremely rough and barely accelerate. Once I got speed up, it ran fine until I stopped at a red light and it would act like it was going to die and the oil pressure gauge would bottom out. Dealer put manual gauges on it and determined it was the oil sending unit.
Other problems reported for the 1997 Jeep Wrangler
- Exhaust system 80 complaints
- Fuel system 62 complaints
- Air bags 48 complaints
- Transmission 37 complaints
- Seat belts 36 complaints
- Brakes 34 complaints
- Steering 32 complaints
- Body & structure 32 complaints